From 2017 to 2018, sales grew 300 percent year-over-year, and she sold more shoes than in the entire history of the brand. Since pivoting to direct-to-consumer, business has been booming, she said, sharing that key marketing support has come from referral networks and organic pr, including press articles repurposed for digital advertising. “I spent weeks on a letter, explaining that I wanted to offer them something better, and I offered credits to the web site for customers who had purchased product that moved into the new model,” the designer explained. Her made-in-Italy footwear, which had previously sold for $495 to $1,200 (with some pieces going as high as $1,600) would now retail from $245 to $900.
SARAH FLINT SHOES HOW TO
Another concern was how to address her existing customers Flint was worried they would be upset because they had spent a huge amount of money on shoes before, and with the new DTC model, they were going to cost less. So she brought on a digital marketing agency that worked in part for shoes, and “stalked” retail strategist Kimberly Nemser from Warby Parker to join her board.
SARAH FLINT SHOES FREE
She had to move to an e-com optimized warehouse, offer free shipping and returns she had seven employees and having canceled her wholesale orders, no money to hire more people. “I knew we had to have news around the launch moment, so I approached Cindy Crawford, a longtime fan of the brand, to come in as an investor and collaborator,” Flint said. “Isn’t there an opportunity to be one of the first DTC brands, disrupt a broken model and attract a whole new generation of luxury consumers with better prices, original designs and a brand voice empowering women?” she said of her eureka moment.
SARAH FLINT SHOES FULL
She also started to notice how her friends were shopping differently they were no longer shopping luxury brands at full price, they were buying them mid-season on-sale or with a discount code and they were shopping DTC brands for basics because they were offering good products at a better price. “We spent 20 minutes trying to find them and finally found them tucked away in two corners and I realized even if I drove all the customers in the world there, they weren’t going to wait 20 minutes to find the shoes.”īy the end of 2015, she was designing more for the store buyers than her customers. The breaking point was when she walked onto the floor of a store and tried to find where her shoes had been moved. “I was designing about 200 styles of shoes a year so each store could have their exclusives.…And they didn’t buy the shoes I wanted them to.”
She didn’t own any of her customer data, and it was a huge design burden. “There was validation as a luxury brand, it allowed celebrity stylists to find us, and it allowed us to get the volume so I could leave my U-Haul days behind me,” she said of landing those big accounts.īut there were more negatives, it turned out. She went to selling five Barneys doors, then Bloomingdale’s, Shopbop and Moda Operandi, in addition to specialty stores. Taking a cue from Spanx founder Sarah Blakely, she sent checks to every family member and friend for half the price of a pair of shoes to incentivize them to shop. “However, they would be on consignment, they would do no marketing around it and I was not allowed to advertise it either.” “Every designer’s dream, right? Well, it was not exactly the dream I imagined,” Flint said, sharing that she had just four weeks to get the order ready, lured with the promise her designs would be sitting on the floor between Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin. “After that, everyone from Jessica Alba to Kate Hudson to Amal Clooney followed.”Īfter four seasons, she got into Barneys New York. Her big break came when a pr acquaintance was able to get the shoes on Heidi Klum. “It looked very glamorous on the outside,” said the designer, who initially ran the business from her one-bedroom New York apartment, sleeping next to an industrial-sized sewing machine.
She also drove a U-Haul across the country selling shoes in affluent women’s living rooms.
Known for shoes with extra arch support and padding that don’t sacrifice comfort for fashion, Flint launched her brand in fall 2013 in two small luxury boutiques, selling on consignment. To promote the pop-up, she’s done press, used Instagram ads, influencer posts, networked with hotel concierges and employed a chalk artist to hit the sidewalk with the address and the brand slogan, “Walk Like a Woman.” We’ve seen huge success and we will open more pop ups next year.” “We have a lot of Canadian customers who have literally flown in to shop the pop-up and fly home. 15, the pop-up has already yielded results, she said. Pusha T, Futura, and More Attend the KENZO By Nigo Launch Party
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