In the 1960s, U.S. shoe manufacturing increasingly moved to countries with lower labor costs, making it difficult for U.S. plants to stay competitive in the face of less expensive imports.

[4] Saul Katz continued to run a surviving subsidiary spun off from Hubbard, called Highland Import.

[5] Highland Import worked with American branded shoe companies to develop special products.

One was a hand sewn heavy leather moccasin modeled after a shoe developed by Walter Dyer in Rockport, Massachusetts.

[6] The 3,000 pairs of moccasins brought into Marlborough arrived too late for Highland’s customer and so the shoes remained in the warehouse for some months.

Bruce Katz then began working with his father and travelled the East Coast from Boston to Washington, D.C., selling these shoes in plain white boxes to small leather shops and shoe boutiques in many small towns.

[8] In 1986, Rockport was preparing to go public when the family decided instead to sell the company to British athletic footwear giant Reebok.

[16] On May 14, 2018, Rockport filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing a "costly and time-consuming separation" from their former owner, Adidas AG.

Sweetgall and the other walkers wore Rockport shoes and their trek was documented in a film, Walk America!