Shoes of Prey - Part One

I finally ordered my first pair of custom-made shoes from Shoes of Prey. I first heard about Shoes of Prey, a website which allows you to personalise and custom design your own shoes, back in 2009 and ever since have been fascinated by them. Their approach to the entire user journey online (and offline) as well as the customer service they provide is unlike any other business in Australia. In my mind, Shoes of Prey are up there with other online businesses that are dominating the online space such as Mod Cloth and Photo Jojo.

As an online marketing nerd I’m blown away by the fact that one of their founders, Michael Fox started a blog even before the business was launched. Michael’s blog, http://www.22michaels.com/ speaks openly about their ideas and hopes for the business since 2008. Introducing their first website concepts developed in 2009, Michael shares stories of success and failure that come with running a start-up business. I love the transparency of this blog and how down to earth and real it is; to me this makes Shoes of Prey an even more of a unique and amazing brand.

But don’t take my word for it, have a listen to Jodie Fox (one of the three founders) as she so passionately and openly talks about how Shoes of Prey has evolved and her tips for those wanting to break away from their 9-5 jobs to try something new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpJL2NyT7vU

I wanted to give you an idea just how far this business has come by including one of their earlier videos from 2010 below

Contrast the video from 2010, to a more recent one which showcases a very impressive layout of their first designed pop up boutique in David Jones in January 2013 in Sydney. They even won an award for this outstanding shop fit out design.

After telling you just how impressed I am with Shoes of Prey, I need to be honest and say that I don’t have an excuse as to why it took me this long to place my first order with them, even if they:

– No longer charge for shipping within Australia, I think back in the day they used to charge $40!

– Offer various widths, excellent for me as I have wide feet

– Offer a fabulous dummies proof 365-day return policy. Meaning that when my shoes arrive in 4 weeks time, if for any reason I don’t like them I can return them in an unworn condition within 365 days of receiving them for a full refund (minus return postage costs). How fantastic is that!

Enough about them, now let’s look at my shoe design from the screen shots I took below. Living close to the heart of Melbourne I do a lot of walking and easily wear through a decent pair of black flats every season. Because my feet are a c width, it’s often difficult to find a good quality basic flat shoe, so I usually only wear European brands that I buy from Peter Sheppard on Collins Street. However as gorgeous as some of the shoes they have are most of their c width fitting shoes are too daggy for me.

Could Shoes of Prey be my answer to finding that perfect fit shoes? FINALLY! Stay tuned for Part Two of this blog post when my shoes arrive…

shoesofprey1 — Screenshot 1 – You can see on the top right hand corner I had the options to choose what style of back I wanted to have included. I appreciate a shoes with a reinforced heel as I find them lasting longer.

shoesofprey2 — Screenshot 2 – After selecting the type of back I wanted to have, I now move onto the toe detail. Even in my 30’s I am drawn to cute things and find nothing more elegant than a classy leather bow to add some glam to a ballet flat shoe.

shoesofprey3 — Screenshot 3 – I’m really into contrasting leathers, and find a suede with a patent leather very classy. Hence why I have used a patent leather finish for the front toe tip and for the back. However, if you are not a fan, then have fun choosing different types of leathers and colours using their very easy to use colour/material palette in the right hand side of the screen.

shoesofprey4 — Screenshot 4 – After choosing the leathers you want to use for the outside of your shoe, you can even select the colours for the inside. A strong red colour is so luxurious.

Check out Part 2 of my Shoes of Prey blog post series talking about how I felt when my gorgeous shoes finally arrive 🙂