Ackerman’s act of kindness pays off as demand for papal shoes surges
30/05/2013
At the time, company owner, Armando Martín Dueñas, was president of the local footwear manufacturers’ association, CICEG, but he insisted that the Ackerman shoes were a personal rather than official gift to the pope. He delivered them by hand to the offices of the archdiocese of León two days before the start of the visit. And it now transpires that he included a brown pair in the same style at the same time.
Ackerman spent three months researching the style and the taste of the Bavarian pope, who was included in 2007 in Esquire magazine’s list of best-dressed men because of his taste in shoes. It made the loafers with calf leather uppers and a goatksin lining.
One of the (admittedly less important) questions that arose February 2013 when Benedict XVI announced his resignation concerned footwear: as Pope Emeritus, would he still wear red shoes? The Vatican announced on the day of his retirement that Benedict XVI would give up the red footwear, which popes traditionally wear as a tribute to martyrs such as St Peter (the first pope). The official spokesman said on the day that a brown pair the pope had been given as a gift in Mexico in 2012 were exceptionally comfortable and would be his shoes of choice from now on.
In the three months since this ringing endorsement, Ackerman’s business has grown by nearly 30%, Armando Martín Dueñas recently told the New York Times. “It’s strengthened our entire industry,” he said. “It shows that Mexico has been doing its homework. Our products are now being accepted around the world.”
He told the New York Times that enquiries and orders for the shoes have come in from all over the globe and, from June, the shoes will be available to buy on the Ackerman website, in brown and black. But not red.
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