The global footwear industry is estimated to be worth around $382 billion and it presents an opportu...
The global footwear industry is estimated to be worth around $382 billion and it presents an opportunity for both start-ups and established companies to capture that demand.
Long gone are the days when it was only the big players who could play in the shoe game.
In the 21st century, anyone can start their own shoe company, as long as they are willing to put in the work and effort.
But the market has become quite crowded. The increasingly lower barrier to entry in the industry and globalization have meant that the market has been flooded with a lot of competition from various countries.
This is why in this article, we will go over how to start a shoe company in order to have the competitive edge in front of all of the other shoe start-ups.
We will go over how you can start a fashion shoe brand and how to build your dream shoe business from idea to a finished product and then to customers.
The first step to starting your own shoe fashion line is to think about the product and the niche.
In this case, ''niche'' means your target audience. These will be the people to whom you will be marketing your shoes.
What kind of shoe product are you looking to design and for whom:
● Are you going to design high heels for middle-upper class office women in Paris?
● Or are you going to design ergonomic and comfortable sandals for old women in their 60s?
Naturally, the bigger the brand you are and the bigger budget you have, you will be able to afford to have multiple products for the same target audience, or even have multiple target audiences.
If you are having trouble picking on the product and the niche, you can think about a pain point that you have right now.
What do you think is missing in the shoe industry? Do you think that you can build the perfect ratio of price and quality?
After that, you want to research that industry and the niche as much as possible.
For example, what kind of people would be interested in this kind of shoes?
You can consider factors such as age group, lifestyle, fashion preferences, or even income.
You do not have to be as precise as possible in this stage, but you should have a good idea of what you want to design and for whom.
And if you only have a target audience in mind and not a product, look at what your ideal clients are wearing and what they are interested in.
What kind of shoes are those middle-aged office women wearing? Or what kind of shoes are those teenage girls wearing on their days out?
After you have a product and a target audience in mind, it's time to choose your business model.
It is essentially how you are going to operate your shoe business:
If you are a designer or have gone through a designer and want to create unique shoes that the world has not seen before.
After you have sketches or CAD design, you can contact a private label manufacturer like Joes Footwear to review your designs and help you with building samples, sourcing materials, and then manufacturing the shoe line.
In this way, you have full control over the design of the final shoe.
Alternatively, you can choose to put your brand on an existing shoe line.
For example, we at Joes Footwear have a fashion brand called Rebecca Claire that supports white labeling.
It's a women's shoe fashion collection that enables both small and large brands to put their logos on our extensive shoe collection of hundreds of women's shoes.
In this way, you are leveraging ready designs and can experiment with multiple designs for your target audience to see what suits them.
ou can also be the middle-man if you do not wish to design or own your own shoes and production.
With wholesale, you can buy at a discounted price hundreds of pair of shoes from a producer and then re-sell them to other retailers or to consumers.
With dropshipping, you can start a website where you can promote other people's shoes for an increased price and then be the middle-man from the manufacturer to the end user for small margins.
Ideally, if you are looking to build a sustainable brand that is profitable in the long run, you need to consider private labeling or white labeling.
And lastly, are you going to sell your shoes in a physical location or in a website? Perhaps, both?
Next up, you want to start writing the business plan - how are you going to become profitable?
Here are the most important things that you need to take into consideration:
1.The estimated price that you want to sell the product for
Are you going to sell the product at a premium or affordable price?
That will determine your budget for manufacturing the shoes, the quality of the materials, and the future advertising spend.
2.The profit margins that you want to reach
How much do you want to profit from the sale of each pair of shoes?
For example, if the cost of manufacturing is $50 per pair and the cost of marketing $20 per pair, that means you need to price your shoes at least above $80 to be profitable.
3.The manufacturing budget (target cost of production)
Naturally, you cannot go cheap while building the highest quality shoes. You need to be realistic about how much you are willing to spend per the production of each pair of shoes
4.The go-to-market strategy
How are you planning to sell and market your shoes? Are you going to invest in advertising or are you going to sell your shoes at a cheaper price than your competitors?
The main idea is to figure out how much it will cost you based on what kind of quality you are expecting, and from there on to figure out how much will the product cost.
If you find out that to build the next high-quality sandals you will need to spend $150 per pair of shoes, then that means you will need to price them at $200 or above. You cannot be running at a loss.
It also matters how many shoes you are going to sell. You can afford to operate on small profit margins as long as you can sell hundreds of pairs of shoes, but that's often not realistic for smaller brands.
Here comes the fun part of the shoe start-ups:
You want to start by creating the logo and the brand name. It can be easy to remember or sound classy.
It all depends on the target audience that you are trying to reach. If you are trying to reach a higher-income audience, you cannot brand yourself as ''5 Bucks Shoes''.
That brings up the importance of positioning and building the right brand identity. You want to create a brand that tells a story and that people want to relate to.
What kind of positioning do you want to have? How are you going to be different from your competitors?
Some brands prefer to bring a sense of ''class'' while others of ''fitness''. In other words, how do you want your audience to feel?
In the saturated shoe market, differentiation goes a long way. Quality materials and unique designs as well, but some people want to express themselves with the shoes that they are wearing.
When it comes to shoes, things like ''how I am feeling wearing these shoes'' are what is the unique selling proposition - the design, the brand story, the materials, and comfort.
At Joes Footwear, we can help you with creating a brand name, and logo and guide you to build a visual identity that reflects your values.
After you are done with all of the planning, now it's time to start designing to bring your idea to life.
You can start by creating initial sketches and then to follow it up with a CAD 3D design.
The first design does not have to be the last one, as you can iterate it and work on it.
And if you are struggling with the creation of 3D shoe designs on CAD, Joes Footwear would be happy to support you. Our shoe designers are versed in bringing shoe ideas into realistic 3D models.
Now you've got the plan and you've got a CAD design. The next step is to find a reliable manufacturing partner like Joes Footwear to help you with the production of the shoes.
Joes Footwear is a shoe manufacturer with over 13 years of experience developing high-quality designer footwear for some of the leading European and American companies such as L'agence and Jessica Rich that go on to sell for hundreds of dollars.
You will have the opportunity to run the sketches or CAD design over with us and we will provide you with feedback and recommendations.
After that, Joes can help you with material sourcing as we help you finish the final shoe design, as we have helped dozens of other fashion brands along their way.
And finally, you can request a shoe sample prototype.
Our experienced team at Joes Footwear will help you bring your brand's vision to life through custom designs and will help you with building the right brand identity for your business.
After you approve the final shoe sample, it becomes time for production.
Joes Footwear can accommodate both small and large brands as our low minimum order quantity (MOQ) shoe manufacturing enables shoe brands to produce in small batches in order to be flexible with the shoe designs and test them on their market.
You need to find a partner like Joes who prioritizes high-quality materials and ensures both shoe durability and longevity.
The skilled craftsmen at Joes pay great attention to detail, ensuring that every stitch and finish is perfect and remains on brand identity. We do not sacrifice quality for comfort, as we prioritize crafting comfortable shoes.
With a brand like Joes Footwear, you can trust us to handle the production process in order to ensure timely and high-quality production for your shoe line.
We have wide access to premium materials that can bring your sketches to life with our meticulous craftsmanship.
After you have produced your shoes and are ready for the end consumer, now it's time to start distributing them.
Ideally, you want to start doing some light marketing before the shoe production, such as starting social media channels and perhaps even building a website.
There are a few ways to approach this with the following being the preferred methods:
● Social Media Marketing - post your shoes on TikTok, Instagram, and other relevant social media platforms in your country in order to start generating brand presence
● Digital Advertising - also known as paid media, you can invest into Instagram Ads, TikTok Ads or Google Ads and push your products in front of the right audience as these platforms allow you to target who you want to reach
● Influencer Marketing - you can collaborate with well-known influencers in the beauty and fashion niche who can help you distribute your shoes by co-creating content with the shoes or posting them
Marketing and sales is also something that Joes Foootwear can help you with, as our team can provide strategic marketing guidance to help you reach your ideal audience.
One of the essential aspects of starting your own shoe line is picking the right manufacturing partner.
Our shoe design and manufacturing experts are happy to assist you, so contact us today with your vision and you will receive a free quote.
We offer customer support and after-sales service after the shoe production in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly for you.
We also offer a comprehensive warranty policy to ensure customer satisfaction in the unlikely event of defects or product issues.
Feel free to read more about our specific services on the different product category pages, and feel free to have a look at our white-labeling fashion brand Rebecca Claire.
You can contact us by filling in our contact form or contact us directly:
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 13509833035
Shoe Designer
Innovative and accomplished shoe designer with 18 years of experience in the footwear industry. I have dedicated my career to creating exceptional shoe designs that blend style, functionality, and market appeal.
Brand Manager
Experienced brand manager with a successful 10-year tenure in the shoes manufacturing and trading industry. I possess a strong passion for brand development that drive business growth and market expansion.
