Arlington, Texas ? Howard Shaffer wants to make it easy for the world to walk a mile in his made-to-measure shoes.

That’s why, at a time when most of what used to be the domestic footwear industry has decamped to foreign factories, he’s opened a cutting-edge shoe-making facility in the United States.

Shaffer uses a computerized manufacturing method, but his Otabo shoes approach the fit of handmade at an off-the-shelf price, according to Wally Hardin, owner of The Man’s Shop in downtown Arlington.

Hardin became Shaffer’s first outside retailer after he learned of the operation during a visit to Florida a couple of years ago and made a trip to see the plant.

Otabo shoes are available in Kansas at Comfort Plus Shoes in Leawood.

Shaffer is not the first to try mating made-to-measure apparel with CAD/CAMs (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) and robotics – Levi’s has tried it with limited success in jeans – but if it works, he will be among the first to succeed.

“Their goal is for you to put a shoe on and say, ‘Man …”‘ said Hardin, who is one of just two Texas retailers for Shaffer’s Otabo shoe company. “The fit’s guaranteed.”

Mark Krueger, a sales associate at The Man's Shop in Arlington, Texas, demonstrates how customers can use new computer technology at the store to order made-to-measure shoes from Otabo, a shoe retailer in Pompano Beach, Fla. The white, skin-tight sock Krueger holds is worn by the customer so that precise measurements can be taken while a computer scans the foot for a fitting.

Although American men have favored foreign-made athletic shoes in recent decades, a market for a high-quality, dressy leather shoe remains: U.S. consumers spend an estimated $50 billion a year on footwear, Shaffer said.

“There’s been a clear trend towards looking like you mean business,” said Bob Clark, vice president for sales at Alden Shoe Co. in Maine, whose American-made shoes cost from $325 to $475. “We’re selling all we can make.”

Although Otabo has not yet left a major footprint on the market, Mark Krueger, The Man’s Shop sales associate, said the store had sold about 175 pairs in the past year and a half.

A third of American shoe buyers have foot problems, said Shaffer, and for guys like California account executive Greg Snelson, the Otabo has been a perfect fit.

Snelson has arthritis and has long used customized orthotic inserts. He used to spend $295 to $315 for a pair of Allen-Edmonds, then drop another $300 to $400 for orthotics.

But he gets comparable quality and comfort for about $400 in the made-to-measure Otabo.

“I was amazed at how comfortable it is,” said Snelson, a former Arlington resident who, like many of Hardin’s customers, regularly travels to Arlington to shop.

The fitting process begins when customers slip a foot into a computerized scanner at one of about 20 retailers that carry the shoes in, so far, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia plus the United Kingdom.

The scanner captures about 200,000 “data points” on the foot and creates a three-dimensional image customers can view within seconds on an in-store monitor.

Buyers select a style and pick the leather for the shoes’ uppers. Orders are transmitted to the Florida factory on a dedicated DSL connection.

With an investment of about $20 million of his own money, Shaffer set up shop in Pompano Beach, Fla.

“You have to completely reinvent the back end” of the manufacturing process, said Shaffer, who has fine-tuned some of the shoe-making software himself. “You have to control the manufacturing; it’s all about the fit.”

He’s able to keep costs low because it’s not necessary to hire highly trained shoemakers, who are increasingly hard to find in the United States.

He hires employees with good computer skills and says he pays an average wage of $13 to $14 per hour for employees on the factory floor.

The next challenge, he said, is to get the company in the black. Manufacturing capacity is about 400 to 600 pairs of shoes a day, but they’re only making about 16 pairs a day, Shaffer said.

To crank up sales, Shaffer is looking for $20 million in capital to better market the product.

He hasn’t yet ventured into women’s shoes.