The Trophy Case for Your Shoes w/ ShoeBoxOne
A startup’s journey manufacturing their product in Chicago and brining it to China for scale.
In this piece, Matt L.F Smith follows Eddy Mejia for a day, working on ShoeBoxOne before getting ready to fly over to China to negotiate with manufactures.
We first started In May and in a month I kind of built everything. I did the market research and took the first prototype to sneaker con. I walked around with this prototype, this heavy box, and people would come up to me saying “hey this is really cool, I’ll buy it from you right now, how much is it?” and I would tell them “oh, I’m sorry I can’t sell this, it’s just a prototype.” After that I thought… “maybe I can make something of this…” — Eddy Mejia, Founder of ShoeBoxOne
This is Eddy Mejia, he’s working to help sneaker-heads and collectors present and preserve their shoes, the solo founder of ShoeBoxOne.
Eddy hasn’t officially launch his product yet, but as of this reading he was getting ready to go to China the next day to negotiate with manufactures.
This is an inside look of what its like trying to get his product off the ground.
Eddy and I went to pick up the final prototype at Peterson Brothers Plastics.
AUSTIN, CEO @ Peterson Brothers: When we started it was big, it was kinda bulky, it was a great idea. As you (Eddy) learned through your maker-spaces on what it took to bring ideas to life, finally, you’re starting to put together a product that I think is going to be able to cater to the needs of mass individuals.
EDDY: Without Peterson Brothers I really wouldn’t have this, even some of the early ideas for the box came from here.
AUSTIN: Goin’ over seas! Well Ed, we appreciate it so much.
EDDY: Pleasure.
Then we hopped in Eddy’s car to go to mHUB, a maker-space and manufacturing center in Chicago.
While driving*
EDDY: So I’m going to China tomorrow to meet some manufactures, I have like 5 meetings set up. Gotta make sure they know what the requirements are and make sure the quality is good.
MATT(ME): Are you nervous at all?
EDDY: No, its just that I’m unfamiliar with the culture. How do I not disrespect them is a big thing, cause I want to build a lasting relationship, you know?
MATT: When did you realize there was a need for something like ShoeBox?
EDDY: I had a friend in high school, his name is Jay. I always saw him post shoe pictures on FaceBook, he has something like 300 pairs, and he was storing them in there drop fronts i.e Tupperware containers & Zip-loc bags. I know that he spends $600+ for each pair and I thought that was crazy! You spend all this money on these shoes and they’re always hidden away where you can’t see them. I thought there had to be a better solution, so I look around in this market-space and couldn’t find anything that aligned.
Eddy spent 6 years serving in the US army in Afghanistan and Iraq. I asked him how his experience in the military influences the way he operates ShoeBox.
EDDY: I dropped out of college, I was 18/19 and I thought I just need to do something… So I joined the army in 2008 and spent 6 years as an IT specialist. I dealt with radios, computers, servers, communications security, you name it, I did everything that has to do with IT.
What the army taught me was that you gotta value life… Right now I enjoy life, everything I do is what I enjoy. The army did instill discipline and drive. You know, when you’re getting bombed like every single day it kind of builds something… every single day you gotta push forward even if its a struggle.
I use that now, its a struggle sometimes. You might not have enough money to build a prototype cause the prototype is expensive, but you can figure out a way. There’s always somebody to help you, you just gotta look for them.
MATT: Whats one of your biggest short-term goals right now?
EDDY: Getting that manufacturing partner. I went on Alibaba and I’m telling you I talked to 100s of manufacturing partners… Telling them what I need for my box. The hardest part of the whole thing is trying to figure out how much it’s gonna cost me, but as soon as I got that number I started shooting it out to these manufacturing partners. If the manufacturer didn’t wanna meet me at that number I moved on, kept looking, and thats how I ended up with these top 5 I’m having meetings with.
MATT: Do you out-source any help? What does your team look like?
EDDY: I kinda built it all myself up to this point. I created and designed the website, all our branding, designed the product itself, CAD designed it, all the prototyping, I did everything [laughs]. Now I hired an intern and she’s gonna help me put out more social media posts, social-media marketing is huge especially in the sneaker world. Right now we’re at 4,000 Instagram followers, but I wanna hit 10,000 by the end of the year. I have a team of one, its her and me, but nobody that I pay a salary cause I can’t afford it right now.
Day by day, I know I gotta get this manufacturing partner, I know I gotta get the social media following up, and I know I gotta get sales. I focus all my execution around those 3 things right now.
MATT: What do you use all these shoes for? [Pointing at what’s above]
EDDY: Showcasing at shows and conventions, social media marketing, pictures and the like.
Eddy and I then headed to a meeting with a business mentor at 1871, Chicago’s largest tech innovation hub, to go over everything before heading to China. [unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture the meeting for privacy purposes.]
EDDY: He has some experience with real big businesses, so he’s kinda guiding me. He’s a really cool guy, he worked for the NBA and he’s working on his own startup now too. You wanna make strong friendships everywhere, somebody will help you out somehow.
Post meeting*
MATT: How are you feeling about this trip now?
EDDY: Yeah, got a lot of work to do haha. Price man, money’s big everywhere you go, and I gotta make sure the quality of the box is good and that its not compromised.
I gotta plan these meetings still, map out the routes, I haven’t even booked a hotel, got no Airbnb, got no where to stay at the moment and don’t really know where I’m going.
MATT: All tonight?!
EDDY: Yeah, and I gotta pack! [laughs]
MATT: Good luck!
EDDY: Thank you.
Lean more about ShoeBoxOne and reach out directly to Eddy here
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