The term “disruptive” is used frequently in the tech space, and often to varying degrees of accuracy. But there’s no denying that Jodie Fox can wear that label proudly. As co-founder of Shoes of Prey, Jodie created a new model for selling footwear by giving creative control to consumers themselves, and taking over the entire manufacturing process. Shoppers can customize shoes based on their own specifications, including size, color, design and fabric. Once finalized, the designs are submitted to Shoes of Prey to produce in-house and ship directly to the end consumer. The process doesn’t just remove a middleman – it removes all of them.

In advance of this year’s FTF: Conference on June 11, during which Jodie will be a speaker, we spoke with her about launching the brand, learning to speak to her customers, and the democratic company culture adopted by Shoes of Prey.

FTF: Shoes of Prey disrupted the traditional footwear manufacturing model by going completely vertical and owning all aspects of production. What was the most challenging aspect to get off the ground?

Jodie: The most challenging aspect has definitely been moving manufacturing in house. We always said we were never going to be in the business of manufacturing. How wrong we were! This has been one of the most critical things to master. And I believe it is also why other previous companies have not succeeded in mass customization.

FTF: What have you learned about your customers, who embrace customization, that may be different from those who seek out traditional retail experiences?

Jodie: The first people to adopt us are those who really cannot buy shoes they love any other way. This can be a style issue – perhaps heel height or color of shoes is an issue. But, it can also be a size issue. We also offer sizes 2.5 to 15 in various widths, which means ladies who haven’t been able to wear beautiful women’s shoes before are now able to.

However, we have found that overall our customers are the very same people as those picking up shoes off of the shelf. Once they know that they can get exactly what they want when it comes to shoes – and this may be a simple personalization like adding initials to the insole of the shoe – they quickly become Shoes of Prey customers.

FTF: How did you replicate a custom business that exists online into an effective brick and mortar retail space – and is it necessary to do so?

Jodie: It was necessary for us to go offline because it solved the worries our customers shared with us. Customers told us that they wanted to know what their shoes would look like in real life. We can make trillions of possible shoes, so it’s impossible for us to make them all. When we dug deeper into this concern, we understood that our customers (and potential customers) wanted to know, how do the shoes feel on my feet? What is the shape like? How do the leathers feel? Do the colors I’ve picked look good together?

We even had people visiting Sydney randomly come to our office, just wanting to see a pair of our shoes. It became obvious that we needed an offline presence to answer these questions. We use iPads in-store to seamlessly bridge the online design tool into the offline experience. This has also become our best customer acquisition channel.

FTF: You also emphasize a very democratic company culture at Shoes of Prey. What practices have you found resonate most with your employees?

Jodie: One of the best has been the way we set our company goals, which we borrowed from a process implemented at Pandora. Here are the steps:

1. We ask all of our staff to answer in one sentence: “What would it be stupid for us not to do in the next three months?”
2. They reply, and we curate against our yearly company goal and ensure no duplications.
3. The staff member who wrote the sentence that does get up, has to flesh it out into a one page plan and pitch it to the whole company.
4. All staff have four votes only. They vote on the pitch that felt like the thing that would be stupid not to do.

This always surfaces the best ideas, without fail.