Shoe-In

In this episode, we play clips from FDRA's 2018 Sourcing Summit featuring a panel discussion exploring footwear sourcing themes from domestic production to sustainability issues and more. This diverse panel is composed of different professionals within different areas of the footwear industry to provide a full conversation around footwear production. Panelists include representatives from the Portuguese Footwear Association, Elevate, SGS, and Okabashi.

For the very first time FDRA's Chief Economist, Gary Raines joins us for an episode to discuss the state of the "Shoeconomy" and what to expect in 2019!

In this episode Matt, Andy, Thomas, and Jasmine close out 2018 talking about some of the hottest trends of the year and Jasmine shares a couple predictions for 2019...

In this episode, we play clips from FDRA's Sourcing Summit featuring an in-depth discussion on how forward-thinking brands are "digitizing" their workflows to speed up material selection, design and development of shoes. The panel discussing these issues include Romans CAD, XRITE, a former shoe development lead and Material Exchange.

In this episode, the team talks about 2018 trends and shares audio clips from FDRA's Sourcing Summit featuring Allbirds CEO Joey Zwillinger. Joey explains how they started their brand with a sustainability first mindset and how they strategically built their brand into a rising all start in the fashion industry.

Team FDRA explores all the ins and outs of the recent trade truce between the United States and China and its impact on the footwear industry. Recording and posted on the same day, this episode has all you need to know about the ongoing trade war in real-time. Jasmine jumps in to explore the prevalence of microwaveable slippers in her Fashion Footwear in Focus segment.

Shoe companies pay billions in duties each year, but there is a way to get a refund from the government if you follow certain rules! Brian London of Charter Brokerage joins us on this episode to explain what "duty drawback" is and how shoe companies can use it to their advantage if they set up their supply chains correctly.

Rocky Parrish is CEO of ROCKDEEP and a former Sports TV & Radio Host & Contributor, he stops by the Shoe-In Show studio to give the cast all the deets on the ROCKDEEP brand! Also, find out what fashion trend Jasmine is noticing and loving during fashion week!

Jose joins us to talk about the changes happening on our factory floors. New workers, new managers, new locations and automation are all changing how we make shoes, but we still have an old mindset on how to get the most out of factory workers. Jose explains a better way forward - one that trains and empowers workers to make shoes right the first time. A must listen for any sourcing and production professional!

Join the fun as Andy and Matt casually discuss the current state of footwear in this week's episode. Touching on everything from footwear retail to footwear innovation.