When London entrepreneur and former civil servant Robbie Thompson found himself out of work for the first time in 20 years when the pandemic hit in 2020, it was the catalyst for a bold career pivot and plunging his life savings into luxury sneaker start-up, Zach Footwear.
Within a year, Robbie had launched his new brand, showcasing beautiful handmade men’s sneakers with nine bespoke styles featuring unique Italian leathers and premium materials.
I found myself unemployed, like so many others during COVID-19,
It was a unique opportunity to build something, bringing an idea that had been bubbling away to reality. Hundreds if not thousands of new clothing lines pop up every year in the UK, but very few sneaker brands – and for good reason.
It’s a high-risk industry to enter and incredibly challenging to change people’s mindset about wearing recognised brands on their feet. Only a handful of people have managed to grow a successful start-up sneaker brand in the UK in the last 10 years and taking on the big brands is considered almost impossible.”
Robbie was determined to bring Zach – a future legacy and namesake for his son – to life, and the brand officially launched in February 2021. Each pair is hand-made in Portugal using quality Italian leather.
“We do things differently at Zach and to an extremely high standard,” Robbie said. “My vision was to make truly unique sneakers without them being too ‘crazy’. There’s not much sneaker choice for people looking for something different and not into the big conglomerate sports or very high-end designer brands. There’s very little in between.
Starting my own business is a dream come true, but also a constant grind. There have been challenges launching during a pandemic, from being unable to visit the factories and trying to communicate everything via Zoom, to the impact of Brexit and shipping hold-ups.
We’ve been collaborating with people and businesses all over the world to launch the brand: videographers in Poland, 3D-modellers in Sweden, Shopify experts in Pakistan, copywriters in Australia, it’s been a truly international collaborative effort from shoe production, web design, marketing and e-commerce.”
Not to mention the logistics of getting over a thousand pairs of sneakers delivered to my two-bedroom apartment. It’s the passion for what I do that has kept me going, the only way to succeed is hard work and perseverance.”
And alongside the challenges, it’s been an encouraging start for Zach Footwear with sales in 29 countries around the world and nearly 50,000 organic followers on social media.
“Despite the competitive nature of influencers and new brands across social media we have an edge in that we are doing something very few dare to do. I’m pretty sure we are the only sneaker start-up with a presence on TikTok in comparison to hundreds of clothing brand start-ups. We offer insight for our followers on how to grow a footwear brand and what the process is like including how they are made and what it looks like behind the scenes.
It’s about growing a global brand and we’re well on our way. We aim to have people in over 100 countries wearing a pair of Zachs by the end of the year.”
For more information visit zachfootwear.com