Zipz Shoes The Worlds First Two Part Zippable Shoe!

Zipz Shoes might just change the way the world thinks about what a shoe can be. Here is the idea, you purchase a sole and a zip on top of the shoe separately. By purchasing soles and tops separately you can basically match any top to any bottom creating a endless amount of shoe combinations. Soles sell for $19 and covers sell for $34. I am truly surprised that this idea hasn’t been thought of ages of ago! To me this seems like such a no brainer idea and I really can see these catching on.

With Zipz in their infancy we sat down with the CEO John Stefani to see where the idea of Zipz originated from and what we can expect as this company grows.

Zipshoes.com

Who am I and what is my role at Zipz:

My name is John Stefani and I am one of the founders/creators of Zipz shoes which is the world’s first, true interchangeable footwear system. I’ve been involved with Zipz from day one developing it from idea to market product. Currently I function as the CEO of the company.

Where did the inspiration for Zipz come from?

Well I wish I could take credit for the idea but it was my father Jerry Stefani who came up with it. It was at a family BBQ about 5 years ago that there were lots of little children running around. My aunt made a comment that it was frustrating as a parent that the children constantly wanted new shoes and changed their shoes several times a day. In a stream of conscious thinking my father said, “Maybe you need like an interchangeable shoe that you only buy pieces for or something the kids could change the pieces themselves on”. The comment was quickly forgotten but after the group disbanded my immediate family members inquired about my dad’s thought and asked how he would make such a product. He didn’t know but over the next couple of weeks my immediate family worked on the ideas and 5 years later here we are.

So what kind of start up costs were you looking at for launching and releasing a revolutionary shoe:

Well sadly in the manufacturing business the start up costs are very high and then if you couple that with legal expenses for any patentable item you have to have quite a bit of capital to get going. I’d say we spent about $500k just to get through development and to commercialization and then more money to grow it as you reach market with inventory, advertising, shows, etc. so ideally $1-$2 million would really be necessary I think.

Was Zipz started with personal funds or investors/

We started Zipz with all personal funds and we took it pretty far down the road spending about $1 million ourselves. As we got closer to market we realized we needed more capital and began to take on investors and raised about $1.5 million from investors.

What is your brand vision:
Well Zipz wants to be the company that changes the way you look at shoes and the process of how you choose your shoes that’s for sure. We envision an entire demographic of all ages using our technology and system. Embracing the idea of buying just pieces they need as opposed to entire pairs of shoes. Everyone from kids to the elderly, from slip-on’s to orthodics, from boots to sneakers. Zipz really wants to infiltrate your footwear habits and become the new norm on how you make and choose your footwear. It’s a bit forward thinking but so are many of the ideas of today.

To someone who hasn’t seen your shoes how would you describe them?

The simple answer is we’ve taken the current sneakers you wear now and cut them in half to make two separate pieces that then you can interchange to give yourself more wearable options and creative freedom at a cheaper price than a whole pair of shoes.

What is your target demographic?

Our initial launch line, Cali Classic, is really directed for the most part at youth ages from 4-18 predominantly. Our secondary line, Back Alley, is directed at late teen through 30’s. Must more aggressive and with a skate, surf, snow edge to it. We have some other lines were working on as well to continually expand the demographic to ultimately cover the gambit of ages across the board.

Have sneaker heads been quick to adopt Zipz?

I think the sneaker freaks need something more than just our Zipz system to get them on board as the Cali Classic line is young in demographic and look. You don’t see to many sneaker freaks in that age bracket. They really need to have a shoe that is totally unique and radically different in appearance. That’s where our Back Alley line comes in. Not only is it interchangeable but the design and composition of the shoe is unlike anything on the planet. I think the minute they see those we have them on board big time!!

Who is in charge of the artistic direction of Zipz?

That’s really a collaborative effort between Scott Anderson or creative director and Jerry and myself. Scott’s really the keeper of the creative kingdom/brand on the creative side day to day but we all get a say in the final decisions. Since we have some very different points of view that decision making process can be intense as we’re all very passionate people.

What has been the most difficult and also the most rewarding part of creating your own brand?

Gosh, there were so many setbacks it’s really hard to think of just one that was the worst. Ultimately I think when you manufacture a product and don’t own the factories that can be very frustrating as you have no control over a lot of the process and timeline. Finding a great partner in that realm is very difficult and that took us some time to iron all that out. I think when you see someone out wearing the shoes and more importantly that they enjoy the shoes that’s really the best part. I took my nephew on Easter to get his picture taken with the Easter Bunny and the Easter Bunny was wearing Zipz. That was cool.

What can we expect of Zipz in Q2 of 2010?

You’ll start to see us get some traction in the major retailers. Chains like Justice and Bloomingdales. We also should have more traction in the high end boutique area as well as we just continue to roll out the product here in the U.S. Our European, Asian, and Middle East markets are starting to take off and we’ll even have some traction from our neighbors down South of us as well. Overall you’ll see the buzz continue to grow in Q2.

What advise would you give someone looking to go into this market as a start up?

I’d tell them the product had better have something very, very special and unique about it or it’s just not worth the time and money. You have to stand out in a market especially as a start up so if your product is just another shoe then I would pass and look at another job opportunity.