NYLP: Welcome to the New York Launch Pod, the New York Press Club award winning podcast highlighting new startups businesses and openings in the New York City area. I’m Hal Coopersmith and in this episode we are talking to Natalie Kathleen the founder of Jibs. Jibs is a shoe company with a fun design and classic silhouettes for men and women. How did this design come to be? Sometimes it’s about coincidence and circumstance. Here’s Natalie
Natalie: He’s my Jimmy Choo. He could create what I wanted just by giving him some ideas and creative direction.
NYLP: In this episode you will learn about the journey of Jibs from Brazil to New York and what exactly a Jib shoe looks like because I didn’t want to tell you for a reason. But before we begin, if you do wind up liking the Jibs shoe Natalie has graciously offered New York Launch Pod listeners 25% off their first order using the exclusive code NY Launch. That’s not an affiliate code so all the savings goes to you but if you’re anything like me you’re going to want a whole lot of jibs in a lot of different colors. So let’s find out why and go to the interview.
Stepping onto Launch Pod we have Natalie Kathleen, the founder of Jibs. Welcome, Natalie.
Natalie: Hi. Thanks, Hal. It’s great to be here.
NYLP: So you are the founder of Jibs and the Jibs Life. Tell us more about that.
Natalie: Correct. The Jibs Life, one great life to be living. The Jib itself is something that has been a really fun moment of the last couple years: the Jib being a shoe. A perforated leather shoe based around a Brazilian beach, playful, jump around, splash around, still wear it out for dinner type shoe.
A couple years ago it landed in my lap at a very well-timed moment. Today, I’ve taken that one shoe and built a business that’s giving a lot of fun to myself and a good handful of people.
NYLP: It landed in your lap?
Natalie: It landed on a dinner table. I was at the dinner table.
NYLP: Who throws a shoe?
Natalie: My really good friend from Brazil with a history in footwear, funny enough. We were back in Vancouver where we’re both from. Very serendipitous that we were both there. He’s living back in Brazil. I’m living in New York. He pulled the box from under the table and said, to most of the girls at the sit down, “Who is a size 7 1/5?”
Put my hand up. Everyone laughed when the box opened. It was a pair of flat sneakers. At that time I was the queen of high heels. Quickly after, he said “Natalie, that’s so funny. Remember my nephew that you met when he was learning English in Vancouver when he was 15?”
A couple years later, he’s now in his early 20s and he made this shoe as a first prototype in the basement of his dad’s factory. That obviously had me listening. I said “This is amazing. I can’t believe how time goes. How is his English going? I’m going to wear this pair of shoes in New York. It’s great timing. It’s summer. It’s hot.”
From there, I took it to New York. I did exactly that. Up and down the West Side Highway. Riding my bicycle. Great airflow through these perforated leather holes. It was really quick that people, either mostly at the gym where I was wearing them to, or on the street, first noticed “What’s that? Van? Where’s that sneaker from?”
Very recognizable. Also, quirky enough that it got a ton of attention. Then it just so happened a couple more people started saying “That’s one of those Brazilian shoes.”
jAt that point in my career it was a moment where I was like “This is a product. Someone’s making it. People recognize it. It’s got a story to it. Let’s listen to what they’re saying.”
At that point, these couple friends that were based through New York, we called up my friend and said “Hey, Zackie.”
His name is Zackie. If you go to our website you’ll see a lovely video with him down in the factory. “Can Zackie make us a few pairs?”
Men’s. Women’s. In all these colors. A size of each. All that. We host a party on a rooftop in Chelsea. As I said, you can’t really have a product without a brand. The first shoe was navy on top and white on the bottom. A classic trainer white. Very nautical.
We said “It’s like the jib of a sailboat. It’s a journey and the jib is the front most sail on a sailboat that takes the wind and sets your direction.”
Already this shoe has traveled to Vancouver from Brazil to New York. We’re going to bring more. All these people that are our friends are the network. We’re going to host this party. They’re all going to take them on the travels and tell us where they’ve taken them.
That became the jib of the Jib’s life that you live and the Jib’s journey that you take yourself on. We host the party. We sold a ton of shoes. I don’t have more to say.
NYLP: How long have you been on the journey for?
Natalie: The journey. It’s such a journey. Three years ago was when that first shoe landed in my lap. It’s been quite a journey. A lot has happened from that first party into where we are now. In distribution model. In business model. In team. In my goals of the business.
NYLP: So you had the first party on a Chelsea rooftop. You got some orders. People were happy. Then what did you do?
Natalie: Then I said “Holy crap. This is a product that I have done no R&D.”
I realized that, down in Brazil, not only is Zackie the friendliest, nicest, family guy, kid. He’s my Jimmy Choo. He could create what I wanted just by giving him some ideas and creative direction. Very simply he would come out with a new product.
I don’t know if anyone is familiar but Jimmy Choo is the cobbler that was originally in the undergrounds of London. Tamara Mellon saw him making shoes for Vogue Magazine and then curating all this great stuff. She said “I bet more people would love the shoes that Jimmy Choo can make. Let’s create a business and spread the news around the world.”
It was one of those moments that I said “This is a similar concept but I’ve got the Jimmy Choo of sneakers sitting in front of me.”
I really took a moment to sit back and say “What do I want with this? What can it be? How can I achieve that?”
Like I said, we were selling. We were taking a lot of things coming out. Seeing a lot of yeses. Then realized we had definitely a lot of traction. I wanted to really define what it is that our mission was.
NYLP: What is the mission now?
Natalie: It’s probably not that far off from the beginning. Having fun while we’re doing this is the biggest mission. It is said through and through, the feedback that we get from our customers, “Oh, my god. You guys sound like you’re having such a good time over there. Thank you so much for taking an extra step to talk to us.”
It’s the sharing of the stories. On the right now front, the sharing is stories of Zackie and his factory that’s down in South Brazil. Has its own economic hardships and is able to grow with the help of the global, or mostly right now American, support that we give him.
It goes to our customers. They hit us up with all this “Look at where I went! This is who I met! You should meet these people!”
All those stories and bits like that. Then where it really has taken a great fold is … I would say “planting seeds.” The shoe itself, as it came to me, the sole is a recycled PVC. Mostly because Brazil has amazing sustainability efforts without even asking.
I called it one of my “shiny objects.” What’s the right timeline for me to really dive down this? Quick research said that to really go further with the recycled sole concept we need some volume behind us. We need the right support. We need to be able to act and make an actual real, bigger presence to reward ourselves with effort and be able to increase that sustainability movement.
Recently, we’ve had a couple of amazing moments from the U.K. A girl with an amazing charity: Ocean Generations. It was Wado. She’s with the UN. We’re going to do a collaboration project with her.
We have surf riders. I never knew so much was going on via the surfing community in North America to help so many programs. Corrosion on waterfronts. Public use of land. Taking plastics out of the water. We’re also doing something with them.
Awareness via product is this new exciting way to say “You can have something that you can put on your feet every day and remind you that you’re doing something good.”
As we evolve the business, we have a 90% biodegradable leather that we’re looking into. We know people wear the shoe because it’s comfortable. It’s fun. It’s pretty. It looks good. It’s stylish. If it actually cannot create more waste, that’s the end mission to get to. We need both in order to do it.
NYLP: You have this great mission that you’re focusing on. To take a step back, you had this very cool product. What was it like taking it from a cool product to a business?
Natalie: This is my second branded consumer good or fashion good. My first business was leather handbags. I was 21. I have a great backstory. Check out my LinkedIn. From snowboarding to scuba diving instructing to real estate in London and working at Cosmo Magazine.
I end up in Vancouver. I’m 21 years old. Bored because Vancouver is not as exciting as London. I’m sorry. Found leather and material and made a handbag. I love a challenge. I’m a very doer person. One foot in front of another I built a brand that we ended up producing in New York, L.A., China. Selling nationally. U.K., Asia.
Through that experience is where I really crafted what my strengths were, which was building this community of people that are passionate. It needs to have one main goal of what they’re passionate about and then they love whatever is surrounding it.
When I had this shoe in my hand, and I remember looking down at it a couple times, I’m like “Whoa. This just came out of nowhere.”
Obviously, at the right timing because I could visualize what it was that could take that shoe and turn it into more of a movement of sense and the community that could really grow quickly. The growth with not little effort but the right effort. That was quickly noticed.
NYLP: What was the process? You have this idea. You have the manufacturer.
Natalie: Jumping on Citibikes to deliver shoes in Manhattan. No.
We have the factory in Brazil. Not impressive to say that he was in the basement of his dad’s factory but it was where it was at that time.
Right away, from the volume of orders that we created, he was able to partner with a veteran in export. He moved himself into a new facility a couple of blocks down. They created enough space for one assembly line, which is bare minimum. Enough machinery and people. Using home sewers and different tools and systems to be able to produce pairs for us.
The biggest thing that has got us to where we are today is that we can make one pair. In footwear, there’s a lot that goes into making a line of shoes and a full size run. We have the ability to make one single pair.
When we were early, no one needed to know that we didn’t have deep inventory. There’s a little back order. Really, we’re producing that shoe. We’re bringing it in just for you. You might have thought we just ran out because we weren’t there. We could jump on opportunities for collaborations and customizing. Really try and try and learn really quickly what was working.
NYLP: For someone who does not know much about the footwear industry, how are you able to do one pair and other people are not?
Natalie: The biggest thing is fighting for that space on an assembly line. It’s expensive to have a factory. It’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of labor involved.
In Brazil in particular, as I’ve got to know their rights and the ways they do things, if you layoff … I don’t know the terms. If you let go of someone at your factory, you owe the government a year of their salary. Being small is very dangerous. If you ebb and flow, you are out for so much more money.
It’s a trust in a big part of it: believing the vision and stepping slowly. Even me going down there and helping him find different suppliers. He produces some stuff for local communities. Saying “Great. Can I give you more clients even? Let’s grow, you’re small enough, so that you can continue to make single pairs because it takes more time.”
What he did is, in his faith in what Jibs can become, he said “We’ll do a single pair that might take us a lot longer but that’s okay because we know it’s going to get to two pairs and then three pairs.”
That’s proven successful.
NYLP: How does that pair of shoes get from Brazil to New York or Los Angeles or anywhere?
Natalie: From the beginning, New York has been our hub. It’s where we’re mostly based. Through FedEx and UPS. Quick Shipping has been something. There’s amazing different shipping channels you can use.
We pay the price. The good thing is we have a great cost. We can afford right now, when we’re selling direct to consumer, and we’ve built the company up until now with $10,000 in total, so little, of advertising, that we really spend the money on getting the best customer experience. That involves this quick turnaround of shipping.
I’m sure many Manhattan people have been in and out of mini storage’s locally. We would bring the shoes in and ship them out again. Everyone’s pre-paying for them. We were advanced the money. We didn’t have to do typical lending for a long time.
Then it moved into a 3PL warehouse where we do inventory now that we can pre-order and we can get people ordering pairs of their choice by offering a huge range. We know what’s popular. We can then invest in the styles and the colors that are actually have proof in hand that’s selling.
NYLP: You brought this up. It was of interest to me. What it’s like doing business in Brazil and having Brazil as a manufacturer.
Natalie: I always say my pride is there. There’s a personal level and then there’s a business/economic level.
On a personal level, Manhattan, I can go, go, go, go, go. There’s never a dull moment. There’s a lot of work hard, play hard. Brazil to me is play hard or community hard and work to do that.
On a personal bit it’s been a real game changer to go down. When I go down to Brazil, I stay with the family of the factory. The bell goes off in town at [11:00] AM. They’ve been there probably since [4:00] or [5:00] AM. Everyone goes home, whether it’s on their bike or in their car, and they sit for lunch with their family. They just relax. There’s a pause.
Then they go back. I try not to push them too hard to make too many shoes for us while I’m there. There’s this nice hybrid. That’s the part that I want to travel in each shoe out to people. There’s one life. They really value such simplicity down there. They work hard to enjoy the finer … The less expensive things in life even. The free things in life.
Brazil is a huge country. I have the wishes and desires that it can be all it can be. There’s so many people. There’s so much diversity. They’re producing amazing products. Their natural resources are some of the best in the world.
India buys some of their leather from Brazil and ships it over in tankers. I know the leather industry in India is huge. That’s an accolade to their quality of product.
It’s a little bit unrest down there right now. We buff in certain time lines that there’s this red channel of shipping. If you hit the red channel because it’s not your lucky day, it’s an extra 5 to 10 days that you wait for that shipment to get through.
As we grow, there’s so many things that we can implement. Again, we learn from our inventories that sell well. We can bring in more earlier so we don’t run dry. That’s a big part.
I’ve been very grateful to meet some amazing people in the footwear industry that also are based in Brazil and producing from Brazil. There’s so much I can learn off them, whether it’s collaborating on exporting timings. Even just knowing the right people. Sometimes that does help in a community that you’re trying to export from like Brazil.
NYLP: You talked about the cultural difference in Brazil. The red channel. What does that mean?
Natalie: The red channel is with shipping. It’s literally the customs agents. I feel like it’s like the Sharpie in your guest book here. They tick the box. “Let’s put it on the red channel.”
It just sits in a corner until someone opens it up and says “These are leather shoes destined for New York. They have the right paperwork.”
Then it proceeds. There’s a little bit of island time. Less urgency. When it hits something like that then it takes time. You can’t do anything about it.
NYLP: What’s been your biggest challenge about working in Brazil?
Natalie: Probably that shipping part. It’s the uncertainty. I love uncertainty. I wouldn’t be sitting here today if I didn’t love uncertainty. But there is that bit of uncertainty. I might love it but my customer that’s going on a trip … Thankfully, most are appreciative that we’re dealing with an economic problem if this does happen. They want their gold shoes for their trip to the Maldives.
NYLP: Who wouldn’t?
Natalie: Who wouldn’t? Exactly. They make that so much better. I’d say the logistical part of that has been one that’s been a moving moment.
NYLP: We’ve talked a lot about the shoes. Its manufacture. How it came to be. Can you describe the aesthetic of the shoe? You’ve touched on it a little bit.
Natalie: That’s true. That’s true. We don’t have a visual here. You can definitely go to jibslife.com.
NYLP: We’ll link there. We’ll have photos. For the listener, how would you describe that?
Natalie: That’s a great one. I would say it is a very classic shape of a slip-on shoe. We also have a high-top version. We have three main “silhouettes” is what we call them. The core classic Jib is our boat shoe. Again, it’s a slip-on shoe. Could be recognized as a Van, Vince. It’s a style of a slip-on shoe with a rubber sole.
The high-top version also could be known as a chukka. It’s a mid-rise high-top. We put an elastic lace on it so you can actually slip your foot in and out. The whole concept of the shoe is it’s super easy.
The third style is definitely the other edge of our design ethos, which is a little more stylish. One the trend side is our Slim Jib. Aptly named because it’s a slimmer silhouette with a pointy toe. Very feminine. It’s definitely been a different marketing channel and, when we brought it out, surprised people. Many have said “Once I go slim, I don’t go back to classic.”
Again, this is three shapes. All about staying right focused in a lane. We have so many colors. You could have the leathers or the metallic leathers we have pony hair on. Super soft and touchy. The concept is we found a fit that feels good.
People are coming to us. When you wear it it’s, again, a little quirky but natural look, but it feels so good that you come back. We want to continually always be on the front of the outfits that we put on it. If it’s colors or toecaps. Who knows. I won’t say the things that are in the works to change it ever so slightly that it’s your go-to shoe but we can spice it up.
NYLP: I’m glad you’re not saying them. How did you come up with the different silhouettes and the different aesthetic?
Natalie: From the beginning, the one thing to note is this is a unisex shoe or co-ed shoe. We do have the sporty side of the product. Men and women. We also do kids. They start at a kid’s age 10 in the US.
We felt that it’s a shoe that people who are active, whether that’s active traveling … Athleisure would be our thing. If you’re on the go. It’s been called your shift shoe by W Hotel. It’s been the perfect transitional shoe from day to night, which is so what everyone’s doing right now.
At the same time it’s really been interesting to see who’s buying it. That’s the best way that we’ve discovered that our customer core is 25 to 35. They’re city dwellers. They are on airplanes often. They go to the gym.
We’re very communitive with our customers. We find this stuff out from literally the people that are wearing it quite often, whether it’s calling them up or emailing them and saying “What do you do?”
We also have the Facebook and the social media data that can solidify it, but it’s really nice to know that this is actually who is wearing the shoe.
NYLP: 25 to 35. On an airplane often.
Natalie: The other side that would be our secondary audience, which is very strong, and it’s very strong in another distribution model that we’ve introduced recently, would be the 45 plus.
Again, it is comfortable. The moms. The grandmas. The grandpas. The gardening shoe. The dog walking shoe. We have so many names to what this shoe is. It usually sits around in activity.
We do like to come back and say it’s not necessarily the age, the data can tell us it’s certain ages that are buying them more, but it’s the experience in them. People that are active. It’s the in between your sports. On the way to go out to the beach. It’s what you’re doing in them.
NYLP: Do you have plans to introduce different silhouettes?
Natalie: There’s two thoughts. We’re chatting. Always pivotal. “How many times did the business model change in certain aspects?”
There’s two ways we could go right now. Our core styles are really working. They’re always going to be one main silhouette. If I look at any other footwear brand in particular, footwear being an animal of its own outside of accessories, outside of apparel, there’s a key staple.
Steve Madden. He had a key shoe. Is it the key one now? No.
For now, our focus is to stay as close and tight to our core product. At the same time, if that’s our 80%, that 20%, the part that I love on the creative side, is going to be all sorts of stuff that still has the DNA of what we are.
It’s going to look and feel and act with a similar DNA but, ideally, it’s going to be totally different so that as trends change, as our customers age … They grow. Maybe they stay with us rather than refreshing another 25 year old crowd. Our brand can stay with them as they mature or come up with new styles of their active life.
NYLP: Footwear is an animal. It seems that way. I’m glad that you brought that up. Maybe it’s in footwear. Maybe it’s in other fashion items. But it seems like once something hits as a trend, that’s when the copycats jump in. How are you going to prevent copycats from coming in?
Natalie: This is why I love the shape of footwear that we are: the classic-ness. People can copy what we’re doing. They are. There’s a lot of different styles out there. It’s why we’re so focused on the energy around the shoe. The feeling that you have wearing it. The community that it’s building.
At the same time, it’s a numbers game. It’s a quick to market game. It’s why we’re doing what we do and partnering with the right people and bringing a bit of speed to market that we’ve been able to do on the small level.
The next stage is how quickly we can get Jibs as the forefront addictive sneaker shoe for summer in the stores. Again, I use this shiny object. At a certain place we knock ourselves off. We create another product tier line that can be that affordable, lower price point that maybe would be the easy prey for some of the bigger footwear suppliers.
Luckily, with my background in manufacturing, and my love of leather goods. It’s always toyed. I did a small collaboration, capsule collection, with my handbag line was my first entry way. Again, the animal was so strong that I said “Let’s just hold for a sec. I’m going to focus on handbags but my eye is open to watch what happens in footwear.”
I’ve been out to India. I’ve met a lot of factories there. Every time I go to the trade shows I speak to different suppliers. I have all the different areas we could go.
I’m going to go back to Zackie. Even more than the factory down in Brazil is I have a product manager, director, who understands the shoe we’re creating. We could take that product and put it into many of the other factories nearby in Brazil, which is our first choice, to keep the economy down there and all the production.
He could create that feeling that we have that is different than the other competitors. Any other products. I have factories send me products. Bring that feeling there.
We could also move it into other territories. If Brazil’s economy doesn’t show well in the next while, we have opportunities to move it around. I think it’s up to us as a company and a brand to stay in our DNA and to really keep focusing on our brand and what our vision and mission is.
At the same time we are always looking out for other manufacturing opportunities and sales opportunities to even be our own competitors in that sense of different levels of market.
NYLP: That’s one threat is the copycat. That’s always the threat. The other threat in fashion it seems like is if you hit on something. You have a big bump. You’re on trend. Then that trend goes away. You’re like that one trick pony or anything else like that. How are you going to stop yourself from riding the wave to the top and then crash?
Natalie: That’s the point that I stuck on with really owning what it is that people are coming to us for and understanding that we might today all love one of our exact styles or our exact customers. By also always in the background be iterating off different versions of what we do really well at. We’re able to them plant those out as the market might be shifting.
I love a good upsell. One of my first jobs was at a restaurant. Adding different toppings to your pizza definitely helps that bill go up and your tip go up higher. Even little add-ons if we’re really feeling a great response to the travel aspect of this shoe. Being able to add other travel, small good pieces.
We’ve had requests for bags, being my background as well. Different products that fit within our brand is a great way to also keep that consumer. They might not need another pair of Jibs. They do like every color and we have a very, very, very high multiple purchase rate.
At the same time, if they can add in a sunglass holder to go around their neck while they’re sailing on a boat, because that’s similar and it’s on brand, that’s another way to keep people around as we test out the new styles.
NYLP: We didn’t talk about this until you brought it up: the different colors. Talk about that. You have a wide variety of colors.
Natalie: This is fun. Right now, in business where you can be online, there’s so much opportunity when we can match how quick and nimble a direct to consumer marketplace, even some of the wholesale accounts that we have, with a quick to market factory.
If it’s a customer or a client at a store that we really feel is a good, strong brand partner, and they say “Only if you had forest green with a yellow sock liner.”
The next day we can put that forest green shoe … Actually, within five minutes we can put that online. Our customer is already quite used to waiting five to eight weeks for the “exclusive” colors that we don’t inventory.
Within seconds we can put that online. They then purchase it. The factory produces it. They have about 10 days to produce it. We get it to the customer before that five to eight week window.
It’s been really fun. Right now, if you go on the site, we have quite a few colors. We’re really in a testing moment of what colors stick. Also, who knows when you listen to this podcast, it depends what moment. Sometimes people don’t like choices. We also want to cut back and limit the choices.
If you really like rose gold, in two weeks you probably won’t see it on the website. We’re going to take it down. We want to try and figure out how do we create an excitement. People want what they can’t have.
Our last count, about 60% of our first purchases are for two pairs. One pair is from the swatch selection that shows that it delivers right away. It doesn’t have a note. The second set of swatches you can click on and the shoe changes color will say “Five days delivery.”
These orders that are coming in for two pairs is one that they’re going to get right away and one they’re going to wait for. You get the immediate happiness. “Oh, my God. I get to try this shoe.”
Then you also get “I have a special one.” The customize, that is something that we have not even a very good one on purpose. “Let’s see if people like it.”
We get people customizing different color soles. Different color laces. You can put a lining in the shoe. It’s not our core style, but New Yorkers that are in the winter and it’s cold, a shoe with holes is probably not your best bet. We do that for the locals.
As we grow, we have the early data that says people want that. As we want to create more seasonal collections that can deliver with many windows throughout the year, which a lot of our customers will want, we can grow those stronger.
NYLP: Are you sold exclusively online or can people pick them up in stores?
Natalie: Interesting you ask that. It actually is very recent that we have partnered with a distributor that is helping us get into some amazing small boutiques around the country.
It was a big decision. There is a strong want in myself at the beginning of this company to sell only online. I thought it is so sexy to have a product that is only online. Digital, digital, digital. Our profit margins are awesome. It costs a lot to sell online, but it’s also amazing how we can touch each customer.
That last thing is actually the biggest part: touching each customer. But I had a great introduction to a very shoe dog seller of footwear across the country.
It naturally came in part that we started showing the shoes at the trade shows across the country and very quickly were getting snapped up by boutiques that we could deliver immediates into. Talking to some of the larger stores about plans on how do we really share the story to the customers.
I’m the kind of person where I don’t just want to see the shoes on the shelf. I want it to also have an engaging moment. I believe there’s an infectious thing when you create an environment that shares this journey I keep talking about. We have some fun, different ways that we can get the shoes into stores and also have the experience involved.
NYLP: What are some of those ways?
Natalie: I always like to lead by example. Hindmarch did a wonderful job at this with Barneys: build a bag. Because we’re capable to have our components very organized, where you could add this toecap and this different detail and it only takes a couple weeks to get the shoe, we could do a customized shoe experience.
Just like our website, we would also have our most popular styles on inventory, but it would be a great way to have our team be able to interact with the customers. Also, the animal side of shoes, still be able to export a lot of product into people’s homes and onto their feet.
NYLP: You talked about that moment. How are you also building that community which you talked about?
Natalie: We really started by finding other communities that fit our vibe. Our first ones were Equinox, W Hotels. Those were the three sides: fashion, travel, and active communities.
Through that we’ve partnered with other different organizations. Everything from the WeWorks of the world, where we have the best experience at the beginning, trialing our Jibs tastings. We have Jibs pairings and Jibs tastings. Very much like you would go to a winery.
If you’re going for a tasting, you’re going to see all their array of products. Those would be ones where Jibs just come in. We have our latest styles on display. You can try on for size. You can talk to someone and get an idea of what it’s all about.
The Jibs pairings have also been fun with like products. Great sports pants. Other handbags. Travel companies. We go in and we pair and say “This is a great product that works alongside what you’re doing.”
Those have been ways that we look at what communities are out there and how do we share it with one or two people within that community. Then it just flies. It’s amazing to watch how one thing leads to the next to the next to the next.
NYLP: How much money did it take to start the company?
Natalie: Shipping the shoes from Brazil was the first bit. I personally built … I think it was a Squarespace website first. Then we moved to Shopify. We took photos of us wearing the shoes. Cut our heads off so you wouldn’t know it was the founders.
Really, it was very little at the beginning. We pre-funded ourselves. Like our independent Kickstarter. People paid for them before they were delivered. Because we had a profit margin worked into that, and we weren’t advertising, we soon had a pool of money to start growing.
We’ve had a very little bit of friends and family for specific needs. Reached out to a couple people and then they helped us out. We’re just going through a stage now: looking for fundraising. A seed round.
At the same time, I love when I put something out there and other things come in, there’s more strategic opportunities that we’re also looking at. Lots of decisions to be made in the next months.
NYLP: What do you want Jibs to become?
Natalie: The funnest, most enjoyable shoe that everyone in the world wears.
NYLP: Everyone wants.
Natalie: Everyone in the world.
NYLP: Everyone should wear them.
Natalie: Everyone wants.
NYLP: That is a wonderful note to end things on. Natalie Kathleen, how do people find out more about you and Jibs?
Natalie: That’s a great question. Please go to jibslife.com. Very lucky listeners, you can use “NYLAUNCH” at the promo code on checkout. You’ll get 25% off your first Jibs purchase.
NYLP: Listeners are very lucky to be listening to this podcast. They are especially lucky to have a 25% off code. Thank you very much, Natalie Kathleen, for that discount for our listeners. And thank you for sharing your time with us and stepping onto the New York Launch Pod.
Natalie: Thank you so much. Have a great night.
NYLP: If you want to learn more about the New York Launch Pod, you can visit us at nylaunchpod.com for transcripts of every episode, including this one, and you can follow us on social media at nylaunchpod.
If you are a super fan … Are you a super fan Natalie?
Natalie: I am a huge super fan.
NYLP: If you are a super fan like Natalie, you can leave a review on iTunes and Apple Podcast. It does help people discover the show and it is great appreciated.
SHARE THIS:
