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| EL PORVENIR RUBBER PRODUCTS, INC. 1933 |
The story of El Porvenir Rubber Products Inc., more popularly known as ELPO (diminutive of El Porvenir St., “the future”, in Spanish, and the company address) is the story of Don Tomas Geronimo, father of the rubber shoe manufacturing industry n the Philippines, who established the industrial enterprise in 1933.
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| ELPO FOOTWEAR CHRISTMAS AD, 1933 |
Don Tomas engaged in the importation and exportation of flour and sugar in the 1920s, and from this humble beginnings in Herran, he grew the business by leaps and bounds,
Upon his death in 1940, his son Carlos took over, until the
company suffered great financial losses when the war came and destroyed the
factory and machines.
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| ELPO AD, 1956 |
In 1946, Carlos Geronimo rebuilt the business, producing 2,000 pairs of rubber shoes a day. By the start of the 1960s, ELPO shoes were being produced at the rate of 4,000 pairs daily. When it opened its 13,000 sq.m. Caloocan compound, Elpo was regarded as the biggest and most modern rubber shoe factory in the Philippines with over 500 employees. Its company compound stood on a 14,000 sq. m. lot in Grace Park.
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| ELPO AD, 1956 |
ELPO Shoes became very popular nationwide by the 50s and all through the 60s. The company was awarded the “Rubber Show Manufacturer of the Year 1950”.
Article previously appeared in short form in FilipiKnow and spot.ph (used with permission)
“Porvenir Rubber Products, Inc.”1961 Philippine Business
Progress Report, p. 66
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