Startup Q&A: Sau Noddings, Co-founder, Shoenvious

RTIH: Tell us about Shoenvious

SN: Shoenvious is a direct-to-consumer footwear brand that allows women to customise and design their perfect shoes online, using a proprietary online shoe customiser. 

Every inch of the shoe can be customised from 100+ colours and materials, designed in mismatching colours and a personal inscription can be added. Each pair is handmade to order and ships worldwide in four to six weeks.

RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?

SN: When I got married in 2009, I purchased my wedding dress online. I love the convenience of online shopping. But even with hundreds of options, I couldn’t find the perfect shoe for my perfect dress. It took me 8-12 weeks of traipsing from shop to shop to find something that I did eventually purchase, but was still a compromise on what I really wanted. 

At Shoenvious, we’re on a mission to democratise custom shoes and create footwear that really represent every woman and not forces them to fit into a mould. By offering custom shoes at a fraction of the price of luxury shoe brands, we’re democratising what was once exclusive only for elite customers.

RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?

SN: We love seeing women’s reaction when they realise the possibilities of what they can do on our online platform. Our primary customers are women, but we’ve unexpectedly seen a lot of men purchasing gift cards for their significant others. 

In response to market demand, we’re also growing our wedding offerings and increasing our size inclusive (US 2-14) style range to serve women with very small/large feet who feel excluded by the fashion industry. It’s surprising how many women with large/small sized feet struggle to find beautiful footwear.

RTIH: What has been your biggest challenge/setback?

SN: As non-technical founders, building our proprietary technology was a challenge. After months of building our MVP, we realised we needed to rebuild the foundations of our platform to make it faster and more responsive. This has caused launch delays and added costs.

RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing the omnichannel retail sector right now? 

SN: The traditional purchase funnel has changed dramatically, the customer journey has become increasingly fragmented and the days of identifying a linear “buyer’s journey” is becoming challenging, if not impossible.

While omnichannel offers brands and retailers multiple ways to sell, integrating, managing and operating all channels effectively is costly – and a very few brands and retailers are doing it profitably.

RTIH: What's the best question about your company or the market asked of you recently by a.) an investor and b.) a customer?

SN: We’ve been asked if we are a brand or a service. I’d say both. By allowing customers to customise every detail of their shoes, we have turned the shoe purchase or the product into an experience. Our long-term goal is to build a name in the customised fashion accessory space, starting with ladies’ shoes.

Investors want to know if the concept is scalable and if we have built an infrastructure that can scale on demand. Being able to deliver on customers’ personal needs adds significant value to the product and the customer's time, but it can mean logistical and operational nightmares if not set up properly.

RTIH: What can we expect to see from Shoenvious over the next 12 months?

SN: We’re seeing a lot of growth come from weddings and the large shoe size market. We’re heavily focusing on growing our offerings to this market.