The Caterpillar Shoes was born with the coming together of Caterpillar Inc, which is a leading manufacturer of construction equipment and Wolverine World Wide, who are leaders in making non-athletic footwear. Both the companies are in the business for over a hundred years. The Caterpillar Shoes was the brain child of Daniel Best and Benjamin Holt and it came into being in 1904. In 1994, Wolverine Worldwide Inc became the sole licensee of this famous footwear brand. The shoes are sold in more than 140 countries and the company manufactures about six million pair every year.
They manufacture many different types of footwear and, safety is the vital feature in all their products. Their Electrical hazard shoes protect the wearer from, as the name suggests, electrical hazards. The wearer is protected to a maximum of 600 volts in open circuits. Some shoes are insulated to keep the feet warm. The metatarsal guard protects the shoe from getting punctured at the sole. Shoes that have slip resistant sole prevent the wearer from slipping on flooring which has less traction.
Their shoes are available for men, women and children. The shoes look just like their equipment, absolutely tough. The shoes are categorized into itechnology, work and casual. Under Caterpillar itechnology there is further classification, work, casual, suspension series and energy series. In the women’s section the three categories are work, casual and itechnology. The itechnology is further classified into work and casual.
The men’s category of Caterpillar has the "Annex" shoes for which the uppers are made of tumble oiled or antiqued full-grain leather. It has a lining of nylon mesh. The outsole is made of the patented T777 itechnology. The " Gladstone steel toe" is resistant to almost everything like abrasion, slip, water, oil and heat. The shoes for women are similar to that of men. Some shoes for women have vibrant colors as well, unlike that for men. In the casual section for women there are many stylish boots available. Meriope is one such. These are knee high boots and the uppers are made of tumbled grain leather with the outsole being made of rubber or leather. For the kid’s presently there are just two patterns one is the Barrison children and the other Barrison Youth. They look just like those for adults which would make the kids really happy. Caterpillar shoes started of as work boots and have evolved over the years to make industrial style of shoes which appeals to a very large section of society.
