Founded in 2009 by Jodie Fox, Michael Fox and Mike Knapp, Shoes of Prey was an online fashion retailer. It gave female shoe-shoppers tools to create bespoke styles online. The company took off and received investment, quickly making it one of Australia’s successes. Over the years, Shoes of Prey expanded logistics to grow customer base. It advertised wares overseas and refined manufacturing as it went. The founders built careers working on other products and businesses too.
But tapping the mass market for greater return brought conversion rates lower than anticipated. As a custom-order business, Shoes of Prey was not easily scalable either. The model incurred high fixed costs without economies of scale. Expansion attempts through concessions in David Jones and Nordstrom shut in 2016.
The Challenges
Shoes of Prey attracted millions of women around the world, who designed shoes with the brand. But difficulty scaling early profitability and inability to truly crack mass-market adoption led to collapse. When given the chance to customise shoes, did customers actually bother? No. Customers don’t want to create, they want to be inspired and shown what to wear.
Post-Collapse
After collapse, Fox took a hiatus in Denmark to recover, explore interests and plot next move. Helping to end industrial animal agriculture appealed from his vegetarianism. As plant-based meats progress rapidly, Fox observed customer behaviour between meat and plant-based meat products.