Selz shoes are a casualty in footwear history but one that should be noted. The company was founded by Morris Selz a native German that immigrated to America where he would settle in Chicago around 1854. In 1871 he entered the wholesale shoe trade and by the following year his factory had around 350 employees that generated a million dollars worth of hand pegged boots each year. While this itself is pretty impressive and led him to become one of the leading shoe manufactures in the midwest, its when he linked up with Charles H Schwab that things got really interesting. In 1878 his company became Selz, Schwab & Co when the the two joined forces like Voltron and grew the company to include 1500 workers at its factories where 12,000 boots and shoes were manufactured each day. Selz, Schwab & Co would go on to become among the leading makers of footwear in the U.S. until the Great Depression hit and forced the company to close up shop. Rumors of a Cole Haan aquasition are just that for now as there is no info backing that up. Take a trip back to the roaring 20’s below. 