Macy’s. Steve Madden. DSW. Aldo.
Do any of those ring a bell?
Last week I had the opportunity to pull back the curtain and see where all of our favorite shoes really come from. The answer?
Fortune Footwear
Started in 1985, Fortune Footwear Inc. is a sourcing, design, and distribution company for footwear and handbags in the women’s sector of the industry. In simpler terms, they are the ones responsible for creating and delivering your favorite shoe that lays on a Macy’s shelf.
Their customers? Retailers. Although we are usually the ones pictured as “customers” when it comes to consumerism, a lot goes on behind the scenes that the regular shopper may not know about. As much as Macy’s and other retailers sell to us, the business actually spans deeper.
Here’s how I look at it. Picture you’re at a theater watching a play. The actors on stage, putting on the show are retailers such as Macy’s. But, a play wouldn’t be possible without its tech crew… so places like Fortune Footwear are them- the ones standing in the wing making the show possible.
Silly analogies aside, it’s truly amazing what this corporation does. The immense amount of creativity and brand knowledge they must have in order to be successful is incredible. With a wide array of brands they design and produce for, Fortune Footwear realizes no two companies are the same. All market to different customers, requiring unique styles and innovation.
Their Inspiration
As with any company or person, inspiration is found in the world around us. Specifically, Fortune Footwear steps out of the box and travels where many don’t. Besides your typical London and Paris visits, most recently, part of the team just returned back from one of my aesthetic inspirations- Copenhagen.
Although many may ditch a place like Copenhagen to the curb when thinking about the upcoming trends, we should actually be doing the opposite. One of the employees spoke on how although a place like Copenhagen seems like an outlier, that’s what makes the visit all the more special. Everyone is going to places like London and Paris; therefore, everyone is being exposed to the same product…
By thinking outside of the box and visiting a place like Copenhagen, this sets Fortune Footwear’s design inspiration apart from everyone else, allowing for a more unique innovation for future products.
Life Lesson
Just as Fortune Footwear took a leap of faith, defying from the regular path, and instead taking a risk traveling to Copenhagen- that is something I feel is also very applicable to our everyday lives. As a corporation, they understand that by not being like everyone else, although scary straying from the norm, it could be the best thing for their business.
This ideology takes me back to my senior quote in my high school yearbook, highlighting an idea that is still one of my favorites to this very day…
“No one ever made a difference by being like everybody else.” -P.T. Barnum
In life today, in a world where the media dominates a lot of minds, it’s important to remember that you are what makes you unique. We aren’t meant to live and follow the same path as the person next to us. So take those risks and don’t be afraid to stray from the norm… You never know, it may be the best thing for you, your business, your brand, etc.!
What About Sustainability?
While touring around Fortune Footwear, I of course always had one thought in the back of my mind- what about sustainability?
What efforts does the corporation take? Are there ary initiatives in place? Etc.
The answer? Kind of.
My biggest ask was regarding their faux “vegan” leather. If you remember from Vegan? Faux? How about No…, you know that this is a very thought provoking topic for me. Bringing my question to the Fortune Footwear team, I was handed several different material binders provided by factories where they claimed their faux leather was made from recycled materials.
Designer Galore
One of my favorite parts of this visit (besides walking through and seeing an abundance of fun shoes I wanted to try on), was when we were brought into the “showroom” of sorts.
Next to the design room, sits an office filled with designer shoes the team purchases while traveling. On the table before me were Ralph Lauren boots and Yves Saint Laurent stilettos. Thousands of dollars of product filled the walls in front of me. It’s in this room where we collectively discussed the upcoming trends to look out for based off of the observations taken from these high-end designers.
Enrichment
I left Fortune Footwear feeling enriched and inspired, yet again discovering another direction this industry could take me. Learning how much goes into the creation of a single shoe was eye opening.
Next time you go to put on a pair of shoes, take a moment- look at how many different materials are compiled in just one shoe. I guarantee you’ll be surprised!
