Hi Friends,
I’ll start the begging now and just get it out there. If you’re financially able and would like to support this project, I’ll be doing a Kickstarter once I have shoe prototypes to show you. However, my Patreon page is also open with many funding levels available now to help me get from Idea…to prototype.
Nine days ago, I solicited input from women with lipedema to find out what our shoe needs are as a collective. We are an under served market, with many of us not being able to wear even the largest wide-calf boots, and limited options for days when our feet are swollen up due to our conditions. I was overwhelmed at the responses to pariticpate in the focus groups, generous offers, emails of support, and cheers of, ‘it’s about time!’ I got on all my social media feeds when I made the announcement. It’s more than apparent that we need and deserve shoes that fit and look like normal people shoes (whatever normal people is, since we are, but you know what I mean).
So here’s a little bit about what’s happened since I spoke the existence of the LegsLikeMine shoe brand into the universe:
- My LLC has been set up for a while, so the legal company structure has been there already.
- I’ve set up multiple focus group sessions for the weekend of May 20th and gotten everyone signed up for sessions.
- I’ve put together questions for the focus group and set up the zoom so we’ll have organized sessions.
- I’ve watched many YouTube videos on how to start a shoe brand, and found the most amazing lady, Susannah Davdah, who owns The Shoe Consultant company. I thought I was going to have to do this alone, and am thrilled to find out there is such a person!
- I met with her last Monday morning before my day job, for a pre-consult and she’s validated our niche market as reasonable and exciting. I’ve gotten her contracts and information via email and started the work to move my personal money around to fund her services. I plan to sign contracts and pay her fees this coming week once the money is in my accounts in liquid form.
- I’ve learned from Susannah that I should plan on offering 3-4 styles of shoes in multiple colors for batch number one. It’s reasonable to have them ready for pre-order only sales in the summer so we can have our boots by Fall of 23, and also so I won’t have excess inventory to deal with.
- I’ve also learned that I need to be realistic in that I won’t meet everyone’s needs in the first batch, but market research will help me identify the most common needs that I should tackle on round one.
- Lastly, I learned that it’ll take around $40K to get the shoes from my head to your feet. This includes consultation, shoe designers, patenting, prototypes, and new ‘lasts’ (foot molds) that are made more generous for lipedema feet, based on our user group measurements.
- I’ve also been doodling some ideas on “adaptable” boot designs in a book. No one will ever see the designs because I draw like a kindergartner, but there are so many ideas that I need to collect them.
- Finally, I’ve started some individual market research to look for adaptable shoes. I wanted to share this with you because you literally might have a need for shoes, any shoes, that will expand and I found some interesting things with concepts I may model in the new line.
- I’ve set up some assumptions and constraints about how I’m going to run this business. So far, they are:
- Always be user centered in what we put out. This is to meet our need as a lipedema community.
- Invite, welcome, and challenge competition. It would be a delight to have other companies realize we are a valuable market and give us (gasp!) choices! Can you even imagine!
- Share what I learn because one of you may want to do something similar with different ideas and why not help the next person.
- Set the company up with some kind of social entrepreneurship in mind, like Toms shoes. They give away pairs. I want to put that into my company for lipedema women who are budget strapped due to inability to work. I need to run numbers based on costs and prices, but I’ll figure this out before we sell, because I want to be able to share the good work in this area.
- Likewise, I know right off the top, that I want to scholarship several people to attend the Fat Disorders Resource Society Conference each year, as soon as the company becomes profitable.
- Once I get rolling, I plan to offer a spring and fall selection each year and continue to build the line to serve our needs.
- Every shoe will assume we need arch support and quality soles.
- Oh yeah, and so help me, every shoe will come up to sizes 13WW, because that’s my size.
- I’m pretty sure we’ll never offer a heel taller than an inch. I just can’t imagine it.
Based on all that, I’m sharing what I’ve learned in initial market research. Here are some current shoe brands that may meet some of our needs. The ones who seem to have the most research behind it are Silverts, from an adaptability standpoint (may be fantastic for advanced stage lipedema patients), and then Orthofeet from a style perspective (they fit into society without totally standing out as special shoes). When I saw these brands I was like oh, this has been done. But then I realized none of them fit ME! And there are no normal looking boots. We just want boots for Pete’s sake!
Early Market Research Findings – Brands that might be good to look at now while we wait for OUR shoes:
Silverts: https://amzn.to/3Pja6tM the shoe below is an adaptable Silvert’s shoe.
Orthofeet: https://amzn.to/3lc8fZK
W&LESVAGO: https://amzn.to/3yydlHT
Yoyun: https://amzn.to/3weWCrC
Other things that might help us or be incorporated into an adjustable, extendable boot style:
Leg Gaiters: https://amzn.to/3PnpIfS
Overshoes: https://amzn.to/3l7MUAC
Jileon Rain Boots: https://amzn.to/3wuAZ5h
If you’ve stuck with me this far, I hope you’re excited. We are doing this friends! I’ll keep you posted.
Best,
Susan
PS: I’ll have the begging start now. If you’re financially able and would like to support this project, I’ll be doing a Kickstarter once I have prototypes. My Patreon page is also open with many funding levels available now to help me get from idea to prototype.
