WILTON – In the former Bass building Thursday, Marie Spaulding and Diane Curtis were back to doing what they know best.

Focusing on the sewing machines before them, they were deftly turning bits of leather into something resembling shoes, smiling faintly now and then.

The mood in the room was ebullient.

When the local shoe companies began moving manufacturing overseas a decade ago, shoemakers Spaulding and Curtis were out of work. Spaulding went back to school and reluctantly started telemarketing.

Curtis began learning accounting.

Shoemaker Mike Newcomb of Wilton took a shoemaking job in Lewiston and had to get up at 3 a.m to be at work on time.

But after a new shoe manufacturer opened in town this year, Newcomb is much more rested, making shoes and joking with shoemaker Betty Nichols, also overjoyed at the new position.

The 10 shoemakers back at work in Wilton represent a big drop from the 350 working there eight years ago, just before G.H. Bass and Co. moved its manufacturing out of the country. Curtis, Spaulding, Nichols and Newcomb now work for New England Orthotic and Diabetic Shoe Manufacturing Inc., or NEODS, for short, a company that makes shoes primarily for diabetes patients.

Finding a niche market is the only way an American-manufactured shoe company can stay in business in the global economy, NEODS manager Bruce MacDonald of Skowegan said Wednesday.

He’s worked in the shoe industry for 30 years – both owning his own company and working for companies that have all closed. His father, 81-year-old Bob MacDonald, worked in the industry 60 years and now attaches soles to NEODS shoes. Bruce’s son Todd works for NEODS, too.

“There are nearly 20 million people in the U.S. today with diabetes,” Bruce MacDonald said. “And one of the biggest (diabetes-related) costs in the U.S. government is amputation.”

Diabetes, which affects the body’s vascular system, is especially hard on feet, he said. Diabetics often have swollen and partially numb feet.

Proper foot care is incredibly important for folks like that, MacDonald said. Among other things, McDonald said, it’s important shoes not be too tight, not hold too much moisture, and have room for special orthotic supports.

And, he said, because diabetes causes many patients’ feet to swell, diabetics often need extrawide shoes, which can be very hard to find. So when NEODS’ parent company, U.S. MedSys Corp., called him and told him they were looking for someone to set up an orthotic shoe manufacturing company in Maine, he jumped into the business, feet first.

“I was very confident (NEODS) could be successful,” he explained.

That was last July. MacDonald, his father, and a few of his employees worked on putting the business together all year, and three months ago began manufacturing foot and ankle braces. Now, NEODS makes shoes, braces and orthotics.

And, MacDonald said, this is only the beginning. He has lots of ideas for expansion, including creating new prototype styles.

A new retro-sneaker style is being designed that will be paired with what MacDonald calls a revolutionary new kind of heel, already a big hit in Japan. He explained the Japanese company with the patent on the design made it to replicate the position human feet take when barefoot.

The minute you put a shoe on, he said, it changes the position of your foot and puts excess pressure on your heel, which in turn affects the position of your ankles, knees, hips and back. The new shoes with the Japanese heel attempt to fix that, and will be called FootMotions, MacDonald said. When those shoes go into production, he said, he’ll probably start hiring more shoemakers. He’s already got a file of 250 applications.

Back on the factory floor, Curtis worked on sewing the newest version of the prototype while Spaulding worked on some men’s shoes from the current line. They both said they love their jobs.

It’s a relief to be back at it after all that time, Spaulding said. “It’s satisfying,” she said, holding up a finished shoe – minus the heel. “I think that’s why so many of us stick to it – it’s really satisfying – when you’re finished, you can see what you’ve done.”