What can you expect for 2020? As every year, we have of course made a lot of plans and hope that we will be able to implement as many of them as possible. With this sentence, our preview began last year, a week before the start of the pandemic. It was not foreseeable at the time that the year 2020 would be so impressively different...!
It was a very wild up and down, which I don't want to go into detail about now. Nevertheless, we have launched a whopping 2 new products, even our specially developed manufactory shoe, which has been in the prototype phase for years. Today it is safe to say that nothing positive would have happened if the year had not been so turbulent. Yes, you can even say that the strong challenges encouraged and motivated us, we slipped out of our familiar environment and comfort zone, things had to go faster, it became more intense overall, doors slammed but also opened again completely new. This year we don't want to and can't look so far ahead either, a lot of things can't be determined well in advance based on the current situation. However, it is clear that we know where to start and what we want to achieve this year!
One thing is certain, there will be no further product this year. On the contrary, we continue to work on our existing products and push the further development of our new products such as the Chalette and the high-quality Único shoe. A few days ago, SWR television contacted us that they wanted to shoot a report on the subject of "slow fashion", we agreed, all in all an exciting day of shooting. In this context, I was also asked if I was familiar with the term and if I could do something with it!? I said, "I know the term, but I've never dealt with it in detail", also because we've been doing it exactly like this for almost 10 years. We are slowing down massively, have very few products, work more on producing the existing products to perfection, don't want to become too big, do almost no marketing, no sponsoring, no sales through retailers. We just don't have time for that. Only the individual customer care and our product quality are in the foreground here. We were already convinced when we were founded in 2012: "The world doesn't need more, it needs better products". We believe that will continue to resonate with all of our customers and think that's the best marketing in the long run. From the very beginning, we wanted to use this principle to produce the very finest manufactory shoes and sandals. Our products are manufactured exclusively in Freiburg in our own production. The entire process of value creation and production - from design to the finished product on the shelf - is implemented here at the site. Our greatest endeavor for the origin of our goods and processing is "close and fair". We obtain 90% of our materials from smaller handicraft businesses and suppliers in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. We try to organize our operations in an integrative and inclusive manner so that people with disabilities of any sense can also be given a job.
So we are very well positioned for 2021, customer service has been strengthened, the production team is almost complete, the production area has been significantly increased, our new special machines are increasing the quality very significantly, our new shoe project is already at a great stage , the sandals are mature and digitization is well advanced in many areas. That means we are ready for a real spring rush and are really looking forward to your many inquiries and orders;-)
But now off to the tasks...;-)
What do we want to do, create or achieve specifically?
* We are working massively on digital expansion, improved customer service, better workflows, we are bundling our stores and focusing very heavily on online.
* Strong further development of our Único shoe project, here further individual variants will be added (leather, Piñatex Brown, high-necked variant with water-repellent outer fabric and Vibram Ice-Grip sole for autumn 2021, etc.).
* The new Chalette will be further optimized, especially in the buckle area, there is a fine revision of the fitting.
* We haven't forgotten our Alpini sandal;-), we want to make progress here with the existing prototype and are working on the final version, good things take time, we think it's realistic that this won't be available until spring 2022!
* There will be more children's chalas, we are expanding our Classic Kid's range. (Classic Dick, RUN Kid's, Pinatex Kid's, etc).
* There will be a button revision on the EVO Kid's model, this year this sandal will also be equipped with the more stable important assembly part.
In fact, last year we accomplished more than ever before, we were able to implement about 80% of the projects in concrete terms. We wish that for this year 2021 as well and will steer through the difficult time with both hands and brains;-)
with friendly feet from Freiburg
