On each episode of Mixergy, a founder discusses how they built their business. Wolf & Shepherd’s story is one of equal parts inspiration, perseverance, and the desire to create something great. From the very inception of company, to the early challenges we faced, this podcast dives deep. If you’re interested in what it took to build Wolf & Shepherd from the ground up, this is your chance to find out.
Some highlights include:
On reinventing the men’s dress shoe:
Justin: “Traditional dress shoes are made with wood and copper, nails, nailed on the heel. But come on. Why are we walking on wood and nails in the 21st century? I wouldn’t buy a Maserati and put carriage wheels on it just for the sake of nostalgia. For us, we wanted to take and keep that very quintessential silhouette that says this is a beautiful, well-made Italian shoe and we just wanted to make it feel like your sneakers.”
On funding Wolf & Shepherd’s launch:
“Andrew: All right. So you needed to come up with $120,000 to make the first batch of shoes. Did you have $120,000?
Justin: No, I had $15,000 to start the company.”
On a mishap with our first shipment of shoes:
Justin: “I get a call again from the factory manager and she stated that the shoes were coming back to the factory. I said, “Why? What happened?” She said, “Well, during the inspection, a dishwashing soap company was stored along with the shoes and had tipped over and dosed the first 350 pair that were being shipped directly to customers overnight.”...I flew to Leon where our factory was located. I went to the factory. I said, “What can we do? We’ve got to get these to my customers”...we started, including me, cutting off the uppers off the shoes, pulling out all of the strips of weaving and parts that were adhering the shoe to the sole, we recut and relaxed it and repacked the shoes in a 48 hour period and had them shipped out to our customers.”
Intrigued? Check out the podcast below to hear the whole story.
https://mixergy.com/interviews/wolf-and-shepherd-with-justin-schneider/
