Shoe customization can be subdivided into insoles.

Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public official account ID:lanxiongsports.

The stadium is frustrated and the mall is proud. The insole company founded by Damian Lillard will make $1 million this year.

In December 2021, Lillard and his business partner Nate Jones founded move, a company specializing in designing insoles for sports people. Jones revealed in an interview with CNBC that in the first month of its establishment, the company achieved a turnover of US $120000 through DTC mode, and its goal in 2022 is to make us $1 million.

The two did not start their business on a whim, but planned for a long time. In 2019, Jones first proposed the idea of establishing move to Lillard, and the two hit it off. Jones and Lillard both play basketball and have suffered from plantar fasciitis. They hope to help sports people prevent and alleviate foot injuries such as plantar fasciitis through a pair of good insoles.

Move currently has two insoles, game day and game day pro, which sell for $39.99 and $59.99 respectively. Both products are equipped with a double foam system for enhanced cushioning, X-shaped anti torsion sheets for support, and a patented insole shape design. It can be seen from the introduction of move’s official website that this insole shape can adapt to 85% of consumers.

In addition, in order to ensure the effectiveness of insole products, move has also reached a cooperation with footcare express, a well-known foot injury clinic. Footcare Express has more than 150000 foot scanning materials and customized special insoles for many NBA players, which can provide a large amount of reference data for move in product development.

Empathy with patients with plantar fasciitis is only an opportunity for Jones and Lillard to establish move. More importantly, the business of developing insoles for sports people is profitable and a “blue ocean”.

Jones previously worked as a sports agent in Goodwin sports management company, specializing in helping NBA stars develop business investment opportunities and brand cooperation off the court. He has 14 years of experience, and Lillard is also one of his agents.

In the process of getting along with players, Jones found that most players won’t go on their feet directly after getting new shoes. They either transform the insole or directly replace it with a customized corrective insole.

▲ James specially takes out the insole when delivering shoes.

The cost of correcting insoles is expensive. It needs to go through a series of processes such as instrument measurement, doctor consultation and on-demand customization. Moreover, insoles are consumables and have to be replaced after a long time. The cost may be more than ten times the price of sneakers. Therefore, when players give their shoes to the audience on the sidelines, they often take away the insole and only give them shoes.

Players have demand, but the supply side of sporting goods seems to have little interest in the insole business.

“We talked to people in the shoe industry. They always wear a pair of high-end insoles when designing shoes, but brands often replace them with cheap insoles worth only 10-50 cents in order to reduce costs. When communicating with sporting goods retailers such as foot locker, we also found that they did not intend to do insole business. Obviously, this is a market to be developed.” Jones said in an interview with nicekicks.

In fact, sports brands are not completely indifferent to insoles. Kobe 7, AJ 2011 and AJ 2012 all used replaceable insoles as the main selling points of sneakers:

·Kobe 7 provides two insoles. The speed module is Phylon foam midsole with zoom air units in the forefoot and hindfoot, and the strength module is full-length cushlon foam midsole;

·Aj2011 provides two insoles. The blue insole adopts zoom air units in the forefoot and back foot, which is suitable for speed players, and the red insole adopts 3 / 4 Air sole air unit, which is suitable for players with strong explosive power;

·Aj2012 provides three insoles. The green insole is equipped with a zoom unit in the back, the blue insole is equipped with a zoom unit in the front and an air sole unit in the back, and the orange insole is equipped with a full-length Air sole unit.

From the perspective of configuration, Kobe 7, AJ 2011 and AJ 2012 all unify the insole and midsole into modules to allow consumers to “Customize” their own sneakers in a replaceable way. But I don’t know whether it is because the cost is too high or because the playing method is complex to “persuade” consumers. This model of replaceable insoles has not been continued.

Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect sports brands to invest a lot of energy and financial resources in the insole business. As for the existing insole brands, they have not done much in the subdivided field of developing insoles for sports people. In Jones’s view, old insole brands like Dr. scholl’s have mastered a certain market share and are unlikely to venture into developing a new category, which is a good opportunity for move to break through.

According to fortune business insights, the global insole Market is expected to reach $4.5 billion in 2027. Move hopes to get a share of the business through the relatively “side door”.

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to Lillard, NBA players such as Chris Paul, Jamal Crawford and Matisse thyball are all investors in move.

NBA stars gather, which is a ready-made publicity resource for move. Paul’s son “CP 4” can be regarded as a child star in the NBA. Since childhood, he has attended various important occasions with his father and won a lot of attention. After investing in move, “CP 4” naturally used their products, which is an excellent publicity case.

Next, move hopes to get a round of 2 this year