The footwear market is experiencing exponential growth, thanks to the increasing demand for trendy, fancy and comfortable footwear. Today, the world is littered with footwear brands, but one that is causing ripples in the marketplace is the technology-driven brand called PLAE.
What is PLAE?
It’s a sneaker brand founded by Ryan Ringholz in 2012. He doubles up as the chief designer of the footwear brand. Ryan is not new in the footwear industry as he graduated with a degree in design engineering at the University of Michigan. He also worked at the giant sportswear company, Puma, as a lead designer where he was responsible for launching a variety of footwear in the lifestyle division and grew its worth to a staggering $1billion.
He also worked at Diesel, where he grew their footwear brand to $300 million and has consulted for many big footwear brands across the world.
Jonathan Spier, a smart tech guy, joined his company as a chief executive officer. Jonathan worked in the social media space with a company known as Netbase Solutions as a co-founder. He helped the company grow from nothing to over $10 million in revenue before calling it a day in 2010.
The PLAE story
The PLAE footwear brand was founded based on children’s feet. Ryan Ringholz took the idea that a child’s foot is vulnerable and it should be protected at all costs. A newborn child’s foot is like a piece of tissue. Its skin is soft and the bones are brittle, and so, it needs a flexible, customizable, yet durable shoe. He understood that the way you take care of a child’s foot will greatly determine how they grow and develop. He felt that when designing children’s footwear, there should be no compromises with regard to style and function. His idea was to put the child first, which is why his footwear brands are uniquely designed for kids’ feet.
What separates PLEA from the pack and makes it popular worldwide is the direct-to-consumer business model they’ve adopted. This model has enabled them to build a loyal, global community of more than 5,000 members who actively participate in the design of the footwear products. In fact, they vote for design ideas (from community members) that should make it to the production stage.
His model has enabled a PLEA to become one of the best-selling footwear brands for children in the local market. They have expanded, and now make footwear brands for adults as well. As of his writing, PLAE has managed to sell more than one million pairs of footwear. You can get these footwear brand products at really reasonable prices because they roll out new PLAE discount codes every month.
Because of the company’s good policies and technology adoption, PLAE dominates the local market. In fact, statistics show that the footwear brand has sold shoes in almost all regions in the local market. The brand executives have now set their sights on the international market by establishing collaborations with nations like the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, Australia, Dubai, and South America. The prospects for success are great for this ambitious footwear band.
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