During the nineteen thirties and forties, each town had one or more wooden shoe makers. But Beltrum (a small town between Eibergen and Groenlo) did not have one yet. Since Theo wanted to find out what he could do for the community, he decided to start working there as a wooden shoe maker. In 1938 he leased his first “shop” on Dorpstraat in Beltrum. This shop was actually the bicycle shed of the Huls family.

 

At that time, Theo could make about 4 pairs of wooden shoes a day by hand. That was not enough to live on. He decided to approach his old employer about becoming business partners. Wooden shoe maker Wiggers already had a machine to produce part of the shoes. The agreement meant that Theo would buy partially manufactured wooden shoes from wooden shoe maker Wiggers. They were then transported by the Geldersche tram to Beltrum where Theo processed them further into a finished product. This allowed Theo to produce more; therefore, he was earning more money than he was before the partnership.

 

In 1940, Theo married Jo Meyer from Groenlo. Six children were born during this marriage, three boys and three girls.

 

At the beginning of the war, German military people visited Theo. He was informed that he was not being put to work in Germany.  In exchange, he produced wooden shoes for the Germans. Theo was still producing wooden shoes, but the German occupant never picked them up. Therefore, he could keep selling his wooden shoes locally.

 

With the money Theo earned making and selling wooden shoes, he bought a piece of high-laying land (important for dry wood storage) in 1942. He built a small wooden shoe factory and an adjoining home. At that time, Klompenfabriek Nijhuis had 2 to 3 employees.

 

In 1943 Theo had the bright idea to plant tobacco on the land he was not using.   Since 1943 produced a very good summer, the tobacco harvest was bigger than expected. Running a business is looking into the future, and Theo knew exactly how to look into the future. He exchanged tobacco for wooden shoe machines with the wooden shoe machine factory “Hinsberger” from Enschede. This established a solid basis for the wooden shoe factory.

 

Klompenfabriek Nijhuis kept growing. A partnership was sought with wooden shoe maker Delsing in Borculo in 1955. The wooden shoe market was booming. There were tens of thousands of wooden shoe makers who produced 9 million pairs of wooden shoes annually. During these good times, the three brothers from Zwolle decided to have wooden shoes produced for their company. This company was Gevavi, founded by the van Vilsteren brothers. Klompenfabriek Nijhuis also produced wooden shoes for Gevavi for half a year during that time. However, Theo wanted to go his own way.

 

While his oldest brother, Jan, was already working in the wooden shoe factory as a bookkeeper / buyer, Paul Nijhuis decided that he would rather do something else.  After finishing his education in electrical engineering, he was offered a job with the German company Bocholt in 1973.  In 1975 his father asked him if he wanted to take over the factory together with his brother. After thinking long and hard about this offer, Paul decided to go ahead with it. After the two brothers worked together for a year, they both decided to split up and to each go their own way. Jan went into wood trading and transportation and Paul had the wooden shoe factory.

 

Paul had always wanted to move the wooden shoe factory, which was located in downtown Betrum, to a larger piece of land. There was no room for expansion at its old location; and it was sometimes dangerous to transport heavy tree trunks through the downtown area.

 

The locations assigned by the municipality were unacceptable. For example, a company location was assigned in Eibergen while all the employees were from Beltrum. Another location was assigned near Beltrum, which was located on very low ground. The damp low-lying land is fatal for the wood storage.

 

In the end, Paul bought a wonderful piece of high-lying land on the Groseweg from a local farmer under the binding condition that a factory could be built there. Despite the negative advice by the provincial planning office, Paul was able to start the construction based on article 19 in collaboration with the then Governmental Industrial Consulting Service. After a few years of negotiating, construction of the largest wooden shoe factory could finally begin. This case has been widely publicized on the news. You can find many of these articles in our news archives.

 

Most wooden shoe makers were surprised that someone built such a big wooden shoe factory in a market that was visibly diminishing.  However, Paul’s vision was clear: If the market demand decreases, it will become more and more difficult for the small wooden shoe makers to keep their heads above water. Therefore, you have to grow. The Gevavie wooden shoe factory was even taken over in 1992. Only a few wooden shoe makers remained, and Klompenfabriek Nijhuis is the largest one in the world.  

 

Paul is ambitious. The fact is, he has won the Dutch shoe maker championship for the 7^th time!! He has traveled the world to demonstrate and promote wooden shoe manufacturing. He even published his own reference book about wooden shoes in 1987.