Green Cinderella: proof that shoes can change your life

Nice girls don't finish last

Song of the Day: Wouldn’t it be Nice? Beach Boys 

Yes, the song is kind of cheesy. But I love its innocence- the hope and excitement and simplicity of the message. It works for today’s theme since I’m thinking gratefully about all the nice people around me these days.

I think nice gets a bad rap. Growing up in Minnesota, we were all about nice. Then I moved to Silicon Valley and was surprised at the lack of nice in the business world. And the way that my “Minnesota nice” was sometimes interpreted as cluelessness and taken advantage of. For awhile I got really jaded and thought I should stop being too nice. But what I was calling “too nice” wasn’t nice at all- because it was not being nice to myself. You can be nice and still stand up for yourself- so simple, and yet so hard to learn. 

The thing I love most about Charmoné is that we can be as nice as we want, and in turn there is so much niceness around us. We get emails out of the blue from customers, just telling us how much they love their shoes and thanking us for caring enough to make something both stylish and vegan/eco/fair trade. When we were contemplating selling online, a lot of people warned us that dealing with “the public” directly would be a nightmare. But not for us- our customers are nice!

I started thinking about this today because I just returned from working with our new factory in Colombia (much more on that later). And the overwhelming vibe I got was that the people were so genuinely nice. Kind hearted, open, welcoming… something we really haven’t experienced working in the other countries where we’ve manufactured. I think we’ve opened up an opportunity here to not only make beautiful shoes, but also bring down the prices significantly while helping a country that needs to be associated with more positive businesses. 

It’s all coming together: beautiful shoes, lower prices, a more direct sense of ‘giving back’- isn’t that nice? 

 

Livin' Large: Over (size) 40 and Fabulous!

Song of the Day: The World at Large by Modest Mouse

Women are often insecure about their shoe size. I never knew this until I started a shoe business and started asking for sizes. Unless they wear a shoe size 7 or smaller, women are usually embarrassed to say their size out loud, and they almost always start with the smallest possible size they could squeeze into. I completely understand this with jeans, but shoes? The phrase we hear most often is “oh, my feet are HUGE! They are a… 9 or 10.” Even size 8s utter this self deprecating expression more often than not.

Listen ladies- its bad enough that we feel the need to worry about our dress size, jeans size, age and everything else related to our outward appearance. Let’s leave the poor feet alone. Most of the models we’ve worked with wear at least a size 10 shoe. The size of your foot cannot be exercised away and is usually consistent with your height, so get over yourself, bigfoot (only kidding), and check out the “huge” number of styles available in 41 and 42, which roughly translates to size 10 and 11 in U.S. sizes:

From the High Art Collection:
- Bellini (42 only- actually runs large and may fit a size 12)
- Caravaggio in both Espresso (41 and 42) and Graphite (42 only)
- Cinnamon in Black (41 and 42)
- Cezanne in Noir (Black) and Antique Garden (42 only)
High Tea Collection:
- Darjeeling in Noir (Black) and Moss (41 and 42 in both colors)
- Gunpower in Noir (Black) (41 and 42 in both colors)
- Marco Polo in Moss and Slate (41 and 42 in both colors)
Herb Collection:
- Licorice in Chocolate (41 only)
- Gingko in Red (41 only), Espresso Bean (42 only)
- Ginseng in Espresso Bean(42 only), Grass Print (41 and 42)
Butterfly Collection:
- Monarch in Cool Blues (41 only)

Caravaggio in Espresso

The Secret to Partnership Success

Song of the Day: I Can Tell That We Are Gonna be Friends: White Stripes

When we started our business, one of the things we heard most often was to be careful of partnerships. The standard advice is that they don’t work. And while I know there are hundreds of examples of failed partnerships, I can say without a doubt that I wouldn’t want to do this any other way.

I first met Lauren while interviewing her to be my boss at a software start-up in Silicon Valley. She was being brought in by one of the top executives and it was pretty clear that my “interview” was just a courtesy gesture to make me feel like I wasn’t totally unimportant. As I scanned her resume, I thought, great, this chick is going to be totally harsh. After all, she was from New York, had an MBA, and had come from a few companies famous for having cut-throat environments. Your basic nightmare.

But then I found a gem at the bottom of her resume- she went to F.I.T. While this did not ease my concern of her being a scary harsh New Yorker, it did pique my interest and give me something to talk about during the faux interview. I was surprised to find someone that was not only smart but also hilarious, easy going (who knew New Yorkers could be mellow?) and all-around wonderful. Even when the company we worked for was going down in flames, she always had a positive attitude, made the best of it, and most importantly, made me laugh. 

It’s those same qualities that have made our partnership so smooth. We laugh through EVERYTHING. The truth is, I never really wanted to start a business, I just wanted to work in fashion. It was Lauren that had the idea to make vegan shoes, and it was Lauren that made the idea of starting a business fun. I started doing research and found that while vegan shoes already existed (I really thought she was the first person to ever think of this), most were not eco-friendly or sweatshop-free. Or stylish. Seeing a hole in the market and feeling a pull towards creating something both fun and meaningful, we jumped in and haven’t looked back since. We’ve had an incredible amount of ups and downs since starting Charmone, but one thing I can rely on is that ever-present sense of humor and even-keel attitude. Not only does having a partner make the ride a lot more fun, collaboration creates more ideas and momentum than I would ever be able to create on my own. I think if you’re both committed, always give one another the benefit of the doubt, and set aside ego, partnerships can not only work but be more rewarding than you ever thought possible. Here's a pic of us laughing our way through a Chinese New Year party at London Fashion Week!

 

A Fashion Cleansing: Recycling your shoes and clothes

Song of the day: Waste by Phish

Despite the Phish song and the fact that we make shoes that are vegan, eco-friendly and sweatshop-free, the women of Charmone are no hippies. Not even close. So it bothers me that today as everyone is talking about waste, overindulgence and consumption, a lot of people are pointing fingers while others are feeling very guilty. Someone once told me that guilt was intended to prevent you from doing something that would hurt you or someone else- otherwise, it’s pretty worthless. So why feel guilty for doing something you love if it doesn’t harm anyone else? Unless you’ve forced your family into the poorhouse over your love of fashion, just relax… and recycle. Enjoy your new stilettos, wear them to death, and when you’re over them- send them off to Soles4Souls.
 
Soles4souls is a charity with the simple mission to impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes. I’ve known about them for awhile, but I was a little stuck at the idea of sending Charmone “dress” shoes to them – I thought they were too impractical for many of the countries they deal with. After talking with them, I learned that they accept ALL types of shoes and almost always find a home for them – including that odd single shoe that’s been hiding in the back of your closet!

And as for clothing, go through your closets at least twice per year and pull out everything that doesn’t fit (and never will), doesn’t look good (and never did) and that you really just don’t ever wear. Pack it up and get yourself to either Goodwill or Salvation Army before you change your mind! Don’t fall into the trap of “I paid so much for it, I really should try to sell it or give it to a friend” or the “well, it might come back in style/might fit again later/etc.” traps. Everyone makes fashion mistakes, let others benefit from yours. Don’t worry if an item is out of style or worn to death- both Goodwill and Salvation Army will even take the fabric and recycle it into dishrags or other needed items- there’s always a way to make a new life out of something! Cleaning out your closet is a great way to help others while also clearing both your physical and mental clutter- try it and see!

 

 

Sign, Sign Everywhere a Sign

Song of the Day: How far we've come Matchbox Twenty

Do you believe in signs? I do, as do most people I know. There are signs EVERYWHERE you look, and I am quite sure that whatever you really want to see, whatever message you know you need to see, you’ll find. Every time. So today I was feeling a little uninspired, a little… flat… when I started web surfing to find my inspiration. And inspiration was found-  hugely – in two places:

Fashion inspiration- this dress. WOW. This is the kind of thing I’d like to live in. I’m just gonna sit around the house in it. Yeah, wear it to the grocery store. And while cooking (with an apron of course). And pretty much anywhere else I can. Not only was I inspired by the dress, but by Meiling Chen’s tagline “Fearless Dreamer”. I am continually aiming to be that fearless dreamer, and boy do I think wearing this dress would help. I came across her while reading about other designers that participated with Charmone at this year’s Project Earth Day fashion show.  

Life inspiration: I’ve been seriously considering giving up my killer loft in San Diego, basing out of Lauren’s place in NY and traveling extensively while working on Charmone. I can really work on this business from anywhere as long as I have ample time to meet with Lauren, visit the factory (which are always in exotic locations- latest is Colombia) and stay online to keep in touch with stores, customers, press, etc. And yet I hesitate and continually look for signs that it’s the right thing for me to do. Well today our web designer Colin Wright sent me an email with a link to his new plan: Exile Lifestyle. Colin is a one-man sustainable design/development/illustration/consultation studio who now plans to give up most of his belongings, travel the world and bring sustainable, green living to other places.

So I'm wondering- how about if I travel the world as a fearless dreamer in Meiling's dress and a pair of Charmones? Thanks to everyone for their signs- and hope I'm sending out good ones for you as well!

Dancing in Paris

Today's Song: God is a DJ: Faithless

It's fantasy time. Too much reality kills your imagination. Its springtime, you're in Paris. It's 11:00 PM, the air smells like lilacs and you get an invite that you can't refuse: come dancing, wear all black, be ready for anything. If I got that invite, this is what I'd wear:

I'm ready- are you?

This is clearly what the Bellini was designed for.