this promises to be perhaps the driest thread ever posted on this site. if you are looking for that thread where i self-immolate with my keds, that is in another group...
i was thinking the other day, what if i could buy keds - not just one pair, but the entire company?
i certainly would make some changes, as probably all of us would. i certainly have my aesthetic opinions...(larger label on the back, get rid of the side label and recent vintage soles)...but in terms of the company, i would...
...get rid of the non-champion styles. keds is like chrysler: one style people like (jeep) and dozens that people don't. converse, in general, sells two styles of shoes: low- and high-tops. nike owns them now, so comparisons are a bit weak, but let's just say that a trip to any keds outlet reveals aisles and aisles of rejected styles that have the keds label slapped on. wedges, skimmers, sandals, etc - under my watch keds would just focus on what made it great.
...vertically integrate and bring production back to the us. american apparel has shown that you can own every part of the production process, and they do it from downtown LA. i bet with just a little bit of creative thinking, the process could be automated and robotized...right now keds are made much the same way they were 80 years ago, partially by hand with low-wage, low-skill labor.
...move to a complete mass-customization model of sales, and do it over the internet...dell did this 25 years ago, it's not new at all, and the waste of rejected styles (once again, go to a keds outlet or famous footwear) would be completely avoided. people who want converse don't need to go to a store to find them.
...go back to the $16 pair of keds. $16 is the price of my first pair of keds in 1990 (and they weren't on sale). $16, even with whatever taxes one could slap on the price of a pair, would encourage people to buy multiple pairs...to buy a pair just on impulse to go with an outfit...to just buy them, period. it would undercut the knockoffs and would position the shoes back where they used to be - which is a shoe that everyone wore. at $34.99 a pair, what is the profit margin on a pair of keds now? it would be tons if their parent company wasn't making thousands of ugly unwanted other styles and paying lawyers to defend lawsuits brought by other shoe brands that payless (who owns keds now!) knocks off. once again, look at american apparel - their clothes are CHEAP and they manage to do it while being socially conscientious and extremely, um, edgy in the ad department.
...focus on women. pretty much the only men who wear keds are the men (like me) on this site. i guess the express for men rebranding worked for some men, but i still won't shop there (outside my little fetish i'm a typical straight married guy). just focus on making shoes that american girls and women want to wear.
...stop trying to "be cool." if you say you are, you're not. if you try to be, you won't be. good lord, go to austin or portland or san francisco and count the converse. you see them with everything in every combination on everyone, yet somehow they manage to retain an image of counterconformity. it was pathetic to see keds try to remake the images of the ramones back in the 70s (who wore keds, as did patti smith in one of my absolute favorite photos ever, the one with her like falling over screaming into the mike).
...focus. just make one good shoe that looks incredible with anything, and incredible on anyone. make champions in canvas, champions in leather, slipons in both. in whatever color you want.
now, if i just had $100 million...
i was thinking the other day, what if i could buy keds - not just one pair, but the entire company?
i certainly would make some changes, as probably all of us would. i certainly have my aesthetic opinions...(larger label on the back, get rid of the side label and recent vintage soles)...but in terms of the company, i would...
...get rid of the non-champion styles. keds is like chrysler: one style people like (jeep) and dozens that people don't. converse, in general, sells two styles of shoes: low- and high-tops. nike owns them now, so comparisons are a bit weak, but let's just say that a trip to any keds outlet reveals aisles and aisles of rejected styles that have the keds label slapped on. wedges, skimmers, sandals, etc - under my watch keds would just focus on what made it great.
...vertically integrate and bring production back to the us. american apparel has shown that you can own every part of the production process, and they do it from downtown LA. i bet with just a little bit of creative thinking, the process could be automated and robotized...right now keds are made much the same way they were 80 years ago, partially by hand with low-wage, low-skill labor.
...move to a complete mass-customization model of sales, and do it over the internet...dell did this 25 years ago, it's not new at all, and the waste of rejected styles (once again, go to a keds outlet or famous footwear) would be completely avoided. people who want converse don't need to go to a store to find them.
...go back to the $16 pair of keds. $16 is the price of my first pair of keds in 1990 (and they weren't on sale). $16, even with whatever taxes one could slap on the price of a pair, would encourage people to buy multiple pairs...to buy a pair just on impulse to go with an outfit...to just buy them, period. it would undercut the knockoffs and would position the shoes back where they used to be - which is a shoe that everyone wore. at $34.99 a pair, what is the profit margin on a pair of keds now? it would be tons if their parent company wasn't making thousands of ugly unwanted other styles and paying lawyers to defend lawsuits brought by other shoe brands that payless (who owns keds now!) knocks off. once again, look at american apparel - their clothes are CHEAP and they manage to do it while being socially conscientious and extremely, um, edgy in the ad department.
...focus on women. pretty much the only men who wear keds are the men (like me) on this site. i guess the express for men rebranding worked for some men, but i still won't shop there (outside my little fetish i'm a typical straight married guy). just focus on making shoes that american girls and women want to wear.
...stop trying to "be cool." if you say you are, you're not. if you try to be, you won't be. good lord, go to austin or portland or san francisco and count the converse. you see them with everything in every combination on everyone, yet somehow they manage to retain an image of counterconformity. it was pathetic to see keds try to remake the images of the ramones back in the 70s (who wore keds, as did patti smith in one of my absolute favorite photos ever, the one with her like falling over screaming into the mike).
...focus. just make one good shoe that looks incredible with anything, and incredible on anyone. make champions in canvas, champions in leather, slipons in both. in whatever color you want.
now, if i just had $100 million...
