Name: Meet The Former Investment Banker Who Is Trying To Step Up Men's Shoe Game
Uploaded: 2016-12-02
Duration: 13 min 26 s
Description: Evan Fript is the co-founder and CEO of Paul Evans, a luxury men's footwear company.

Hi Facebook, my name is Polina Marinova and I'm here with Evan Fript, he's the cofounder of a luxury menswear brand called Paul Evans. Evan, welcome. Thanks for having me. How are you? Good, how are you? Good. Okay so you do not come from a retailed background, you were investment banking, you majored in Finance in college, so given that you don't really have experience in retail, how do you sort this company in 2013 ?>> Well it took a year to actually get up and running before we launched then at 2013, but spend a tear sourcing product, getting samples made. Throughout the world, Portugal, Spain, Italy, China, Pakistan, India, really refining the product, trying to get it right. So just searching for the best possible product. We eventually found an amazing, amazing factory, family owned factory, in Naples, Italy. So we've been with them since the beginning. We since branched out from shoes, they're now producing belts and bags for us. So it's been a really great relationship but it took a while to actually find the right products. No, I get that. But how did you have an idea of I wanna do fashion now instead of investment banking? Well, I was looking for an escape from investment banking anyway. Why? I mean, working in office is soul crushing. I saw the next decade, two decades, what would happen if I stayed in an office doing that sort of work. And I wanted to find something that I was passionate about. And I think working in an office and working in investment banking, having a little bit extra money to actually work on your wardrobe is what got me into fashion. Just refining your appearance, looking for the best possible product. And then seeing these other brands, the Nobos, Harvey Parker, going direct to consumer, offering their customers an amazing value proposition, not sacrificing quality but producing the price and getting something that is super high quality at a good value. So that's what the impetus was for me to find something similar. Nobody was doing it in shoes. I saw an opening especially around this $ 300 -$ 400 price range. So are you wearing the shoes right now? Yep, I'm wearing Paul cut scissor, the Marten's are best seller. So these are $ 400, how much? Either $ 400, yeah. Okay, and what is your Competition retail for? Right. So I like to say we don't have any competition. Right? But? But, so competitor- wise I would say traditional brands, Allen Evans, is around $ 400. Sub- par quality though, nothing compared to us. I'd say in terms of quality level, we're on par with Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton- Really? WARG Fashion makes product for very high- end, well- known brands. Okay, so tell me about the process of making the shoes you're wearing right now. Sure, so everything's hand made but they source all the product, all the materials in Italy. In Italy? Uh- huh, so we work with an amazing tannery It produces some of the best italian calf skin leather in the world, there's a limited quantity that actually gets produced each year so there's a limited amount that we can actually purchase. But it all starts with just the best materials. The best leather, our factory again family owned, it's been around for many many generations. And who wears these shoes? What's your demographic? Twenty six thirty nine year old urban male highly educated to treasury income. So you would see these shoes on Wall Street guys? Yeah, we're former Wall Street guys. We knew of the Customer was, who the customer was before we launched the company. This is, that's the market that we're trying to fill. Got it. And that's where we're seeing the most reception. So tell me about your marketing strategy a little bit. How are you- We're big digital marketers. I would tell you though more on the organic side. Not so much paid advertising. Although we definitely do that. Really big into press, what we're doing right now. Been on television a couple of times. We work with a lot of bloggers and influencers, gifting product, having them talk about the product, take pictures, promote it on their social media channels. So a lot of promotion. A lot of promotion. Word of mouth though has been huge. The only reason we're around is because of our amazing customers telling Their friends, their family about our product and getting everybody else on the bandwagon. And you're a direct to consumer business and you're very proud of being in direct to consumer business. Yeah. Why are you staying out of big box retailers? Well we don't want to degrade the brand. I think by keeping the supply limited and not making it Available everywhere, super conspicuous. You actually increase the perceived value. So it's only a plan branding but also back to providing incredible value proposition to our customers We never wanted to sell a $ 1, 000 pair of shoes. I wanted to sell a 300 to $ 400 pairs of shoes. And the only way to do that at this quality level is to go direct to consumer. So our focus has been and will continue to be on the end consumer and having them pay less for a better product. Got it, and tell me about financing. How are you Raising venture capital? So we raised money opportunistically. Always speaking with different investors. Private individuals, venture capital funds. We've never raised any institutional capital. Mm- hm. We're very cognizant of what happens when you do. So today- And what happens when you do? A lot of times you lose control. Okay. Whether directly or indirectly. I mean the way I've seen some crazy term sheets. Uh- huh. So it's just important for us to remain in control because what we're doing is working and we don't want to veer off from that track. But we definitely raise money from private individuals, alternative lenders. We've done a lot of debt [ UNKNOWN ] We're very proud that we've never raised any institutional capital. But that also means that we're smaller, and not as ubiquitous as other companies. I do wanna talk about, so you had a Kickstarter when you were trying to raise money. Your goal was 30, 000, you only raised 2, 400. So what did What did you learn from that? And why didn't it succeed? I mean, that was, I think three years ago? Yeah. I would tell you probably we're just a new brand and didn't have that recognition yet. Kickstarter wasn't the right platform as well to sell $ 400 shoes. At least in my opinion. I would say that was more of a A marketing thing also. Just a way to get the name out there. Mm. So that was a raise for $ 30, 000. I've raised a million dollars to date with other people. So not a big deal. So in terms of revenue you brought in about two million last year. What are your projections for this year? Yeah, so for 2016 we're gonna wind up doing two and half million gross. 2017 we're anticipating 5 million. But it all depends on if we raise any additional capital, that just fuels the revenue growth. So, really the sky's the limit. Right now we're out of stock on 80 % of our skews, so I don't even have product to sell. To most people, which is pretty crazy when you think about it. Got it, and you're a digital- only operation, but you do have a guide shop. Yeah, so we're digitally native. Started off online. We were online- only for two and a half years. We opened up this guide shop at 35 Christopher Street. And explain what a guide shop is. Sure, so a guide shop, we don't carry inventory there. It's not cash and carry. It serves more as a showroom. You can come in, see the product, get your size. We've got a bunch of sample sizes laying around. And you can buy product in the store. But everything gets fulfilled from our distribution center. It's just like placing a purchase online, you don't walk out with product. Having said that, a lot of guys walk out with product just because they see it on their feet and they wanna have it right then and there, even if it's a sample shoe. So it's been great trying to figure out this retail component. It's awesome connecting with people in real life. And it has served what we've been trying to do which is connect with people in real life, increase our sales, lower our return rate. Guys are trying on the shoe they know their size. In real time and our plan is open up more nationally. Okay. And we organized years, we sound sound over 80 different countries internationally. So our first goal is open and expand foot print internationally and sort of opening international source. What is success for you brand look like? Good question, success is really just making sure that our costumers are super happy. Looking their best super confident. I think it's less about money. And just for- Is it less about money though? It is less about that. No, honestly because I don't make a lot of money. But I tell you I'm super happy. I have an amazing life. And it's not about money. And that's the other thing I wanna talk to you about, so you're a first entrepreneur, what's been the lowest moment in your entrepreneur journey? I don't know if there is super low moment. I think it's really just not listening to hearsay and staying super focus knowing what the end- result is and staying on track to get there. I mean, I've known different people whispering in your ear telling you like you're doing wrong. Providing their opinions and it's fine to entertain those people but at the end of the day, if you're the boss and it you're. Part of the team behind the brands. You're bus is the customer, I need to make sure the customers are happy [ INAUDIBLE ] business. And having a pretty small team you said about five employees. Yeah, five people. Do you wanna keep it small or do you wanna expand? Well we hire, as we need people. So as we continue to grow our business, we're definitely gonna need more people. I would tell you we're leaner than a lot of other companies Doing the revenue numbers we're doing. And that's a function of one, not being institutionally backed when you raise a lot of money and you need to hire people and spend it, and burn money. We don't have that option, we can't burn money. We need to be, Very careful with our capital base but yeah we're going to hire more people. And so just working in the fashion industry now, what are some common fashion mistakes you see men, millennial men making? Well the good thing about millennial men is now has never been a better time to start dressing better and impressing people the way you're dressing in. There's so many different brands out there to help you dress better .>> Uh- huh .>> But the mistakes I would tell you were close to don't fit, your baggy suits, baggy pants. Some guys are still wearing those really ugly square- toed shoes .>> [ LAUGH ] Very low quality. And I mean just in terms of investment. Shoes are definitely and investment. If you're spending $ 400 on our shoes, on Paul Evans, you're going to have these shoes for 10 years if you take care of them. So it's do you want to spend $ 400 now and have it for a decade or do you want to spend $ 100 at Aldo and you're throwing them out in a month or two. You know what I mean? Yeah. In That's it. That's awesome. And backstage, you kinda told me that you have some high- profile customers, which is a very surprising audience from your NFL players. Yep, we've got a lot of athletes, and that's just because we make bigger sizes. Okay. We do very small sizes, and we do very big sizes. And we can do that Because we're work directly with the factory, we can hold a small amount of inventory in those sizes. So I think it's just really hard for these guys, new athletes, they're trying to look their best as well. And if we can accommodate them, then it's just like any other customer. We're doing what we can, we've listen to all of our customers. If there's ever a suggestion that they have, we are working our best to implement that solution. Cool, so thank you so much, Evan. Now we're gonna do this random question fishbowl. Am I picking one? So, yes, draw a question. This is always so fun. If you were to get rid of one state, country, territory, which one would it be and why? Oo, this is a good question. I don't know. Can I say North Korea cause they're super oppressive. Okay, yeah- Is that a safe answer? Tell me how you really feel, yeah. Well, we're big on equal rights over at, or human rights over at Paul Eans so I'm just gonna stick North Korea. Okay, sounds good, sounds good. Okay. Want me to pull another one? [ BLANK_AUDIO ] If you weren't in business what would you be doing? Traveling more, I think. Traveling more. I love to travel. It's awesome seeing new cultures, trying to speak new languages, connecting with people in different parts of the world. But do you have a different career path you would be on if you weren't An entrepreneur? Honestly I have no idea. I can't, Haven't thought about that? I can only see myself being an entrepreneur and there's other businesses that i'm involved in and that I'm going to be involved in, being my own boss is super important- Got it. Not working for other people, so. Got it, so even after Paul Evans you would start another company? No, yeah, I've invested in some other companies and there's other things that are going on and There's gonna be many more companies that I'm Very cool working on. Do I get to pick one more? Yes, yes, yes. [ LAUGHS ] This is fun. [ LAUGHS ] You want to just answer all of them? Yeah, no I can do that. [ LAUGHS ] I have time. Do you have a secret talent, if so what? I have no secret talents. Come on. I'm. no seriously I'm not really good Come on At anything [ LAUGHS ] I'm not Okay. Let us pick another one. Let's pick another one, cuz that was a bad one. You gotta be very honest here. New York or LA, New York. Why? I think, not having to have a car, is awesome being able to get around on foot. I love to walk, so just having that public transportation option also is cool, and. Show off your shoes. Show off your shows and the energy in New York is unlike anywhere else in the world. And I've been around the world and there's only one New York. Not that I don't love L. A. L. A. 's great, but, New York's New York. Got it, well thank you so much Trevor I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Thank you Facebook and we'll see you next time on Founder Friday. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Meet The Former Investment Banker Who Is Trying To Step Up Men's Shoe Game 

Evan Fript is the co-founder and CEO of Paul Evans, a luxury men's footwear company. 