Kickstater Shoe project idea

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Max Power
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Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by Max Power » 13 Mar 2014 16:43

I think that our community is more then strong enough to pool our money together to get a shoe made for us by us (FUBU). We need our own sneaker. I think it might be easier then we think by using a site like kickstater and pooling our skills together. I have heard people talk about different ideas for sometime now but nothing seems to get done. This is the most important piece of equipment for our sport and we rely on a company who doesn't care about us at all. I really don't think that anyone of us could do it alone and I know that I can't. I have no idea how to design a shoe or how to go about getting it manufactured but one google search lead me to these two sites:

https://www.aliveshoes.com/

http://otabo.com/pages/shoe-manufacture ... OgodbykAMQ

I just filled out an application on the first link and I will see if they get back to me. If they do then I will need a lot of help getting the design and the funding right to make this happen. The point of this thread is to get a ball rolling on this, start a discussion. I'm not going to make any hurried decisions on what company to use or what design, we are in this together. If we all work together we can get a shoe made.
Drew Martin

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by Cass » 13 Mar 2014 18:12

Image

jay7
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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by jay7 » 13 Mar 2014 19:58

Howdy Mr. Power,

I have been thinking, for a while, that when I can finally end this gypsy life and find a place, I want to get a (cheap - peachyprinter) 3d Printer, and see about printing my own soles, and then seeing about how hard it would be to stitch my own 'upper' half of the shoe as well. This would take a huge amount of cost out of the testing phase, and you could tweak the shape as you like, or even for individual players. I know a big issue for things like the quantum shoe, was even having the reversed "quantum" logo, and then finding out that they couldn't afford to change it. This would, well, take out that leg.

Sadly, I'm a gypsy until at minimum May, and likely more. So, depending on how fast this type of thing comes into reality, I may or may not be completely useless.

Either way, much respect for this thread. I hope it works out.
Jay Boychuk

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Max Power
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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by Max Power » 14 Mar 2014 14:37

Hello Mr. gypsy and Mr. Sponge bob,

I think that May or later would be just fine, I don't expect this to be a fast moving thing and I would love your help. Would you be trying to make a prototype to give to a manufacture or produce custom footbag shoes? Are 3D printers good with rubber?

My idea is simple, we use kickstater to gather enough money to get a shoe made. For those who don't know, kickstater is a crowd sourcing website where people donate to help fund a project. At different levels of donation the project runners will give a prize or whatever to the donors. So I was thinking if you donate something like $100 to the project you get a pair of the shoes in your size. Make sense? I haven't really thought about the other levels if people give more but I'm sure we can figure something out.

Some ground work that I think we can get stated on is thinking about how many pairs of shoes we might need and how much it might cost to make them. That means finding out how many active members we have in our community and how many of those players would buy/fund the project. If I had to guess it would be something around but under 1000. I think that not all of those players will get the shoes though. One thing that I think would be a bad idea would be to under estimate and not make enough so I think making something like 1200 pairs or more would be a good idea.

Do you guys agree? Is there any way to get a more solid number? I'm really just pulling these estimates out of my butt right now.

Then next thing would be the cost of producing and what to aim for with the kickstater. We definitely don't want to aim too low and not raise enough money and we don't want to aim too high and not make it to the total. Any educated guesses? $10,000? Seems like a lot but it might be what it'll cost.

That's all I got for now. We really need to bane together on this one guys, all input is needed and appreciated. let's get it done!
Drew Martin

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by jay7 » 15 Mar 2014 00:34

Howdy.

The particular 3d printer I am looking at is indeed decent with rubber!

Here are the following scenarios I see.

1.) Find a selection of shoes with a good toe, and a shit clipper. Make 3d printed inserts, to 'pin' into the original sole, and then you have a footbag shoe instantly. If a shoe goes out of style / production, make a new insert for another shoe. If this doesn't make sense, just imagine the climacool silicone mod. Except, instead of adding gooey silicone yourself, just, have a cleanly made, perfected insert made out of rubber. And if you want to revert the shoe to 'normal' status, just, pull it off. For lesser crank players, I could even have a harsher angle, and for Vasek's I could just add something flat.

2.) Make a full on, custom footbag shoe, myself. This would need a lot of time investment, but, as I am jobless this could be a great project. The testing, and everything else would be ridiculous though... Not that I don't think it is possible.

3.) Make a few shoes for myself, fine tune the sole / design, and then tell China to go from there.

4.) Re-make the quantum, fixing the few problems it had. Everyone seemed to like it, with the exception of quality issues, the logo being upside down, and maybe the sole was slippery. I could talk to Flavio today, as I am in Switzerland, about how difficult it would be to do this.
Jay Boychuk

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 15 Mar 2014 08:58

So…. they re-made our originals now

http://m.adidas.com/us/mobile/N?searchT ... 843&y=-122

However, it might not be a bad idea to continue with this idea, in case it happens again for real this time
Nick Polini

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by Johnny » 16 Mar 2014 18:04

Footbag fam,

I'm so glad that everyone is on the same page with the planning of a new and improved footbag shoe! It's only logical that we support a shoe that will in turn support footbag. This positive feedback loop is quite simple, but stunning in what it can do when fully realized.

For the last two months Tom Mosher and I have been working on a footbag shoe project. Kick Starter seems to be an obvious route to go and we are grateful that such a revolutionary tool has been made available to us! We are making huge progress every time we meet, but naturally we feel it is still too early to provide any other information. However, I can say that we are thrilled to be doing something that is so intrinsic to who we are as makers, meticulous designers and passionate footbag people.

This is a project of huge magnitude, and its implications span even wider yet. This will take time, but we're on it and we'll keep you updated! We anticipate and madly pursue the day when we can comfortably say, 'so long lavers, thanks for all the dexes'!
Johnny Suderman

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 16 Mar 2014 18:29

Johnny, I think it goes without saying, but you're the man. Thanks to you and Tom for hopping on this project right away. I'd love to see any ideas you have whenever you're ready to release them.
Nick Polini

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by mosher » 16 Mar 2014 18:57

Eloquently put, Johnny!

He basically said it all but I just wanted to reiterate that one of our main goals is to make something that helps footbag continue to grow and to support the sport and people that play it.

We've been really hustling and we're stoked on the progress we've made. Can't wait to tell you all more at the appropriate time!
Tom Mosher

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 16 Mar 2014 19:52

Well, I just sent this sketch to Johnny, but I figured I'd post it here too and explain it a bit:

Image

So that bag clips onto the fingering loopy thing, then when you are walking to your session/around somewhere, you stash the bag (with footbags in it) into the bungee cord, then secure them, so they stay in. Same mechanism that is on Camelbaks, where you stash your water bottle, just smaller, of course.

Camelbak strap system:

Image

(The bungee system on the back of the bag, to hold water bottles, is what I'm talking about)

I only suggest this footbag bag, because I've seen players carrying their bags to jams inside their nasty, reeking Lavers, or deep inside a book bag that takes forever to get to. This would take that problem away.

Also, if you have a strange bag attached to your shoes that looks like it belongs there, people are going to ask "what the hell is on your shoe?" then you can do a quick little demo for them since you will always have a bag on you. So we would get storage and and extra way to help get the word out.


Another idea I proposed to Johnny: Flat heel surfaces (for delays) and a little area made for stalls on the sole. Hypothetically, since these spots would now be MEANT for stalling on, I feel like players would take advantage of that, which would increase style in the sport.

Again, these are just ideas I'm throwing up. I know you guys have ideas already, just wanted to add my 2 cents in what I'd like to see in a shoe.
Nick Polini

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by boyle » 17 Mar 2014 13:01

I don't know if Kickstarter is really the best platform for funding something like this. We saw with John Stallberger's project, that you need to be sure you are going to get the full amount - there is also a huge amount of information up on Kickstarter every day (which can be a help/hindrance). It may be better to use a more niche platform, but in reality it should work out the same.

The other question is trying to get "others" to fund the shoe. There are a lot of sneaker enthusiasts around who really want to "collect em all", so that could be an area of interest. Also, the question of applying for funding/accelerators/incubators etc could be another possibility. There are plenty of people ready to throw their money around and even more if you give them a cut of the project.

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by Jeremy » 18 Mar 2014 17:25

The big advantage with Kickstarter though is that the designers of the shoe won't need to outlay a large amount of money, but can rely on the community. You could potentially set a very low target that we'd definitely achieve if you were confident of being able to give everybody who pays shoes regardless of whether that's 20 people or 200. I'm with Max on this; I know nothing about shoe production, but I'll happily support any project to produce our own shoes, on Kickstarter or otherwise. I don't even think innovation or improvements are needed. If it can just roughly replicate the footbag shoes people currently use, I think that's fine. With the current status of there being no ideal production shoes, I'd even start with a "good enough" model and once that's available, then look to make a "better footbag shoe".
Last edited by Jeremy on 19 Mar 2014 13:33, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by Max Power » 19 Mar 2014 13:07

I'm so glad that their is so much interest in this. I'm also so happy to hear that such capable and talented people are already working on a shoe. I think that you make some great points Jeremy, we could set a relatively low goal with the hopes of exceeding it. It really won't effect anything to do it that way. More money raised means more shoes made or maybe some of the extra money can go towards promotion and marketing of the shoe. I also don't really see the need to revolutionize the shoe in anyway as of now. Let's see if this thing can fly before we do loop de loops.
Drew Martin

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by C-Fan » 19 Mar 2014 13:56

This is a great thread. I like the Kickstarter idea a lot. I also really like the idea of a donation at a certain threshold being rewarded with a prototype pair of the shoe.

We should also consider proposed shoe designs that have been proposed on modified in the past.

If I'm not mistaken, they even made a prototype pair of this shoe, but the YouTube link appears to be dead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaFSNq3a2wI

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by shred4life » 19 Mar 2014 17:59

C-Fan wrote:that have been proposed on modified in the past.

If I'm not mistaken, they even made a prototype pair of this shoe, but the YouTube link appears to be dead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaFSNq3a2wI
Image

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by Lockstitch » 27 Mar 2014 17:20

Hey friends!

Check out our little announcement in the General Footbag section where we introduce our project.

There is a survey that it would be awesome if people filled out, it will really help us nail this to know everyone's thoughts.
http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23623

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by J.Spano » 07 Aug 2014 06:28

Rough Reward Structure/Layout:

$5 - $10: 4 panel sandbag 0 out of 30
$10: Footbag T-shirt 0 out of 20

$15 - $20: 32 panel made by "Insert Stitcher Here" 0 out of 25

$30 - $35: 32 panel made by "Matt Cross" (Hypothetically) 0 out of 20

EARLY ADOPTER'S OPTION/Release Date: March 2015
$50: 1 Pair of Footbag Shoe Prototype. LIMITED RUN: 15 pairs available.
You get to work with Tom Mosher, providing critical feedback that will be used for later iteration of the shoe and get a $10 discount on the official shoes.

OFFICIAL SHOES/Release Date: June 2015
$75 - $80: 1 official pair of "Whatever They Will Be Called". 0 out of 50

$160: 2 Pairs of "XXXXX" 0 out of 40

$200: 1 Pair of "XXXXX" and a shred session thrown in your honor 0 out of 2

$300: 1 All expense paid date (Courtesy of Nick Polini) with Nick 0 out of 1

Oh, and we can all collaborate and make the sickest shred montage while simultaneously explaining why people should fund our amazing shoe.

What do you guys think?
| Joseph Spano |

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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by bobgreen » 07 Aug 2014 07:57

Nick Polini is the dreamiest. $300 seems much too low.


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Re: Kickstater Shoe project idea

Post by J.Spano » 07 Aug 2014 15:23

bobgreen wrote:Nick Polini is the dreamiest. $300 seems much too low.
Opps. Tack on another zero.

On a serious note, I think what I presented above would work fairly well.
Of course all of the numbers will be adjusted once manufacturing costs are taken into account.

In my eyes it all starts with a prototype, once that's established we can go to manufacturers and get a quote on what it would cost to produce how ever many shoes we'd be making.

I think the bigger issue lies in determining how big our target audience is.
| Joseph Spano |

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