On a Thursday last August, Monika Desai set out a few dozen pair of shoes on tables in the cafeteria at CommuniSpace Inc., a Watertown company, and invited the 200 or so women who work there to abandon their desks and try them on.
Desai probably didn’t need the big yellow sign that read, “Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!’’ “We got a mob of women,’’ even though none of the footwear was for sale, says the Roslindale entrepreneur. Desai is the founder of Open Runway Inc., which plans to allow women to customize their own pair of heels online, starting at about $140, and receive them in the mail three weeks later. “We were looking for input about how they fit, and our overall concept.’’Shoe entrepreneurs like Desai go back a ways in Massachusetts: The first shoes in the United States were made by Thomas Beard in 1629, for the Pilgrim colony. In the 19th century, Massachusetts companies helped develop much of the factory equipment that enabled mass production of footwear, with cities like Haverhill, Lynn, Lawrence, and Brockton turning out millions of pairs of shoes and boots. But making shoes, like all sorts of other manufacturing, began to move overseas after World War II. A city like Brockton, once home to nearly 100 shoe factories, saw its last factory, which made FootJoy brand golf shoes, close in 2009.replica nike sneaker sell supply replica adidas puma shoes gucci handbag breitling watch nfl jersey bape hoody evisu jeans lacoste polo t-shirt.
The new shoe entrepreneurs acknowledge that it’s hard to beat the low costs of making things in China so it’s unlikely they’ll be hiring hundreds of workers here. Instead, they’re focusing their energy on design and marketing, and getting advice on business strategy from executives who have worked for local footwear leaders like Stride Rite Corp. and Reebok International Ltd.
The Open Runway website,Polo Shirts are usually made of knitted cloth (rather than woven cloth), usually piqué cotton or, less commonly, not yet fully operational, will eventually allow women to start with a basic shoe silhou ette. “You’ll be able to change the material and the trim; it could be a metallic leather or a snakeskin or a suede,Cheap Nike shox Shoes On Sale! We provide discount Nike Shox Shoes Such as Nike Shox Turbo.’’ Desai says. “The heel could go from stiletto to wedge to a thicker heel. You might want to add a ruffle or a buckle.’’
Though the site will start with heels, Desai plans to expand into boots and ballet flats, and customizable handbags. She’ll invite emerging fashion designers to create their own special shoes on the site, and share in a percentage of every purchase.
Though Desai hasn’t yet raised outside funding for Open Runway, she’ll be pitching to investors in New York this Wednesday, as part of an event organized by Springboard Enterprises Inc., a group that says it has helped female founders raise more than $5 billion so far.Meet the next-generation embodiment of the iconic AF1, the nike air force 1
“The concept is so right, giving people the ability to create something unique,’’ says Pam Salkovitz, a footwear executive who has been advising Desai. (Until last year, Salkovitz was president of Lexington-based Stride Rite.) The big challenge in making Open Runway a success, according to Salkovitz? Establishing the right partnerships with Asian manufacturers, so that the shoes can be made quickly, and at the proper level of quality.Supply Cheap asics shoes At Official Site.
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