A year ago I posted an entry I called “Shoe Time of Year”
and since then
have participated in a dozen Retail Sell-Through Boot Camps put on by PGA
Magazine around the country. The point of the article last year was the
following:
Preparing for the new season involves identifying the
categories that are most affected by new beginnings. Everything starts with the
staff understanding the product and the importance of the category and wanting
to discuss their knowledge with the customer.
There are a number of consistent topics that have come
up at all the boot camps but the two I want to tie in to this year’s version of “Shoe Time of Year”
are the fact that
the game of golf is generally becoming more casual and that life-style
categories are becoming more important to properly identify as to which are
appropriate for your clientele and how best to merchandise them. I was
discussing these more casual/lifestyle topics and their significance as points
of conversation among everyone in the industry with Greg Lecker at Sawgrass
Country Club and he asked me if I was familiar with Canoos. I was not, but
quickly became a fan. Boat shoes designed to play golf in made immediate sense
to me not only because they perfectly fit the above equation of casual and more
life-style product, but because boat shoes have been in my closet and a go-to
shoe for me for forty years. Greg introduced me to Matt Freedman and Josh Hannum
and this interview is the result.
Matt,
Josh we want to talk about the product and the retail potential, but first tell
us what inspired you to consider building this timeless and yet unique product?
Craig, like yourself and millions of other Americans,
we wear boat shoes and loafers every day of our lives. Boat shoes as a category have been the #1
selling shoe style in the US for quite some time. As young professionals, there was rarely a
time that we wore anything else. We
found ourselves at times going right from work to the driving range or to our
club to try and sneak 9 holes in after work, and there were times when we didn’t have traditional golf spikes with us to change
into. So I (Matt) one day got so fed up
with both not always having golf spikes with me, or not really WANTING to
change into golf spikes that I would never wear otherwise. So I began playing my rounds in the very boat
shoes and loafers that I would wear to the course. I was very comfortable, and felt like the
shoe completed my outfit because it was what I was wearing anyway, but due to
the bottoms being flat they would slide severely as I would swing. So after a rogue hot round in early March in
the Northeast in 2009, I went home to my garage and ripped apart every pair of
boat shoes I had, went to Home Depot to get the proper tools and began to screw
golf spikes into the bottoms. At first I
failed miserably, except for one pair, which I wore for about three weeks worth
of rounds and that held up fine. I
shared the idea with Josh, who was a close friend, golfing buddy and worked in
the fashion business. We hit the ground
running making pairs for each other and then friends & family who were
asking. After a few months, the orders
got to be too large to fulfill making in our garage, so we found several
manufacturers around the world to help us.
About 3 years of prototyping, editing and patent filing later, Canoos
was born on October 31 of 2012.
As I’ve
mentioned I don’t
ever remember being without a pair of docksiders or boat shoes in my closet,
the style is as classic as any you could name. You mention on your web site
that “Canoos will make sure that if you choose leisure golf apparel, it will be
the highest quality hand crafted apparel there is.” Speak to the quality of Canoos if you will and to the obvious
comment from the low handicapper about support and grounding.
The quality in our current product the Tour 2.0 is
truly second to none in golf. We can say
this confidently as well about our Made in Maine product (launching Father’s Day 2016) because we personally have met the
families of the folks who hand sew every pair of our shoes. The leather is sourced diligently by the
founders and so is every component. From
every stitch of thread, every eyelet, every inch of lace, every ounce of
rubber, the suede for the shoe bags, the corrugate for the boxes, even down to
the last (the mold that the shoe is built around) are all hand chosen.
The reason it took us so long to build the prototypes
and bring the product to market is because boat shoes were not made to play
golf in, originally. The difficult part
was taking a shoe that has such a low profile, is so malleable and so casual
and totally reconstruct it to stand up to the performance demands of tour
professionals. We made a number of
design enhancements to a traditional camp moc style boat shoe like adding an
Ortho-Lite ™ insole for added comfort, protection and arch
support. We made the bottom spike-less,
but made the bumpy bottom pattern in such a way that it will give you more grip
than most spiked shoes in the marketplace.
We can say this, because our tour pros have tested side by side at our
HQ and publicly. We chose a leather that
will stand up to dew, and be water repellent.
In summary, the current Canoos Tour 2.0 Shoe as you see it, and the Made
in Maine Canoos Clubhouse Shoes will be performance marvels as well as casual
travel companions.
I
mentioned your web site which I think is not only well done and informative but
fun. The monthly featured club write-up is a particularly unique feature. What
other marketing plans can we look for and how do you see your distribution and
customer base fleshing out?
This is the most fun I get to have in my professional
life other than designing the shoes themselves.
The fact that we’re in an industry where we’re able to celebrate relationships, partnerships and folks who respect
the heritage of the game we love makes us the luckiest guys on the planet. We’re two young guys who have grinded in corporate jobs for the first 10
years of our careers praying that one day we could work in the golf industry
with a product that we both obsess over.
That dream has come true for us, but with that comes an overwhelming responsibility
to uphold the traditions, the respect and the honor of the game. So, the best way we know how to do these
things is to research, surface and report on the best parts of the game both on
and off the course. We think it’s
equally important for us as a brand to celebrate the things that we love about
the game even when we’re not playing. The best cocktails, the best cigar lounges, the best
poker rooms, the best hotdog at the turn, the best cart girls. The little
details that we may remember long past the 96 we just shot. There are clubs, people and elements of this
game that the masses don’t know about, yet deserve to be celebrated. Our duty as a brand is not only to give our
customers the absolute best quality product and customer service that we can,
but to celebrate the lifestyle that we’re so privileged to live. We deem
this initiative the Canoos Country Club.
It is the digital version of your real life Country Club,
where we can virtually go around the world and see things that remind us of why
we love this game. Our goal is to make
this website a collection, a general store or mercantile if you will that
functions as a digital pro shop based on all of our findings from around the
country. All folks have to do is
subscribe to our newsletter to receive content updates like this, and stay
tuned on the website for some incredibly big happenings in 2016.
Josh,
what are some of the ideas as to how you see this being best merchandised in
the shops and what are some of the promotional programs we can expect to see?
As a boutique company heavily focused on our green
grass partnerships, we are very sensitive about who the shoes are merchandised
with and how. Everything we do from a point of sale display, to our catalogs
that ship with our orders, to supporting collateral is “on brand” for us and
reflects the nautical and leisure roots of the company. Our best successes have
been when our shoes are merchandised with other boutique brands embodying the
lifestyle and fashion of the shoes.
Our customers are blown away over the comfort and
functionality of the shoes once they try them on, so we are focused on creating
seeding programs, trunk shows and fit trials. In addition, we are very excited
to partner on tournaments where we can outfit the participants or offer the
shoes as gifts for winning long drives and closest to the pins. Most
importantly, we aren’t going to spread ourselves thin. We want to create an
industry best experience both for our partners and their members.
Canoos
has developed product in categories other than shoes –
tell us about those and perhaps any planned for the
future?
Canoos is a shoe company first, but over the years our
customers have always asked for more ways to spread the word via product. We are incredibly humbled and blessed to have
folks who actually care to do so! Josh’s background is in global apparel sourcing for one of
the largest houses in the world, so he has spent his career honing his
expertise for this role. We take a very
similar approach to making other products as we do making shoes. There are times where we manufacture things
ourselves, in some cases we like to partner with other similar type brands who
are best in breed to co-label a piece or two.
Our goal is to take our time and only launch things when we’re as proud to get it on our customer as we are with
our shoes. Things to look for in the
future are more styles, colors and types of shoes for men, women and children
as well as socks & other companion products for our shoes. As the brand grows and listens to our
customers for feedback and product suggestions,
we’re really taking an organic, customer first approach
by observing what guys are wearing on the course and around the club when we
visit our retailers. The best outfit is
the one that the gentleman or lady is confident in. As our brand grows, you can expect pieces
that will be classic & coastal inspired with a focus on fit and comfort.
Canoos
were invented to look your best while being incredibly comfortable on AND off
the course. In that spirit we vet partnership opportunities to introduce
product in core categories that complement the shoes. Moving forward, expect
more of these partnerships introduced and more American made products.
Matt,
Josh this has been great, tell us about your sales plans going forward and the
best way to contact you in order to become partners on Canoos product. What are
you plans for upcoming shows?
The trajectory of this brand is 100% a direct result
of the talent on our team. We have a
culture of winners that is bred by hard work, family atmosphere, and the
tireless focus on our customers. We put
a very strong emphasis on relationships, and focus on strong green grass and
independent retailers who really take their brand seriously. We have always gone above and beyond to
support our partners in wholesale with customization options, quick turn
arounds, low minimums and a vast display catalog to support sell through and
end-consumer experience. Our goal is to
build a personal relationship with each Pro or shop owner who carries us so
that person is comfortable having the Founder’s cell phone numbers in their phones as well.
There is a wholesale page on our website which goes
directly to both founders Matt & Josh & AJ our President for those who
are interested in learning more about Canoos. Our emails are also listed below
for readers of this blog to reach out directly:
Craig Kirchner – craigrkirchner@gmail.com
I’ve
partnered up with Matt and Josh to provide retail consultation and
merchandising ideas to the Canoos sell-in effort at the green grass level and
so I’ve added my email to the list of contacts. We want to make the vendor partnership
much more than just ship the shoes and hope. The golf boat shoe is a natural at
resorts and is certainly a great new idea as a tournament favor. Shoes sales at
most clubs are somewhat cyclical until something new happens. Something new
that has an incredible heritage is by definition worthy of being taken serious
by green grass shops. Once you’ve tried a pair on you will want to teach in
them and tout them as this year’s traditional/casual/lifestyle item. Please call
(443-309-3005) or email me if you would like to discuss the different programs and
ideas that we have to help drive your retail effort.
