About the Company

Selling a $1,000 dollar pair of fine bespoke men’s shoes online is a tall order. Doing it as an online only startup is another thing entirely. Yet, that’s exactly what a former Adidas executive had in the plans for his new English shoe brand, Lodger.

Our Partnership

In start-up mode, with just three months to launch, Lodger arrived on our doorstep in distress. Having gone to Hong Kong for their brand identity and website, the result was, well, frankly… a mess. Outside of the incredibly short timeline, other major hurdles included price point positioning, fit articulation, returns and customer service logistics, and a conservative development budget.

Strategic Focus

Our recommendation was to start over. We streamlined our strategic planning process to meet the short timeline challenges. The good news was Lodger’s founder ate, talked, breathed, and slept shoes. He was in love with his product, and it showed. Our focus within the site and product architecture was bringing his voice to market. His travels to North Hampton to prototype designs, discussions around construction, quality, and fashion became the fodder that drove conception.

Demonstrated Impact

The result, a product display focused site with huge, gracious imagery and depth on demand content tapping the Italian and English provenance living in his shoes. Apart from the site being stunningly beautiful and simple visually, Lodger was positioned as a brand for shoe lovers, aficionados who buy for love of craftsmanship, heritage, and style rather than brand badge. The project saw significant milestones in a very short period of time reaching break-even in just sixteen months from launch. The brand was selected "Best Emerging British Luxury Brand" (Walpole) in its first year and was sold just three years later, benefiting the founder with an earlier exit than anticipated.