Greenblut FM Episode 9: Sven Segal / Po-Zu

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.

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in this episode we talk about:

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• 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:

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Po-ZU

Cordwainers College

Maharishi

Timberland shoes

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THANKS FOR LISTENING!