Amazing, really.
I can’t believe it’s been 1 year. Or at least 1 year since incorporating Outstation as a standalone boot brand. I’d previously made dress shoes (and still do at times) prior to starting Outstation, but hadn’t gone all in on boots until I incorporated the legal entity.
So, now seems like a good time to reflect a little on the past year.
Here we go.
The good.
There’s been plenty of good, yet I’ve been so flat out that I haven’t had time to reflect on what they were. Probably something I should do more often, especially when I need something as a pick-me-up for the bad days.
And that’s exactly what this journal piece is for.
The product development process is efficient.
As of the 1 year mark, I have 4 models launched in the Everyday line. A line of boots made for, well, everyday wear. More flexible leather midsoles, lower cut uppers (compared to typical boots), EVA outsole for appeal to the sneaker wearer.
At this point in time, the product development cycle is very efficient. Efficient in the sense of what the defined process is, the timelines needed and most importantly, what the particular product should be, based on a target customer profile.
I don’t build products based on what I (the Bootmaker) like. I build based on what the market accepts. So, this tends to take more time, because research needs to be done before designing a product.
Within each stage of the product development process, I’ve also noticed that my speed, understanding and execution of what I’m doing has also improved.
As an example, initially my boot patterns used only a single pattern piece for both lateral and medial quarters. Fast forward to today, and I have separate patterns pieces for each quarter panel.
Because (especially on the Afterhours loafer and the East Coast boat shoe), a symmetrical pattern wasn’t giving a close enough lasting of the upper.
And it kind of makes sense. The last isn’t symmetrical, so why should the quarters patterns be symmetrical?
Yes, leather can be stretched to fit a last if the pattern is off slightly. However my philosophy is different. I feel that to get the best fit, the pattern should take into account the curves on the last. That is, the leather should already fit the last having been cut to a correct pattern.
Any finer adjustments needed whilst lasting can then be done with the natural stretch in the leather.
This improvement in my patternmaking arose because I became very attuned to the curves on my lasts. This is what happens when you’ve done 100+ revisions of various patterns on the same last.
In situations where patterns needed adjustment during the design stage, I now know a solution to most situations. And at times, even able to take this into account before initial pattern testing. Things like springing the vamp to tighten lockdown across the girth, or springing the heel to tighten the topline. Or cutting darts out of pattern pieces to remove excess material.
Previously, I would know the technique but didn’t necessarily know how to apply it. Through a lot of self-discovery, thankfully, this isn’t the case anymore.
Production is more or less on autopilot.
At this point, I can comfortably produce two to three pairs of boots a week without pushing myself too hard. Everything is done myself, aside from the initial outsole trimming, where I send the almost-finished boots to a cobbler. They later come back in-house where I do the final sanding and finishing.
From day one, I made sure my processes were designed in a way that makes it easy to scale the business. Meaning, the construction steps and build process had been designed for maximum efficiency. So when the right time comes, it’s straightforward for me to scale the business into a small operation or factory with a clearly defined workflow for each stage of build.
Take the closing process for example. Even within this process, the specific sewing order of panels were considered whilst patternmaking. For each particular boot, the pattern was developed to minimise sewing time, whilst still achieving the pattern (and aesthetic) for that boot model.
Remember, at a price point like Outstation, time really is money.
The brand is slowly growing in the right circles.
I knew when I launched the brand, that it was going to be a long term play for the Malaysian market. But I was prepared for this. I was betting on the emerging middle class, increased disposable income and a desire to move away from big brands.
I’ve written on this before. It’s a waiting game. Waiting for the market to grow up. And when it does, my brand will be established and ready to play.
I designed my product to intersect with the customer at this unknown point in time. Targeting a late 20’s to early 30’s group, white collar, overseas educated, a little unique in their taste (compared to the average consumer). Many come from the sneaker world, wanting to move into something more ‘grown up’.
And so far, that’s exactly who my customers are. Well, for the Everyday line at least. So I know that my product hit the target market. I don’t remind myself enough of this; it’s a small win that’s arguably much bigger than I realise.
The brand awareness is slowly growing. Running ads on social media is really the only way to do this, especially as an independent new brand.
The first movers are the ones that ‘take the risk’ on Outstation boots, and they’re the ones I have to give the best experience to. So that they become ambassadors of both the brand and the product.
I don’t use any influencers, although at the global level, most of the boot related personalities are aware of me. I haven’t sent any boots anywhere for review, because the timing isn’t right.
Why? I don’t want to open that floodgate until I’m ready. The last thing I want is for large amounts of orders to come through, but not be able to handle them. Especially if they’re from overseas.
My branding is somewhat straightforward and understated. I very much shy away from hype, luxury, or over-promotion bullshit. This is also the reason why I’m still on the fence about using influencers in the business.
Putting it all together, somehow my branding works – for now. Maybe people are just sick of the shit we’ve been eating for the last 10 years in the fashion world.
The supply chain is almost stabilized.
Man this one took a painfully long time to lock down. I’d previously penned my thoughts in a previous journal article, so won’t repeat myself again.
Needless to say, at this point (touch wood) I now have a supply chain to springboard any future products from. Leather for uppers and linings, leather for insoles and midsoles, hardware and other components.
More or less everything is in place, aside from a few materials that aren’t mission critical.
I can’t emphasize enough how much time it took to find materials and suppliers. Both go through a rigorous testing cycle. This was especially important on the supplier side; testing if their product was consistent in quality between orders, if they’re ethical in their business behaviour and how quickly they can fulfil requests.
I also identified backup suppliers in case a main supplier goes MIA.
This was more important that I realised. With companies going out of business left right and centre, it makes it so much more important to have supply chain redundancy built in to mitigate that risk.
What this also means is that I place orders from backup suppliers every now and then to keep them warm. Just in case later on I need to swap them in to take over from a main supplier.
From all of this, the amount of knowledge gained has been incredible for me. Dealing with foreign suppliers, customs and import duties, finding creative (and cost effective) ways to handle shipping.
The bad.
Somehow like Newton’s third law, for each good, there is equal and opposite bad. Some I’d known would be there from day one. Some popped up unexpectedly over time.
And not everything has a solution – yet.
I need retail space at some point.
Sigh. This one has been hanging over my head for 9 months or so.
Currently, the majority of Outstation customers are early stage adopters of the brand, so they have no issue coming to visit me at my home studio.
They come, try on their size, touch the product, talk boots.
But I know that there are others who go MIA when they find out I work from my home studio.
I’ve tested my hypothesis with friends. And they tend to validate that yes, a home studio based business is likely driving potential customers away.
This is a combination of:
a) People preferring to drop into a shop when taking their family to the mall (and not needing to go out of their way somewhere else).
b) Worried about sizing issues when buying online without trying (without a size exchange policy), and;
c) Being uncomfortable visiting someone’s house, feeling pressure to buy.
Some of this is culturally driven, some is market specific. Almost all, I can’t change at this stage in the business’ life.
Point a is just how things work here. People tend to be very family oriented on the weekend. And, a lot of family time is spent in malls.
Nobody wants to spend their spare time dragging their family to someone’s house to look at boots. They want to let their family wander around the mall whilst they drop into a shop (in the same mall). Convenience is king.
Point b is fair. And yet I can’t do anything about it. I simply can’t afford to spend 15-20 hours making a boot in a wrong size, then move a customer to the end of the queue to wait for a rebuild in the right size.
The market in Asia is not a patient one. This is mostly due to the lack of understanding what a made to order product is, and how it works compared to ready to wear.
Point c also makes sense. To alleviate some of this buying pressure, I always tell visiting customers that I don’t allow them to buy on the spot. They can text me a few days later if they want to buy. And if not, that’s fine.
My philosophy currently is to treat my marketing spend as my retail space spend. That is, as long as the money I spend on marketing is bringing in customers at a rate that I would expect if I paid the same money on retail rent, then this is acceptable.
But I know sooner or later, I’m going to have to solve this retail space problem properly.
And it’ll be expensive.
The constant education is tiring.
Closely related to an earlier point, this is just the punishment for targeting a customer base that isn’t typical for my product.
Remember, my customers aren’t boot nerds. They don’t know fit gets better with time, they don’t know leather shapes to the foot, they don’t know that scratches on leather aren’t a sign of a faulty product.
So over time I’ve tuned how I feed information to potential customers at various touchpoints. Starting with what’s on social media, through to initial conversation and eventually in-person when they come and visit.
I specifically plan my social media output as an education feed. I don’t focus so much on likes and interaction. Rather, I treat my socials as a repository for customers to do research with, in order to build brand trust and understand what Outstation boots are as a product.
Everything posted is thought through to feed the right information at the right time in the customer journey. And it’s spaced out accordingly. I need to allow time for people to digest information on a product which is more complex than what they usually know.
The customers that are already familiar with heritage footwear are the high points. They do exist in Malaysia. And these people I leverage to tap into their network of friends, spreading the brand awareness naturally.
The loneliness can be debilitating.
You know, I didn’t expect this one to hit as hard as it does. And, maybe it’s something to go deeper into for a future journal entry.
Every day is obscenely busy. It’s so full that I barely have time for anything else. But the loneliness isn’t about having time for interaction with other people. Rather, it’s about having someone else to bounce ideas off about business direction.
I enjoy debate. Violent debate even. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I enjoy conflict. There’s something about taking a controversial extreme, just to explore a thought to the absolute limit.
And when there’s a sparring partner that pushes back with logic, this is how I probe the maximum boundary of ideas. And then eventually go through a process of elimination.
Luckily I have 1 or 2 friends that are interested in what I’m doing, so they’re always more or less up to date on my challenges in the business. That way they’re up to speed when I get their opinion on topics.
But it’s still not the same as having an all-in business partner.
Monotony of the routine.
This one may sound related to the loneliness topic, but it’s not. Rather, it’s related to the production autopilot mentioned earlier.
At this point, I can make my product to a relatively consistent quality without thinking too much. I’ve made so many pairs of boots, it’s become numbing to make another pair of the same pattern, following the same steps, with the same routine.
And this is the monotony. I’m a factory, without being a machine.
There are honestly days where I just don’t want to pick up the knife to cut leather for the x-teenth time.
Remember, I’ve mentioned it before. My primary interest is business, only followed by bootmaking. The bootmaking is the means to fulfil a business goal.
That being said, whenever someone comes through with an unusual request for an existing Outstation boot, it excites me. And this has started to lead me down the path of considering an Outstation custom shop at some point.
These one-of-one, never to be repeated builds are really the type of bootmaking that I enjoy.
The future.
I’m neither pessimistic or overly optimistic about the future. Being not-too-high or not-too-low keeps me in check.
Objectively though, I’m feeling alright with where things are right now, and the trajectory that Outstation is moving in.
I’m satisfied with the customer base that find me, it’s exactly who I targeted. I have repeat customers. Each of my products fill a use case for them.
To an extent, this validates the business case from a product perspective.
When the time comes, the next step is to turn on the tap. To pour in marketing spend. This will then validate the business case from a volume perspective.
I expect volume won’t be local though, it’ll likely come from the international market. And I assume for the Frontier line – a build which is closer to what an international boot buyer may look for in the casual heritage world.
But again, this hypothesis will need to be tested, at the right time.
My pockets aren’t deep, yet they’re deep enough to continue growing the business step by step. I’ve got all the machinery that I need for my current production volume. The next stage will be to import an outsole stitcher. With this, output can scale further.
My house already looks like a small factory. Having a 500kg machine show up is going to be something else.
My girlfriend will not be pleased.
