Greenblut Podcast

Greenblut FM Episode 9: Sven Segal / Po-Zu

Creating shoes with soul. Sven started his ethical shoe brand po-zu with only one single style in 2006. Today Po-Zu is growing fast, and Sven has done some amazing collaborations with brands like maharishi or timberland.
Gast:
Sven Segal

Sven discovered his talent for footwear design and became a shoemaker apprentice at a local family-run business in Israel. Within a few months, he had secured a place at Londons’s prestigious Cordwainers College and moved to England to begin his career in Footwear Design. After having graduated, Sven traveled the world as a freelance shoe designer.  Shortly after, he became quickly frustrated by the manufacturing practices and the working conditions in many overseas factories.Sven resolved to challenge these practices and after 3 years of research and development he set up Po-Zu in 2006, to demonstrate how stylish, high-quality footwear could be created without harming people or planet.

in this episode we talk about:

  • Japan as original inspiration
  • Svens personal background
  • the key reason to create his brand
  • developing a brand in spare time while working in a regular day job
  • the advantage of collaborations with other brands
  • how to connect with other brands
  • the biggest challenge in the start-up phase
  • reasons to move  to a more commercial product
  • when proper research in advance is missing…
  • learning by doing
  • the pros of good networking
  • direct sale versus wholesale
  • ethical promise
  • about USP and the importance of added benefits
  • managing growth just by word-of-mouth recommendations
  • about customizing products
  • what customers are asking for
  • Sven’s advice to You:” being ethical and sustainable is not enough!”

Links and resources mentioned in this Episode:

    Po-ZU
    Cordwainers College
    Maharishi
    Timberland shoes

THANKS FOR LISTENING!