Home-Based Sneaker Business

My Mission is to create an environment where sneakers are not just something to put on your feet. Sneakers are not a fad. Sneakers are a way a life and is a sub culture of hip hop fashion. My goal is to turn this lifestyle into a business and contribute to the sneaker world by promoting and customizing kick’s to keep this movement positive forward direction.

I am creating a sneaker customization service that will also double as a sneaker store. The customization service will be available to male and females. Shoe sizes will range from size: 5-14. My service will offer the brands of Adidas and Nike to choose from. The models we will customization will be the Adidas “superstar shell toe”, the Nike “air force 1”, the Nike “dunks” and the Nike “air max 95”. This is a significant business because it will appeal to a variety of different people but will mainly focus to the needs of individuals in there early teens to late twenties. The competition is located on the web: nikeid.com. The service provided by Nike does not offer as much creativity as my service offer’s. I will provide the customer with a unique and cost effective approach to the design. The customer can sketch the design they may want their sneaker to be customized. The Nike “id” service does not provide customers to design sketches such as comic or cartoon characters. Nike has a take it or leave it approach. My service will be much cheaper. The customer can bring their own shoes in then we go over the design process together. Customers can also purchase a brand new pair of sneakers from my business. Since, the sneakers may be provided by the customer we cannot accept sneakers that are not fit to meet the needs of a successful customization. the customer would then have to purchase a new pair of sneakers that are in stock. My business will double as a customization shop as well as a sneaker store. The customer does not have to customize sneakers purchased. People can purchase and already customized pair of sneakers. I will also have 2 to 3 employees that will be the main designers for my business. The employees attend F.I.T and Parson’s school of design. The employees will create sample designs for customers to view to show the quality of the work we perform.

This is not a fad it is fashion. There are websites supporting this such as: http://www.solecollector.com/ko/reviews/nike.html and http://www.vintagekicks.com.The lifestyle behind sneakers is very creative it is art as mention by sneakerpimpsusa.com “Sneaker Pimps [ The World’s Largest Sneaker and Street Art Based Art Show ]Sneaker Pimps is the worlds largest touring sneaker show. It features over 1000 pairs of rare, limited edition, vintage, celebrity signed, artists collaborated sneakers. The show doesn’t only show off sneakers, it also flaunts a collection of sneaker inspired artwork, fashion and photography. Sneaker Pimps has visited over more than 62 cities throughout the world. Sneaker Pimps has developed a global following, with thousands of people attending Sneaker Pimps shows world wide”.

The tools that will be used will be provided by the designers. The fabric and materials will be purchased by me. The process will normally take about 4-5 business days to complete for customer sketched designs. Since, this is a home based business I can only accept custom sketch orders on Mondays and Tuesdays so the sneakers can be available for customer pick-up on Thursday’s and Friday’s.

The socio-economic background of my clients is from the urban area of Jersey City and will focus on the needs of the metropolitan area in terms of sneaker lover’s and stretch out to Manhattan. The service I provide will be available to whoever has $70 - $120 dollar’s to spend on a custom pair of shoes that are unique. Depending on the make and model of the shoes and difficulty of the design the price will vary. . When the customer brings in his/her sneakers which meets acceptable standards $40-$60 dollars is going to reflect the price range of the service that will be provided at a regular price. Variations in price will be determined throughout the length of the business which discount coupons and items placed on sale to make room for new products in the limited inventory space available in my home.

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The primary location will be on the first floor of my home. I had tenants prior to renovation. There was modification’s completed to my home on the first floor to make it look like more of a store front. I contracted my brother in law to install large wide glass windows to be installed as well as a window gate to prevent theft. I decided to create a business rather than have new tenants move in. I can always get new tenants to move in if the supplemental income is not sufficient. The location is located and easily accessible by means of car, bus, and light