Littles' Justin Sigal is Big on Skins Footwear
Just so you know how hard GSA worked at WSA, we're publishing our interview with Justin Sigal from Littles of Pittsburgh, a top indie retailer and longtime proponent of Skins Footwear. Meeting with Justin in the Skins Suite, we were surrounded by new styles; the setting was perfect for Justin's take on the new evolution of Skin & Bone, and to get some insight into the history of Littles:
GetSkinnedAlive: It's great to meet you, Justin...I don't think I've ever met a fifth-generation shoe bizzer before.
Justin Sigal: Good to meet you too. Yep, it's the family business. Littles has been in our family for 23 years , but it's 100 years old. I've been there five years, and proud to be a part of the legacy.
GSA: That's a lot of math.
JS: (laughs) It is. Fortunately, math isn't as critical to my side of the business as product.
GSA: Moving on to product - the new Skins product is supposedly much-improved from its soft launch. What's your take?
JS: First of all, the new Bone feels great, it's an amazing level of comfort. Stylewise, each collection is a huge improvement on the previous line. Designwise, they've also made huge strides. From a sales point of view, we're really excited about the new presentation and packaging.
GSA: Apparently, the company got a lot of important feedback on the original packaging.
JS: Littles is a full-service store, our salespeople are very informed and interactive. With this packaging, one shoe comes pre-prepared, and the other Bone is right there to be fitted for size. It's a clean, appealing presentation, and easy for salespeople to work with. Our team has always loved the Skins concept and has been excited to talk with customers about it - now, in addition, it is as easy to fit as any other shoe.
GSA: There was a lot of anticipation surrounding the soft launch, is the industry - and the consumer - as excited about Skins' new launch?
JS: We got behind the Skins technology very early on. The product was so innovative; actually, this may sound bold, but Skins Footwear is the first technical innovation we've really seen in our business since rubber soles.
GSA: That does sound bold. But I don't know that I can think of anything to disprove your statement.
JS: Think about it. Reebok Pumps, maybe Nike Air, those were developments but not true technical innovations. This is really a lifestyle change, it changes how people travel, it's pretty radical.
GSA: You have a pretty broad consumer base, mens, womens, kids. How does Skins fit into your demo?
JS: I like to say we have as many styles as you can fit into 20,000 square feet. To be honest, we understood with the soft launch that we weren't getting the number of styles we wanted, and we had to be patient.
GSA: Hopefully the new line is worth the wait.
JS: Look around you. I can say I'm glad we were patient and supportive. Having seen and worn this stuff, I can tell you that this is what we had in mind when Dennis and Mark first pitched us on the idea of Skins Footwear.
GetSkinnedAlive: It's great to meet you, Justin...I don't think I've ever met a fifth-generation shoe bizzer before.
Justin Sigal: Good to meet you too. Yep, it's the family business. Littles has been in our family for 23 years , but it's 100 years old. I've been there five years, and proud to be a part of the legacy.
GSA: That's a lot of math.
JS: (laughs) It is. Fortunately, math isn't as critical to my side of the business as product.
GSA: Moving on to product - the new Skins product is supposedly much-improved from its soft launch. What's your take?
JS: First of all, the new Bone feels great, it's an amazing level of comfort. Stylewise, each collection is a huge improvement on the previous line. Designwise, they've also made huge strides. From a sales point of view, we're really excited about the new presentation and packaging.
GSA: Apparently, the company got a lot of important feedback on the original packaging.
JS: Littles is a full-service store, our salespeople are very informed and interactive. With this packaging, one shoe comes pre-prepared, and the other Bone is right there to be fitted for size. It's a clean, appealing presentation, and easy for salespeople to work with. Our team has always loved the Skins concept and has been excited to talk with customers about it - now, in addition, it is as easy to fit as any other shoe.
GSA: There was a lot of anticipation surrounding the soft launch, is the industry - and the consumer - as excited about Skins' new launch?
JS: We got behind the Skins technology very early on. The product was so innovative; actually, this may sound bold, but Skins Footwear is the first technical innovation we've really seen in our business since rubber soles.
GSA: That does sound bold. But I don't know that I can think of anything to disprove your statement.
JS: Think about it. Reebok Pumps, maybe Nike Air, those were developments but not true technical innovations. This is really a lifestyle change, it changes how people travel, it's pretty radical.
GSA: You have a pretty broad consumer base, mens, womens, kids. How does Skins fit into your demo?
JS: I like to say we have as many styles as you can fit into 20,000 square feet. To be honest, we understood with the soft launch that we weren't getting the number of styles we wanted, and we had to be patient.
GSA: Hopefully the new line is worth the wait.
JS: Look around you. I can say I'm glad we were patient and supportive. Having seen and worn this stuff, I can tell you that this is what we had in mind when Dennis and Mark first pitched us on the idea of Skins Footwear.
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What is going on? I cannot buy this shoe anywhere. Where can I buy this shoe? Is the inner part free? help!
Well, I agree that you can never find the shoe and that the hype is ridiculous considering there are no shoes anywhere. Still, the footwear industry is so #$@%&^ boring. Nobody except for CROX has come up with anything of value. Unfortunately, CROX was greedy and over sold the cheap ass shoes to everyone. SKNN was smart enough to patent the shoe and genius enough to launch the shoes at selected stores. It seems to me that Skins Footwear is doing the right thing here. They will never be in the trouble that Crox are in because they are protecting their technology. The Skins are coming from China (so I've heard on message boards Yahoo finance), leaving the shoe at the bottom of production costs. That means no other company can come in and under sell them with fakes (this happened to CROX) - at least not right away. I just bought a boat load of this stock at .40 and today it hit .61. I like the way they are launching this shoe - slowly and carefully at selected stores. Business wise though, the company is talking way too much and not sending shoes to stores!
Too many opinions about the stock, I'm still waiting for some action:
http://pennymarkets.com/2006/10/high-fashion-high.html
Bought my first pair of men's skins online from sportie la and actually was in Pittsburgh at Littles and bought my wife her pair during the initial launch.
I am looking forward to buying our next pairs hopefully in a store here in Cleveland, Ohio.
Tony Searight and Youth Investors
www.tonysearight.zoomshare.com
Searight Investments,Education,& Entertainment For Youth