Gary Chang is comfortable taking baby steps with his Richmond-based business venture.
And he’s hoping investors and customers, alike, will follow along, wearing the west coast lifestyle-inspired shoes his firm, SKYE Footwear is hoping will become a fashion hit for comfort-loving customers.
That’s why he’s decided to enlist the help of a Kickstarter crowd fundraising campaign to get his line of footwear to market rather than rush a wholesale investment that tapped into his family’s import/export and manufacturing business, which specializes in sporting goods that includes skateboards, in-line skates and ski helmets.
“What we lacked was retail experience,” Chan said. “That’s what I hope to develop with SKYE.”
So far, SKYE has raised just over half of the $30,000 it has set as a goal on Kickstarter with about a week to go before it closes. And when that happens, Chan said he’s confident the unique nature of the shoes will further draw in other buyers.
“What I wanted to do is create, somewhat under the radar, something different that reflected the lifestyle here in Vancouver,” he said. “We also wanted to fill a gap we saw in the shoe market, by producing a shoe which fit a variety of situations, from casual to dress.”
Using his real life experience that sees him on the road to attend marketing and trade shows for about half of the calendar year, Chan, 30, said living out of a suitcase for such long periods of time forces you to pack light. And that means getting plenty of utility out of your shoes.
“I couldn’t find many that suited themselves to a wide variety of needs,” he said. “And those that did market themselves as comfortable, were pretty lacking. They may look nice, but were not supportive.”
In came the design for SKYE which has taken about 18 months of development in the company’s Richmond studio and resulted, in part, from the world of stand-up paddle boarding.
“It’s a slip in, slip on design that uses a lace-less, trademarked Loop-Lok design which helps it be form-fitting and not at all bulky,” Chan said. “It’s easy and convenient to wear.”
Helping that on the comfort side was a four-way, stretchable, Lyrca-like fabric upper material.
“It’s so pliable and comfortable it’s like a second layer of skin,” Chan claimed. “It’s almost like yoga pants material.
“And the mid sole is foam rubber, making it lightweight and able to absorb shock when you walk.”
Where the paddle board technology comes in is on the loop-lock system, which has a patent pending for its design.
Since the upper is not made from traditional footwear material, the design required a way to lock the wearer’s foot into the shoe, giving it a blend of support and comfort.
“By itself, the upper does not have the structure needed to hold everything in place,” Chan said. “That’s where the Loop-Lok system fixes the feet into the shoe just like the elastic bungee-style loops on a stand-up paddle board does.
“One of our designers is an avid paddle boarder and he came up with a variant on that idea which took a number of months to perfect in terms of how elastic the laces needed to be.”
To further get across the west coast vibe, SKYE has given its line of shoes names based on local regions.
The Lons, which refers to the Lonsdale are of North Vancouver, is a loafer-sneaker.
The Powll, named after Powell Street in Downtown Vancouver, follows a desert boot style.
And the Rbutus, taken from the Arbutus neighbourhood on Vancouver’s leafy residential west side, is billed as an ultra-soft runner.
SKYE will be releasing two colour variants per style, with more options and combinations to be rolled out in the coming months.
When the shoes make it to retail sales, which Chan is working on now, price is expected to be in the $100 to $130 range.
