Milestone
It was 1969 when Frankie Eddins brought his brother a new-fangled product called a boot jack. Mickey Ed-dins liked the idea, and thought he could sell it. From that simple boot jack, a new company emerged, M&F Western Novelty.
Today, that boot jack is still being manufactured in Sulphur Springs in a space adjacent to the company headquarters of M&F Western Products. But the novelty item that started the company is now just one of the more than 30,000 SKU numbers the company sources and sells to Western retailers.
The two brothers, Mickey and Frankie — the M and the F in the company name — borrowed the $850 it took to buy the initial 1,000 boot jacks. Yet, the story of the company is generational. Their parents, Chester and Evelyn Eddins, owned and operated a boot and shoe repair shop downtown, that evolved into a Western boot and clothing store when they added a few Western shirts to the store. Now, more than four generations of Eddins have worked in the business.
“As a young boy working in my parent’s store, salesmen would pull up in their fancy Cadillacs, and that’s when I decided I was going to be a salesman,” remembers Mickey.
He went to work for Byer-Rolnick, the predecessor to what is now Hatco in Garland, Texas, as junior salesman in the Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi territory. When the boot jack opportunity kicked in and a rain cover for Western hats was sourced and made, Mickey presented the idea to the Byer-Rolnick management, who approved salesmen at the hat company could sell the M&F products in their territories. Those items took off, and soon there were brim brushes, hat steamers, hat-sizing tape and other complimentary items for the Western stores.
It was Linda Eddins, Mickey’s wife, who became the packer and shipper of the boot jacks while raising her three sons, as Mickey traveled the road. She also managed the financial end of the business. Today, those sons work with their parents in the company. The Ed-dins boys then expanded their responsibilities when the company added feather hatbands to the product mix. The brothers were tasked with sorting the feathers into envelopes, earning all their spending money through work for the burgeoning enterprise.
Paul, David and John Eddins grew up in the business and are tasked with building on the legacy that started in 1951, when the Eddins family first moved to Sulphut Springs. Paul is CFO and handles the accounting and finance of the company. David is vice president of product development and works with the designers, sales team and customers. John, as vice president of operations, heads up the information technology department and oversees the warehouse and personnel.
Mickey, president of M&F, humbly says his job today is just replenishment, but he and Linda set the tone that carries forward today.
“Dadgum hard work and blessings from the good Lord above” are the reasons for their success at M&F. They give ample credit to those who have worked with them along the way. It’s the family, employees, sales force, suppliers and the customers who are the sum of the parts that equal the whole, enabling success for more than 50 years.
And a multitude of employees it is for M&F, more than 175 total. The corporate office complex, just off Interstate 30, teems with office activity. Accounting and customer service teams man the front office. There’s the crew in an adjacent building still manufacturing the boot jacks. There’s a complete conference center and showroom, and across the street, there is the Circle E Western store to serve the community and the travelers along the east Texas thoroughfare.
Then there is a talented team that takes responsibility for the eight full-color catalogs the company produces of its products. In a complete studio set-up, they photograph each product in the many lines, not only for the catalogs, but for customer stores to use in their own marketing. They edit, write, design and produce the comprehensive books that detail the myriad assortment designed and sourced by Cary Kraft and Ken Paxton for M&F.
Mickey started the catalog in 1980, the same year he installed an 800 number for customers to use to call in their orders. Then in the early ’90s, the sales team was equipped with portable fax machines so that orders could be sent from the road the same day they were written, and the process streamlined to get those orders out to customers. Innovation has always been the hallmark of M&F Western Products and continues today.
On the outskirts Sulphur Springs looms a 260,000-square-foot distribution center.›Two UPS trucks and one FedEx vehicle are backed up to the loading docks every day. Inside, a state-of-the-art, distribution system houses, sorts, boxes and ships the many M&F Western products. It is like stepping into the prime facilities of the largest shopping network in today’s world, all for the benefit of the M&F retail dealers. It is so large and sophisticated, it has its own fire protection system.
With all this amazing innovation, there remains a focus on the customers.›
“When I first started in the Western business, the people like John Justin and Miss Enid Justin, Sam Mandelbaumn and James Cavender were still very active and involved in the daily operations of their companies,” says Mickey. “Tony Lama Jr. attended every Western market. In fact, James and I started in the same year, 1965.”
They were both Oklahoma natives who began their business in East Texas and built operations that still today are run by family members. Work and the personal touch remains the foundation for both businesses.
“In the early days, when an order came in from a store, Mickey would call the store owner to say thank you,” Linda says of his relationships with customers.
He still visits stores, especially every year on the way to the largest Western wholesale market in Denver, when Mickey drives a truck and trailer filled with merchandise to Colorado and stops to see stores along the route.
The M&F philosophy of business has benefitted other vendors in the Western market. In 1999, M&F purchased the Nocona Belt Company. In 2018, M&F purchased the 3-D Belt Company of Schulenberg, Texas. Through acquisitions and licensing agreements, the company has expanded its merchandise and operations. Ariat, a leading manufacturer, licenses M&F to produce top quality accessories, hats, infant and toddler footwear.
Combining exemplary customer service and the intricate knowledge of global manufacturing, the company is able to bring the very best value, design and operations to serve the retail customers and the end consumers. From the latest in trending jewelry for women and girls to classics for the men including buckles and belts, the products of the company will inspire sales for the youngest to the most-seasoned, fashion forward to the outdoorsman, western enthusiast to real-deal ranchers.
Under the M&F ownership, more options will be available in the licensed products manufactured under the Ariat label, as well as the heritage brands of the companies such as Nocona Belt Co., 3-D Belt, Crumrine, Blazin Roxx, Twister and other brands such as Western Moments Home Décor, HD Xtreme, Top Hand and DBL Barrel Belts, Angel Ranch, Silver Strike, Badger and Western Classics with a wide range of leathercare products, hat and boot supplies.