Bom dia! 🇵🇹

What a pleasant opportunity to say hi to you.

Normally, you receive the latest news and gossip from Devin, but for once (or twice) I will be your guy.

What is there to know about me? I like shoes but I dislike the state of shoes. So I try to change that with our likeminded team.

It has been 6 months now for me to be part of this project and, sincerely speaking, I thought it would be easier.

I have been working in footwear for quite some years now but it was the first time not doing traditionally made (or rather ‘glued’) shoes. Instead it’s shoes with removable soles. Can’t be that hard, right?

The hard ground of facts 🔨

We believed what can be done perfectly in testing can be rolled out in mass production easily with proper planning. In fact we learned how many things will be completely different as soon as you try doing it x1000.

Margins for error increase, deviance in quality is expected. So we needed to get creative about it and find easier solutions.

With great help from our mentor Julio, who is explaining us the rules. Without him, we would be still looking for answers in the wrong places.

Supply chain is all set ⛓️

We have setup our supply chain in Portugal, all major parts of the product will be made locally with supportive partners, which we are incredibly grateful for.

This well help us to keep the CO2 emissions lower, as we minimize transportation for all parts included. Normally, a lot of raw materials such as natural rubber for outsoles is imported from Asia or South America.

Now it is up to us to put the final puzzle together.

What’s coming next? 🔜

Currently Portugal is still in well deserved summer holidays. During that time, we gave out the first pairs to our tester to collect their valuable feedback.

After that we will travel to Portugal and visit all partners and discuss all required changes to refine and improve all parts.

From material choice, to design and comfort optimization, as well as quality assurance.

We are looking very forward to that. Little by little it all comes together, as it should.

I will keep you posted on that!

Until then!

Devin

Tobi