Hey, I'm building an online store for European Handmade Men's Shoes.
Hey,
I'm building an online store for European Handmade Men's Shoes. We are passionate about artisans and seek to give back 10 % of all sales to Artisan Academy, which helps underprivileged apprentices to learn the craft.
The business is in a pre-launch phase and we are testing and validated various approaches to move forward.
You can find the site here: https://artesandro.com
Our goal is to create a single destination for people to buy European handmade shoes. We want to make the buying experience easy. Also, we want to give people an easy way to support the handcraft and ensure that traditions live on.
We believe in this project because handmade shoes are often more ecological and ethical than mass produced counterparts. Their life span is long, they are made from materials sourced ethically and they provide a livelihood for lots of people. Also, handmade shoes have a soul. They add character to life. People can have emotional connection with them.
I would love to hear your feedback on this idea.
Thanks,
Artur
Normally I wouldn't say this but, since you directly asked for feedback, I'll tell you I disagree.
Mass production is generally more efficient, not only economically, but also from an environmental and human standpoint. I'm not sure at all that it's ethical to direct more human effort towards rote manufacturing work. Human capital is precious and there are so many ways it can be used to build a more prosperous world for both us and our descendants.
Others will no undoubtedly have different point of view, but this is mine!
Quite interesting.
Are they going to be bespoke shoes or ready-to-wear shoes? If the letter, how do I as client make sure they fit? Or it is going to be something like sending back-and-forth until we find a good match?
The latter. Shoemakers will sell their "pre-made" models. If the shoe does not fit, there will be a standard return policy as in any normal online store. I have not thought about sending back-and-forth model, but if customers want that I don't see a problem with it.
I see. To be honest, I never considered buying shoes online. For some reason, I think that by default they won't fit or I won't like the real thing as much as the picture.
Do you mean handmade shoes specifically? I buy regular shoes and sneakers online constantly. Everything is moving online. My goal is to ensure that also non-mass produced products can play the e-commerce game and find their niche and audience.
I'm old-fashioned in that way. I definitely would like to reap the benefits of online shopping. But even when I go to a mall, it takes ages until I pick something with lots of tries.
Bookmarked and signed up :)
Great idea! I hope you'll add ecological and fair-trade categories too. I'm all for small-scale, local manufacturing, especially when it comes to clothing.
Yes, I think there will be various categories to sort the manufacturers.
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