ABOUT US
OUR STORY
Heartland Footwear was founded in 2010 by a dedicated team of footwear specialists and business leaders with one goal in mind, to make a better boot for the hard working people of America. Flash forward to today, Heartland Footwear has become an industry leader in the manufacturing and distribution of PVC & Rubber blended boots. They're known as The Better Boot Company, because they have tested and perfected materials ranging from rubber to PVC compounds, thermoplastic elastomers and a wide variety of alloys for waterproof footwear; and are one of the top producers in their market providing advanced design, ergonomic comfort, and durability for the protective footwear industry. After years of investment, Heartland operates 6 state-of-the-art production lines in their manufacturing facility, and we do it all right here, in the USA.
Heartland is a team comprised of hard-working people providing the best-quality boots for other hard-working people, and brings more than a century of expertise to product, development, design, production, quality control, and customer service. All of this, is your assurance of quality.
WHO WE ARE
Designed and Assembled in America
Our Injection molded PVC and Rubber Blend products are made right here, in the USA - Smack dab in America's Heartland in South Bend, IN. This allows our customers to enjoy cost effective freight and timely shipping. We source domestically where feasible and possible; where not we utilize imported components.
Injection Molded & Little Waste
The heart-beat of Heartland Footwear is in our 6 injection molding production lines that run 24 hrs day. Our revolutionary production system is a highly scientific machine that seamlessly molds our boots, greatly reducing the amount of waste or errors in the process.
Best Boot Making Team in the World
On top of everything that makes Heartland Footwear great we have the best boot making team in the world, led by our founder and chief bootmaker Afshin Enshaie. Afshin has spent decades in the footwear industry helping put a lot of boot companies on the map with their superior engineered products, and now he's at the helm of the Heartland ship. Our team has over 50 years’ experience making boots, ensuring our market leading quality.
Reliability Of Supply
Heartland takes pride in providing our customers market leading “Reliability of Supply.” Heartland operates as part of a globally integrated supply chain for both components and finished boots. In today’s world of volatility, transit disruptions, and freight uncertainty product availability norms have been disrupted, and boot availability has been disrupted. Heartland has responded by implementing the leading approach to reliably delivering the very best competitively available product. The following factors together are the foundation of the “Product Availability” value proposition Heartland’s customers enjoy:1. Industry Largest Production Capacity: With our capacity of 2.4 million pairs we are able to produce almost 50,000 pairs each week allowing us to continually support customers, fill orders and maintain safety stock.
2. Location: Based in South Bend, IN near the junction of HWY’s 90 & 31; ideally located from a transportation hub perspective; providing efficient freight lanes to Eastern Southeast, and anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains [ for Western, Southwest, and Pacific Northwest customers we are geographically close to the Midwest rail hubs for efficient shipping].
3. Finished Goods Safety Stock: We continually monitor and on a weekly basis adjust production to demand for our boots, allowing us to stay ahead of demand.
4. Material and Component Safety stock: Heartland has long-term established supplier relationships, and continually monitors and adjusts inbound materials and components (on order, in safety stock at our suppliers, in-transit, and in safety stock at our plant) so as to be in a position to produce all orders and forecasted program demand on the horizon.
Once you are set up with a Heartland boot program you will benefit from our long term “Reliability of Supply” capability. Of course, will always do our best to support spot demand as it arises, and there is flexibility above the requirements of our long-term customers and programs.
OUR TEAM

Harold (Hal) Sullivan - Owner, Co-Founder, CEO
Hal Sullivan serves as CEO focusing on delivering the very best customer and user experience to the customers we serve. Hal is passionate about delivering all aspects of our value proposition - quality, reliability of supply, responsive customer service, comfort, durability, and protective, slip resistant, and waterproof when and where our customers require. Hal has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics & Accounting from Holy Cross College in Worcester MA, a Masters of Management Finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and before Heartland served 22 years as a partner at Ernst & Young.

Afshin Enshaie - Owner & Co-Founder, Chief BootMaker
Afshin serves as Chief Bootmaker focusing on producing better boots. Afshin is passionate about designing, producing and supplying the very best boots for our customers, users, and their environments providing the protection they require. Afshin has spent the last 30 years making the top branded boots in the industry. He has been a trail blazer and a beacon of knowledge and experience in the boot industry, having designed and set up the leading boot making facilities, machines, assembly lines, and work flow processes. Afshin is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Joseph Marra - Executive Vice president Sales
Joseph serves as Heartland’ Executive Vice President of Sales. He joined Heartland in 2013 and has learned the boot business from the bottom up in roles ranging from customer service, logistics and fulfillment; compliance, quality, and field sales advancing to his current sales leadership role. He is passionate about presenting our value proposition to customers and end users; supporting our leading customer’s boot programs; and, leading the growth of our brand. He also directly works with some of the largest retailers & industrial PPE suppliers in the US to reliably support many of the leading boot programs throughout North America. Joseph holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Marymount University and multiple Project Management and Sales certifications.

Mary Baxter – Director of Finance
Mary serves as Heartland’s Director of Finance overseeing accounting, treasury, reporting, systems and technology, and key administration functions. Mary is passionate about continuously improving Heartland’s business processes, and the effectiveness with which customer requirements are met and resolved. Mary has spent many years working in manufacturing and their challenges of product costing, inventory, systems, budgeting and financial reporting. She is a graduate of Ball State University with a BS in Accounting/MIS.

Colby Helms - Executive Vice President Industrial Sales
Colby serves as Heartland’s Executive Vice President Industrial Sales. Colby’s main passion is in working with customers to create program’s delivering safe environments for their most important asset – the people who do the work. Colby has been in the Safety and PPE industry for 10 years partnering with all types of customers ranging from Fortune 500 companies to mom and pops to deliver safety. He also enjoys helping our distributor partners grow their business by showing value to their customers. He studied Business Administration at University of North Alabama and holds a QSSP and OSHA 10 certification.

John Callanan - Strategic Advisor
John serves as an advisor providing insight and strategic advice on Heartland’s markets, products, and customers. He is passionate about all thing’s footwear, and the growth in Heartland’s market presence. He is an accomplished senior footwear executive with a 40 + year record of leading both mid-sized global manufacturing and sales organizations.
OUR DIFFERENCE

RELIABILITY OF SUPPLY
We have the capacity, location, and safety stock inventory to keep your program in stock.

COMFORT
Long hours on your feet comes as standard. We take the hurt away by putting extra emphasis on comfort and support.

DURABILITY
Your feet need a fortress. Heartland Footwear's products are built to withstand a barrage of chemicals, oils, fats, and acids.

PROTECTION
Safety is your top concern, we understand that. With steel toes, steel shanks, and highly engineered outsoles...your safety is in good hands.

TRACTION
We know the ins and outs of outsole science. Made with evacuation properties for an extra secure grip to any surface.