Roger Katz stated that his father and brother fashioned a balanced partnership.
“My father was a producing genius; he knew the place to make product and supply supplies,” he stated in a telephone interview. “However he had no idea of promoting. My brother knew methods to create a model and a presence.”
However he stated they bought the corporate to Reebok as a result of his father was “growing old out” and his brother “actually had no life” and was nearing burnout.
Along with his brother, Mr. Katz is survived by his spouse, Dasa Katz, and his baby, Lee.
As Mr. Katz contemplated his return to the shoe enterprise, he attended a commerce present in 2013 in Las Vegas, the place he encountered Werner Wyrsch, a former govt at Rockport who was getting ready to retire.
“He stated, ‘Let’s stroll round,’” Mr. Wyrsch stated in a telephone interview. “He picked up a shoe right here and a shoe there, imports from Vietnam and Cambodia, and he stated: ‘That is horrible, let’s do it once more. Let’s present them methods to make footwear once more.’”
Mr. Katz quickly began Samuel Hubbard, with Mr. Wyrsch serving as senior vp of product growth and sourcing. The corporate is a form of Rockport 2.0, with a continued emphasis on light-weight, informal consolation however utilizing extra luxurious European leathers and superior know-how.
Roger Katz, an architect who designed a distribution middle for Rockport and its first retailer, in Marlboro, Mass., stated he was not stunned that his brother returned to the shoe enterprise.
“Bruce tried a whole lot of endeavors in between, and to be candid, he didn’t have the kind of success he needed,” he stated. “He reached some extent the place he needed one other actual success. He brazenly talked about the truth that the one place he was actually profitable was in footwear.”
