Brown Shoe Company

   George Warren Brown founded this shoe company in 1878 in St. Louis, Missouri. The company is best known for its children's shoe, the Buster Brown, introduced in 1904 and based on the cartoon character. In the 1950s, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil action against the merger between Kinney Shoes and the Brown Shoe Co., claiming that it would cause a monopoly in the shoe industry. Although the merger was approved in 1956, the Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that the merger was unconstitutional and ordered them to separate. In 1981, Brown Shoe purchased the thirty-six-store chain Famous Footwear and is now the number-one retailer of value-priced shoes in America with the following brands: Naturalizer, Life Stride, Dr. Scholls, Carlos, Franco Sarto, Via Spiga, Buster Brown, Connie, and Bass.

   See also Footwear designer.