How to Start a Shoe Designing Business

Starting a shoe designing company might not be as hard as you think.

If you’re not formally trained as a designer, you may think that shoe design is a fantasy. The truth is, starting a shoe design company isn’t as difficult as you might think. Luxury goods produced $532 billion in sales in 2007 in the United States. Starting any entrepreneurial business takes a lot of work, but if you have a solid, creative and new product, there is money to be made. Shoes are a girl's best friend, and there is no doubt that the fashion industry is a profitable business--this can be a winning combination.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Business books
• Magazines
• Portfolio
• Sketching paper
• Pencils
• Colored pencils

1. Get some business skills. Buy a couple of “how to” business books that include mock business plans, or enroll in a fast-track business course at your local community college.

2. Decide which kind of shoe business you’d like to start. The type of shoe company you want to start will determine the initial capital and backing you will require.

3. Get familiar with the brands and styles in your shoe market. Read books on shoe design and start-up business plans, and get industry secrets and know-how from "WSA Today" and "Footwear News."

4. Create a storyboard, which is a visual representation of your designs that encompass a trend. This may be a trend you’re creating, or you may be following trends of designers that you like. A storyboard is typically made from magazine clips, notes, fabric swatches and initial sketches.

5. Design your product. There is plenty of footwear design software to fit every computer literacy level. Browse the online stores for product reviews, and pick the software that suits you best. If you’d rather sketch your designs by hand, these can be even more persuading to potential backers, because they show artistic creativity, which is key to design.

6. Create a business plan. To find a potential investor, you’ll need a solid five-year business plan, which includes market research, such as trends and competition, and ways in which an investor can invest.

7. Create your look book. Do some research on look books so you know how to present something professionally, but don’t be afraid to get creative; creativity, after all, is the key to design.

8. Look for investors who focus on new businesses.

9. Find a manufacturer to have a sample product made. Most shoes are made in China, Portugal and Italy. Email a couple of different manufacturers and start a conversation.

10. Get product samples made to help you show off your product and allow you to make final edits and changes to your shoe before manufacturing an entire line.

11. Do some research and find out which trade shows receive the highest traffic. Sign up for the ones that seem most appropriate for your shoes.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t expect to do all the work yourself. Chances are, you don’t have all the skills to start a company on your own. Hire technical designers, manufacturers, sales representatives and publicists.

• Do not make a deal with a manufacturer before thoroughly analyzing the agreement, and never pay the full cost of manufacturing upfront.

Resources

• ShoeInfoNet: List of Shoe Manufacturers
• Shoemaster: Shoe Design Software