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  John Eades

VERE (pronounced Veer) is a new sandal company that is trying to carve a niche in the market by creating sandals made in the U.S. I spoke founder John Eades and asked him about the brand, how they are funded, and why he thinks there is room for another sandal brand in the market.

Vere’s debut collection offers four styles for women, and three styles for men including both leather and EVA options. Price points range from $25 to $50.

Michael Ferreri is also a partner in the business.

When did you start the brand and why?

I started last June. I was the footwear product director at Reef and the product line manager for the guys before that, and I spent a lot of time with reps and buyers. I asked buyers what the one thing was that no one else was getting for their shops. More and more over the last five years people asked for domestic product.

Why New York?

My hometown is in Geneva, New York and when I got laid off from Reef that spurred our decision to move back to Geneva, which is at the northern tip of Seneca Lake. Back in the 1950s, Geneva was known as a factory town, but has been more of a tourist town since them. They have all of this industrial space that is empty so there were some really good deals.

How is the brand financed?

It’s a mix of private and public money. We have been eligible for city and state loans and grants. We got a grant based on producing jobs. For one of them it was a certain dollar amount per job you create. That one was complicated. The city applies for it, the state administers it, and it’s federal money.

It’s a NY state law and Geneva has a great grant writer and they were aggressive for getting us to stay and produce sandals here. They are trying to get some job growth and industry back there.

And some of the grants are tied to family history, right?

My grandpa used to be the mayor of Geneva and he launched the industrial development agency in town and that’s where some of these loans are from. We are taking advantage of the program my grandpa put in place 30 years ago, so it’s come full circle.

The funny story is that the city manager isn’t from the town and didn’t know about the story and my grandpa until after we closed on the loan, so it was pretty cool.

Who are you targeting for Vere?

It’s guys and girls, 25 to 40 years old. If prices are their main purchase driver, they’re not our consumer, because we are never going make a $20 sandal. It’s definitely surf and outdoor driven, and someone who appreciates not just the quality, but that it’s made in the USA.

Your products are eco friendly?

At the end of the day, it is still made of EVA, but we use recycled nylon in our straps and recycled content in our EVA. Our goal is to eliminate as much waste in the production process as possible. We do that by buying EVA cut to size and by shape, and then our EVA supplier recycles scraps and puts that into future materials.

The woven straps are made from recycled nylon. Our leathers are chrome free leathers so we can grind up any waste and give to local farmers who can use it in fertilizer. Our goal is to have no trash in our production process; we’re going to be pretty close.

See Page 2 for more on Vere and the brand’s strategy

 

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Have you sold to any shops yet?

Wave Running Vehicles, Outer Banks Boarding Company, Mad Dog Surf Shop in Daytona, Florida and Fluid Surf Shop in Florida have given us hard paper and we are awaiting paper from many others, including a variety of surf shops in Texas and California that we just visited this week. Our prebook order deadline is not until October 1st, so we’re not expecting to collect too much paper until after Surf Expo. We’ve had very positive response and expect orders to continue to come in.

We are targeting only specialty surf and outdoor shops, and the smaller ones at that. It has proven to be a welcome strategy. We have a great story and it needs to be told at retail so we want o grow the brand with the smaller shops. That’s been our focus.

Will you sell only in the U.S.?

For now, but there will be some advantages as far as European and Latin American distribution down the road. For example, Europe pays a high duty rate on leather out of Asia, so there will be some advantages.

There are a lot of sandal brands in the marketplace. Do you really think there’s room for one more and why?

Yeah, there is. Retailers told me over the past few years that there was a need for domestically made product, as long as it was good, because people were asking for it. The idea came from retailers, who heard the demand from consumers. We based it on the idea that if you make it easy on people, they’ll do the right thing. Give them an option and don’t ask them to sacrifice quality or price, and they’d rather buy the domestic product.

We ran some focus groups late last year in San Diego and in Florida, and went in hoping to prove that. People said yeah, if I had the option, I’d buy product made in the U.S. and it’d be cool if it was environmentally sound, but they weren’t going to sacrifice to do it.

What’s your marketing strategy?

It’s all focused on the surf market. I don’t think the marketing will be focused on the outdoor market. We are really proud of our fit, quality, and comfort.

When are you launching?

Products are available for delivery January 1st. We want to target 600-700 doors in the first season.

Any other strategies on sales you want to share with us?

One thing from a business standpoint that turned out to be a bigger deal than I anticipated is we are set up to be an at once business. So we’re asking people to prebook only a small amount – just four size runs and then they qualify for 60-day terms and they also qualify for 60-days terms for at-once business.

That’s the benefit of being domestic. If we run out of inventory, we just make more product here and we can do it pretty quickly. We’re committed to stocking inventory for at-once business.