Interview With Buddy Lewis, Nocona Athletics
Photo/Christina H. Davis
Buddy Lewis,
Managing Director, Nocona Athletics Goods
Lately, there have been some signs that manufacturing can be brought back to the United States, thanks to lean manufacturing techniques. That’s certainly the case for Nocona Athletic Goods, which has landed its high-end baseball glove manufacturing at a Worcester plant. The operation is a joint venture called GoodGlove USA between Nocona (which uses the trademark Nokona) and the Devaney family, which has run leather manufacturing operations in Worcester for more than 30 years. Here, Nocona’s managing director, Buddy Lewis, talks about how he got into the baseball goods business and why locating in Worcester was a smart decision for the company.
>> The brand name of your gloves and other products is Nokona, but the parent corporation is Nocona Athletic Goods. What’s with the two different spellings?
First of all, Nocona Athletic Goods has been in business since 1934. It was founded in Nocona, Texas, spelled with a “C”. When the company was founded you could not use a city or a town as trademark for products. So the solution was to make the trademark with a “K” and the company with a “C”.
>> How long have you been with Nocona?
We put a group together four years ago of Boston guys and baseball junkies. We bought a 50 percent interest in this fourth-generation family business. Our corporate offices are now in Lexington.
>> What is your background?
I’m a lifelong baseball fan, but I had been in the industrial field through a company I co-founded called Asahi America based in Malden. But I was looking for something to do when I grew up and this particular opportunity came along. I just thought it would be great to take a wonderful brand name that had been stagnant for many years and try to resurrect it.
>> Who are the other partners in Nocona?
Actually there are 40. Mostly they’re from Massachusetts and New York, although we’ve got a couple of people in Florida and St. Louis. They’re mostly friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends’ friends.
>> What type of work is done at the Worcester plant?
It’s mostly done by hand. Sewing and stitching. There are sewing machines, but there are people behind them. It’s not automated. It’s really craftsmanship at its best because it’s precision sewing and lacing.
>> How can you make something affordably in Massachusetts?
Using lean manufacturing, which I don’t think anyone in the baseball field is doing, we are able to compete with anybody. We have a very high end glove line, which we make here in the United States and we also have an import line made overseas. But we are convinced, and are going forward, to take that import line and bring it here.
>> What do your gloves retail for?
The retail price is as high as $300. The import line retails for under $100, and as I said, that will eventually be made in Worcester, too.
>> So what’s the best way to break in a baseball glove?
It’s funny you should mention it because we also have a repair service because so many gloves come back after people do things like stick their gloves in a microwave to break it in. The fact is, a baseball glove is leather, so it has to be kneaded and pounded. But everybody has their own method — put a ball in it, tie it up, drive the car over it.
Check out these video clips of how baseball gloves are made in Worcester. Production Manager Bill Lillie explains all the details:
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