We have always moved against the tide – ahead of the curve – challenging and breaking the boundaries with innovation and invention; leading the way. The following are a few photos from our beginnings as one of the very first successful joint ventures with the Chinese.
GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE - Beijing, Winter 1981-2
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Front row, American holding his hands: Phil Knight
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Next American, front row, wearing the suit he slept in: Richard C. Holbrooke, former Undersecretary of State for Henry Kissinger; former US Ambassador to UN; etc
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Between Knight and Holbrooke: Wan Li (deceased) – at the time the fifth most powerful person in China
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Behind and between Wan Li and Richard Holbrooke: My father, Howard Shaffer (The scruffy beard was his team's commitment to not shave until they shipped their first container of shoes from China.)
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Behind and between Wan Li and Phil Knight: David Chang (deceased), VP of Nike, the person who got Nike into China, Good friend of my father, Princeton graduate, Married a white woman when interracial marriage was still illegal in his state.
UNITED FOOTWEAR - Guang Dong Provine, 1980's
Clockwise from top left:
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Our first factory in Guang Dong Province.
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One day each month we would give a birthday cake away to each factory worker who had a birthday that month. Celebrating the individual was very anti-communist. Dad in the middle with his two Vice General Managers; Si Tu Su Han on the left (party member) and "Uncle" Wu Jian Wen on the right. Wu Jian Wen's wife now manages our Otabo GZ office.
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United Footwear's basketball team played against other factory teams in the area. They were ranked number one.
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At a meeting with the Guang Dong Province Foreign Investment Council. My father was Vice Chairman. One of the things my parents fought for was to have China support the Footwear Industry as one of their top ten industries in leading China’s economic development in the 1980’s.
APACHE - Guang Dong Province, 1989
The building of Apache, our fourth factory in China. Asia still uses bamboo for scaffolding, even in modern metropolises like HK.
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