EXPERT OPINION

Ever wonder what it would be like to start your own footwear brand? Susie Freedman Tapper, a footwear industry outsider, did. Last year she and her partner Mara Zipursky had a bright idea for an infant shoe line and began working on Sweet Pedtooties. We asked the fledgling entrepreneur to share her adventures, triumphs and missteps with us. This story continues from our June issue.

Plan B.

Plan Bold? Plan Brilliant? Plan Better???? We certainly hope so. In light of the recent economic troubles and, thus, our difficulty in securing financing, we decided to shift our focus from a Chinese made product to a locally made one. By doing so, we could, no doubt, minimize our lead times and eliminate duty and large shipping charges. Producing a product in the same province would offer us more direct control over the quality of the product. We would be able to go to the place of production and view the footwear as it’s being made, rather than having to wait for an entire shipment of shoes to arrive before being able to inspect the quality.

What about the upfront costs? You must be thinking, “There’s no way they could make their shoes for less money in Canada than they could in China.” And you’re right. When we had originally looked into getting our soft-soled baby shoes manufactured here in Canada, we found that it was insanely expensive to do so. The shoe manufacturers we contacted literally laughed—yes, laughed—when they heard the price that we wanted to produce the shoes for. Could we increase our retail price? Not if we had any hope in selling our product to our intended target market. We would actually lose money if we tried to make our shoes at home. So we never imagined that we could manufacture any footwear locally for a reasonable price.

However, what you don’t know is that Plan B involved working with a cottage industry to create our product. Suddenly, we would no longer be dealing with big factories that required large minimum orders. What if there were no minimum orders required at all? Now that would lower our upfront costs and the amount of capital required. And THAT would save our fledgling business!

Shorter lead times, lower minimums, lower start-up costs and increased control equaled lower risk and a more manageable business start for Sweet Pedtooties.

So what footwear product did we know could be made here in Manitoba, Canada?

Screeeeeeeechhhhh! Hold it. Sorry. I can’t quite reveal our secret just yet.

Why? Because, even as I write this, we have yet to hold a perfectly finished sample in our hands. Over the past few months, ideas have evolved and designs have changed, pushing us closer and closer to our impending deadline. Things always seem to take longer than we hope or expect, but we want a product that we absolutely adore. Sometimes that takes time… lots and lots of time.

Our challenge remains creating samples that we’re happy with by fall 2009. Is that even possible at this point? The idea of missing that deadline frustrates me to no end! But, as people have told me time and again, shoe biz can be tough. We’ve just got to stay positive, push and persevere. My hope is that we will have a product to share, in detail, with you very soon… and my next hope?

That you’ll all purchase it!

Susie Freedman Tapper is the co-owner of Sweet Pedtooties Inc. Find out more about her soft-soled infant shoes www.sweetpedtooties.com. Read more about Susie’s adventures at www.wsatoday.com

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