The shoe bought 'round the world
Shoe cobbler Ramazan Baydan has had plenty of business, thanks to his claim to the infamous shoe thrown by an Iraqi journalist at President Bush. Daniel Estrin reports on the success of the "Bye Bye Bush" shoe.
Ramazan Baydan, owner of the Baydan Shoes factory, poses with a newly produced copy of the shoe that was thrown by an Iraqi journalist at U.S. president George Bush (Getty Images)
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TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: I think you probably remember President Bush's duck and cover press conference from Iraq a week or two back. An angry Iraqi journalist threw his pair of shoes at Mr. Bush. That's a major insult in Arabic culture and the double pitch made the reporter a hero in the Arab world. It also gave a nice kick to one Turkish shoe cobbler's business. Here's Daniel Estrin.
Daniel Estrin: Ramazan Baydan knows a model 271 when he sees it.
Ramazan Baydan (voice of interpreter): I have a special relationship with that shoe.
Shoemakers from Lebanon to China have also insisted to be the maker of those shoes. It's pretty much impossible to know for sure, because American officials destroyed the evidence in security tests.
But Baydan's early claims to the media successfully made him a shoe-in for fame and fortune. He's hired 100 extra staff to keep up with the 400,000 plus orders that are coming in from around the world. Around 120,000 pairs were ordered from Iraq, and one U.S. company requested 18,000 of them.
All in all, it's four times more than the average yearly sale of Model 271. The Baydan Shoe Company has now rebranded the shoe "Bye Bye Bush."
I'm Daniel Estrin for Marketplace.
Comments
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From Venice, CA, 12/27/2008
I was so happy to hear of a manufacturer who is beating the recession and providing jobs.
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