Associated Footwear

by Julia Paulus

Associated Footwear was started in 1974 to represent shoe companies and broker deals. Fifteen years later, after a series of events and retirements, Steve Jonas purchased the company. “My family has been in the shoe business for three generations, and I grew up around the shoe industry,” says Jared Jonas, Steve Jonas’ son and the current president and owner. “Right after I graduated from college I began my full-time role at Associated Footwear.”

Once Jonas began working in the family business full time, his father always reminded him that nothing in business lasts forever and nothing good comes easy. “That piece of advice has helped me to realize that the company must be in a position to evolve with the changing environment of our industry,” he says.

Today, Associated Footwear has nine full-time employees and 10 part-time employees along with a full warehouse of merchandise. “Once we receive the inventory, we sort it and repackage it according to our customers’ needs,” says Jonas. “We ship container loads of footwear domestically and worldwide with clients in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.”