Help Please!

[AHcreative]

Hello everyone.

For the past year or so, I've been doing these "designs" (as shown below) in my notebooks and such, and I've heard nothing but positive feedback from my fellow classmates. I thought the idea was good enough to turn it into something other than just notebook paper. I hatched the idea of putting this design on a pair of white Hi-top Converse shoes, for an art project. When I brought the shoes to school (shown below), everyone thought that they were great, and some didn't believe I made them, they thought that I bought them with the design on it already. So I thought, "hey, if people think that I bought them this way, maybe they would goes as far to buy a pair themselves".

So, I really thought about that idea of selling shoes like that, and that's when my head became engulfed in thoughts and questions, which I hope that some of you will take the time to answer (and I'm very much open to any feedback on the design itself) those questions.

My friend, Kevin, and I went around the school showing our friends and classmates the design and asking if they would buy a pair of shoes with this design on it and almost everyone said yes. When asking the question of how much they would pay, some said up to $80 or $90, which is double the cost of the shoe itself. Kevin and I got some ideas going and thought about submitting this design to Converse or any other company that would buy it. I know it seems kind of far-fetched, but I did get a lot of comments from my friends, telling me too call or e-mail a representative of Converse, or whatever. I got flooded with all of the thoughts of how to go about doing that.

Kevin and I thought about selling the shoes around the school first, just to get a "local market" going. So far we haven't sold anything (we haven't asked our principal or anything yet), and I'm still a little sckeptical about the whole thing.

This brings me to my first set of questions.

1.Does anyone think my design is good enough to start selling?

2.Hypothetically, would you buy a pair of shoes like this, or do you think any of your friends, relatives, etc. would?

3.Do you think it seems far-fetched to get that far ahead of ourselves, thinking we could sell the product to Converse or any other company without any experience or connections in the whole business industry?

Okay, I'm going to leave it at this for now, I have to go to the library to get some schoolwork done. If anyone could help me that would be great

Here's an example of the design itself:

And here are a couple of the shoes:

Thanks a lot to any of those who can help!

[chuckymack]

1.Does anyone think my design is good enough to start selling?

Personally, I think it's too cool for school.

2.Hypothetically, would you buy a pair of shoes like this, or do you think any of your friends, relatives, etc. would?

Absolutely. I'm fairly confident my friends would, too—though price is always a concern. I wear a size 12 in Chucks, if you're offering freebies.

3.Do you think it seems far-fetched to get that far ahead of ourselves, thinking we could sell the product to Converse or any other company without any experience or connections in the whole business industry?

I highly doubt Converse would have any interest in buying back their own product. I could see other vendors selling these—given you have Converse's permission.

[AHcreative]

I know that I couldn't sell them back their shoes. What my friend was thinking was to submit a few designs like that and sell the idea/design and give Converse a template of it in which they could run through the ink processor and put it one any shoe, in any color, etc. But yeah, I agree that it probably wouldn't work.

Any more help guys? I would really appreciate any further assistance.

1. If not shoes, or a big-time retailer like Converse, how else could I make my design known--how would I go about starting to advertise, I guess would be the right question.

As chuckymack was saying, price is an issue, and if I do start selling these, it's going to cost me for the shoes/markers, plus the 12+ hours it takes to make the shoe.

2.Does anyone personally know anyone in this industry that I could maybe contact?

Again, to anyone that can help, or knows anyone that can help, I would really like some guidence.

Thanks

And no I'm not offering freebies as of now, I'm not even sure if I'm offering paybies either.

[CJworks]

This is a really creative idea. I'd definately get a pair, maybe if I can get them on air force ones though. In order to get this on the market, you could send Converse an e-mail or something, not sure how to contact them. This could seriously make you some money doing this, marketing could be very profitable. But, in order for you to make money, you need to set the price high, which you did, since you can't lower the price of the blank shoe themselves, ya know?

In order for you to mass produce these, you could create template/stencil out of cardstock or cardboard by tracing or drawing the original (or new one, whichever you prefer) on the cardstock iteself, then cut them out with an Xacto-knife, or simply put a really fine-point knife. Then all ya need todo is trace over the design you cut out with sharpie/paint/ect. on the part of the shoe you want it on.

(I do this same process all the time when I create 'murals' on baseballs from time to time. )

Hope that I helped, and good luck on your product!

[andrewharrington]

If you incorporate yourself, presumably as a shoe-retailer, you could probably get wholesale prices on the blank footwear directly from Converse, which would be beneficial, though only if the savings made up for any taxes that you had to pay. I probably wouldn't mention that you're turning around, modifying and selling them for double the price, though.

[chestnutz]

Pretty sweet, while reading the description I wasn't expecting much but these are actually way cool. Not sure if I'd buy a pair (I might, but I dont wear chuck T's) but I know a lot of people would. I have a pair of white adidas sambas that I bought on sale for 45$ that look kinda like those, but instead of the 3 stripes (and all other non-white parts) being filled in, they're scribbled in like a black sharpie (although they're printed on).

[AHcreative]

Pretty sweet, while reading the description I wasn't expecting much but these are actually way cool. Not sure if I'd buy a pair (I might, but I dont wear chuck T's) but I know a lot of people would. I have a pair of white adidas sambas that I bought on sale for 45$ that look kinda like those, but instead of the 3 stripes (and all other non-white parts) being filled in, they're scribbled in like a black sharpie (although they're printed on).

Yeah, I should probably change the description to peak more interest. Those Sambas were just scribbled on right? Nothing really detailed?

I have one question that has been bugging me: would I run into any trouble with this?

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9G_bI8kPWpLekkAALajzbkF/SIG=12grikakh/EXP=1265340068/**http%3a//www.chem.uu.nl/fcc/www/peopleindex/mikal/unilever.jpg

I don't know why the image URL isn't showing the logo. You can just c/p the link.

I swear I never saw it until after I had thought of those designs, I saw it on the back of a shampoo bottle while in the shower? Is my design different enough to not run into any problems?

[AHcreative]

If you incorporate yourself, presumably as a shoe-retailer, you could probably get wholesale prices on the blank footwear directly from Converse, which would be beneficial, though only if the savings made up for any taxes that you had to pay. I probably wouldn't mention that you're turning around, modifying and selling them for double the price, though.

That's why I came here to ask some questions. I haven't sold any, but my classmates said they'd pay around $80 for shoes like that. I just really want information on HOW to get the attention of a shoe retailer, and I thought Converse would be a good start since they are very popular.

I really have a multitude of questions and I need some in-depth answers since I really have no idea what I'm doing. All I know is people tell me all the time that I should contact someone about the design, so I thought you guys would be my best source for information on how to contact, what to say, etc.

I have found a way to contact Converse, their website says they get design ideas all the time, so I figured mine might catch their eye. I just really need help on what to say and how I present my idea.

It's all very confusing for me since I don't really know where to start and quite frankly, all this business/legal stuff goes way over my head.

[topcityhockey]

A really good option here would be to come up with a few different ideas and break the down into sections that you could make screenprinting screens that would work on the shoes.

This design is awesome, I can't wear Chuck's but these look amazing.