Mason Companies owes its start in 1904 to the lumber industry in Chippewa County.
German immigrant August Mason came to Chippewa County in 1854 for work in the lumber camps. He would go on to be a subcontractor for large lumber companies.
Then in 1904 August and his son B.A. (Bert) Mason formed the Mason Shoe Manufacturing Company. Producing logging boots became a natural product for the new company.
When the Great Depression hit, the company needed a new way to sell its footwear. So it settled on direct sales of shoes to customers, something it would do for more than 50 years.
By the 1980s, the company revamped its business by starting mail orders. It began catalog sales in 1985, and acquired shoe lines through the 1990s.
And it was in 1996 when the company would start a venture that changed its business. It found success with revolving credit through the Mason Easy-Pay credit so customers could pay for shoes over time. It did expand that credit system to its women’s apparel and general merchandise catalogs.
Then in October 2013, Mason Companies bought Figi’s, a well-known direct-to-customer business.
Mason’s outlet store in downtown Chippewa Falls continues to be a popular stop and draw for tourists.
“As a result of Mason’s growth over the past 100-plus years, we are referred to as the largest mail order footwear company in the world and are the 150th largest e-commerce retailer in the U.S.,” the company says on its website.
Mason Companies continues to thrive by pulling itself up by its bootstraps, and changing to meet the needs of its customers.
