![]() ![]() Third, ISlides’ success is based on customized printing and efficient warehousing that occurs on Boston’s edge. Fortunately for ISlides, Kittredge was able to parley a chance personal connection into a good manufacturing partnership in Vietnam and made his move there ahead of the surge of American companies that now have similar urges in the wake of Trump’s trade war with China. membership in the Trans Pacific Partnership for trade then President Donald Trump nixed America as a signatory to that pact shortly after he took office. Also, Kittredge’s initial bet on China had assumed U.S. companies which source from that country, manufacturing costs in China were rising too significantly. For one, sharing a problem that afflicts many U.S. Second, Kittredge switched sourcing of manufacture of ISlides’ blank shoes from China to Vietnam about three years ago, for two reasons. He had spent about a decade rising through the product ranks at Reebok and becoming frustrated at the slow speed to market of such giants. The first is that slides – they’re differentiated from flip-flips because there’s no piece between the big and second toe – remain a fast-growing footwear category even years after sales were growing about 25 percent a year in the three years before Kittredge founded ISlides. In addition to the company’s initial success, there are at least four big reasons Kittredge believes that ISlides is destined to keep growing robustly. And mass-market footwear titans struggle with everything from marketing controversies to supply-chain challenges to fickle consumers. For instance, startup Tom’s Shoes has been struggling with debt after mojo from its business model tied to charitable giving ran out and the company was taken over by creditors just days ago. Sales have continue to grow more than 25 percent a year since then.įootwear can be a dangerous category. ![]() ![]() Indeed, the Boston-based company has achieved annual revenues of several million dollars in only about seven years in the business, employing more than 30 people, and has shown enough promise that Kittredge turned down bidders on Shark Tank in 2016 who didn’t value ISlides as highly as he did. Then we figured we’d have a great niche in the business.” “Our whole vision and dream was that we can make one pair of slides and make them the most comfortable they can be, and get them to you quickly. ![]() “There are big companies with slides but no customization and smaller, low-end promotional companies that do customization – but you have to buy at least 100 of them and they take three weeks to three months to produce,” Kittredge told Chief Executive. His Boston-based company, ISlides, takes Vietnamese-made slide sandals, quickly custom-prints them with logos and other images in the United States, and sells them online to shoppers eager to wear homage on their feet to a celebrity, a team, a sports championship or other things – and ships them within 10 days of the order. Justin Kittredge has leveraged customized manufacturing to create a niche in the footwear business between the global giants of the athletic-shoe trade and startups that can ignite fads and ride them for years. Each month we share insights and ideas from innovative, growth-minded manufacturing CEOs from across the nation as they navigate this tricky time in history. This is the latest in our “ Masters of Manufacturing” series, presented in partnership with The Indiana Economic Development Corporation. ![]()
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