“I felt like VEDA’s mission and our mission were completely aligned. We’re trying to build a manufacturing operation and keep it here in Vermont; we’re looking to create jobs and grow something that’s bigger than just our products. It’s something that is really rooted in the community.”
Matt Renna
After he began making shoes on his back porch in the 1990s, Matt Renna opened up shop on Church Street in Burlington, crafting made-to-measure footwear. Eventually, he ventured into handbags and partnered with a factory in New Hampshire.
More than a decade ago, in 2011, Renna started Queen City Dry Goods, making apparel, bags and other items. Now, though, he’s returned to his footwear roots, rebranding as Queen City Footwear in 2023.
“We’re really a footwear company first,” he said. He hopes to become known as an American-made, high-end sneaker, following the esteem of the leather Vermont House Shoe line.
The business manufactures its own items, as well as pieces for other companies. So much so that it needed a cut-and-sew factory to keep up with demand.
Working with VEDA, he said, just makes sense. The VEDA connection was made through another lender Renna trusted, Opportunities Credit Union. He said VEDA’s staff were helpful and supportive, getting everything prepared and making sure the loan came through.
VEDA’s funding helped Queen City Footwear buy the condo unit in the building where it is based after his landlord announced plans to retire and sell — the timing was perfect.
For Renna this was huge.
“It represents economic security for us, that our expenses will remain more stable and that we’re going to build equity here instead of paying rent to a landlord.”
Buying its home building also means the opportunity for new styles — including sneakers. Growth is always a learning process, and Renna credited VEDA with helping educate him every step of the way to his first commercial building purchase.
Renna said VEDA’s people “are here, they live in the community and they know the lay of the land, so it was much more personalized.”
Over the next five or so years, Renna hopes to grow the business further, expand manufacturing of its shoes, gain more employees and enter into retail partnerships in addition to its existing direct-to-consumer sales model.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Queen City Footwear: Making strides in new shoes.