Children grow, inch by inch
Children grow fast, really fast. Their feet too. Children’s shoes made up 18% of the total market volume in Sweden in 2007 and 10% of the total market value (according to the April 2008 CBI market survey on the footwear industry in Sweden).
Now you and I know from experience that a lot of those shoes don’t get worn out, but rather out grown. A lot of those shoes end up being thrown away and in our opinion that’s a waste. Of course a lot of shoes get handed down to younger siblings but still we prefer to buy cheaper children’s shoes as the value of old shoes drop quickly. We can only hope that they’re traded or at least given away.
Wouldn’t it be possible to design children’s shoes that grow with the child?
At the moment the Inchworm trainers are the only children’s shoes that have solved this expansion problem and their shoes have been released to the market. We love the fact that they took on the challenge that no other company considered technically feasible or economically good business. Say what you like about the look but the concept is now plausible and we eagerly await how the market will react. Just how far is it possible to take this idea?
