David Harold Robertson, QSM, founder of Kumfs Shoes. Died aged 94. FOR podiatrists Mervyn Adams and David Robertson, the frustration of treating foot problems caused by ill-fitting shoes led them, in the mid-1940s, to design their own lasts.
They made detailed measurements of thousands of feet, and, after analysingthe results, they developed three lasts and arranged for a local footwear manufacturer to make shoes for them on these lasts. That was the beginning.
David Robertson never completely stopped working, spending time in the Kumfs office every week, until his death on September 17 after a car accident.
And he still had his finger firmly on the pulse of the company he had built - now a standout New Zealand success story exporting 70 per cent of its production around the world.
He was born in Dunedin in June 1910 and raised in Christchurch, where he was educated at Christchurch Technical College. He began working as a surveying cadet in 1929, but was laid off in the Great Depression.
It was through his sister Violet that he met Mervyn Adams while on a visit to Auckland. Mervyn Adams taught him podiatry and later married his sister.
At first, the matronly Mervyn Adams shoes were sold directly to their podiatry clients or through Mervyn's father's footwear store in Queen St. In 1950 they established their first shop in Hamilton and began supplying shoes to other podiatrists.
Growing demand led to production problems and in 1961 Fergie Simpson joined them in setting up their first footwear-manufacturing factory. By this time David Robertson was very much the driving force in the firm.
New impetus was added when David's son, John Robertson, joined in 1966, and in the 1970s the Australian market was developed largely through his efforts. Mervyn Adams died in 1982.
In 1984, the protection the footwear industry had enjoyed was largely stripped away, decimating much of the industry, and in 1987 came the stock market crash. Kumfs survived and went on to thrive, largely due to qualities the organisation had absorbed from David Robertson.
Today, his grandson is at the helm of the company.
