VANCOUVER, British Columbia (PRWEB)
06 October 2021

Canadian footwear brand SOLE ™ unveils a new Made for You production model as well as new material innovations to reduce the carbon footprint while increasing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Founder and CEO Mike Baker shared his thoughts on the new initiative stating that “there is an increased use of presale models in various industries with the proliferation of crowdfunding sites further standardizing this practice. Linking consumer demand to production as directly as possible will always make sense. So, with Made for You, we are fully embracing this model to ensure that we are making exactly what our customers want ”.

The Made for You platform allows SOLE customers to pre-order products from upcoming production orders. For the consumer, this means first access to products before they reach production, including the ability to reserve their size in limited edition launches before they are released to the general public. This early access also comes with a substantial discount. With this model, even if a product is currently out of stock at the warehouse, it will never be unavailable because customers will have the opportunity to pre-order the item in the next production run, while still receiving a discount.

Operationally, Made for You will allow SOLE to forecast demand more accurately, avoiding dead inventory and waste resulting from overproduction of sizes and colors that would otherwise have been manufactured in a production run model. typical. “It’s hard to predict which styles and colors of shoes will be popular for any given season. This can lead to low returns on production investments, broken and expired size series inventory, and a lot of wasted warehouse space. The Made for You model will help this process immensely. Building a production cycle around actual orders helps us pivot or roll back unpopular products before making those production investments. This helps keep our inventory flow lean to hopefully reduce warehousing needs by 20%. Ultimately, this ensures that the products we make have real demand without the hard guesswork, ”said Andrew Yule, Director of Supply Chain at SOLE.

Less waste is good for business, but even better for the planet. The footwear industry shows no signs of slowing growth. With the bulk of shoe production using petroleum-based plastics, the global environmental impact is huge, accounting for 1.4% of all greenhouse gas emissions per year according to a comprehensive 2018 study. , global air travel accounts for about 2.5% of all emissions each year … The footwear industry can be a dirty business.

Changes in the way we produce and consume products are necessary to meet the challenges regarding the sustainability of the footwear industry. Fortunately, there are many angles to approach the challenges and SOLE tries to take a holistic approach to the problem. The solutions will have to come from both the supply and demand side of the equation, which is where the Made for You model fits, as well as a circular recovery program that is underway.

SOLE launches Made for You with the launch of the limited edition Jasper Chukka, made in collaboration with responsible clothing brand United By Blue, which is natural, recycled and ethical from tongue to sole. The Jasper Chukka is the first in a series of upcoming products to boast the ReCORK ™ recycled cork midsole, a revolutionary alternative to petroleum-derived foams. This midsole is the centerpiece of a shoe that doesn’t compromise on performance, durability or comfort while keeping durability first, an important business philosophy for SOLE. After being crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 84 minutes, 30% of these limited edition shoes have already been sold.

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