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 Founded in 2009, Shoes of Prey allows women to create unique designs
on its website, choosing from 300,000 trillion possible permutations
of materials, colors, styles and sizes. It promises to deliver in
four weeks but often manages two.
Jodie Fox, who set up Shoes of Prey in 2009 with former Google Inc
employees Michael Fox and Mike Knapp, expects consumer demand for
faster delivery to keep rising.
"Ideally we would get to a point ... where we are able to (deliver)
overnight a pair of shoes to you that you designed the day before,"
Fox said in a telephone interview from Sydney.
That will only be possible once advances in 3-D printing technology
allow the company, which currently ships worldwide from a factory in
China, to set up small manufacturing hubs around the globe.
Longer-term, Fox can imagine being able to check the weather, choose
an outfit and design a pair of matching shoes that can print out in
her wardrobe while she takes a shower.
"To truly marry real customization and immediacy is a way bigger
challenge," she said. "My dream of the future is manufacturing in
the home."
CUSTOM MADE
Sportswear firms such as Nike and Adidas already allow fans to
personalize sneakers ordered online and Adidas hopes to be able to
produce a custom-made running shoe from scratch in store by next
year.
A survey by consultants Deloitte shows 37 percent of consumers are
interested in buying personalized footwear, rising to 48 percent for
those aged between 16 and 24.
Fox said Shoes of Prey's sales had risen 120 percent in the last
year, helped by the six design studios the brand has opened in the
United States in upscale Nordstrom department stores.
Fox, 33, said customers still prefer to buy shoes in store despite
the advent of e-commerce. "We want to touch it, we want to see it,
we want to understand it in its physical form before we buy it. That
hasn't changed," she said.
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The top five materials her customers choose are all black, Fox said,
and the most popular style is a three-inch stiletto, often with a
personal twist like a colorful lining.
Fox, who prefers either totally flat shoes or a heel at least four
inches high, said her typical customer is a 25- to 35-year-old
professional woman with above-average income, not surprising given a
price tag of about $220 per pair.
"Honestly, Shoes of Prey is not about shoes. It is about this whole
idea of getting you what you want, when you want it, and that will
extend into many products," Fox said.
She said her Italian grandmother had laughed when she described her
business, noting cobblers used to make made-to-measure shoes when
she grew up in Sicily.
"We're reimagining something that was a product of days past with
the capabilities we have today," Fox said. "That is why technology
is so exciting."
(Editing by David Holmes)
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