I have a love hate relationships with ballet flats. Yes, they’re more comfortable than most of the heels in my wardrobe but the reality is, in most cases, compared to the other flats in our wardrobes, they’re not that comfortable at all. Think about it. How many times have you worn a pair all day, only to feel like you’re walking on the bare ground by the evening? If you’ve spent years in ballet flats, you’ll know all too well what they can do the appearance of your feet and design wise, there’s the whole issue of ill-placed arches to deal with and the whole issue of toe cleavage or no toe cleavage, too.
When college roommates Alexa Buckley and Sarah Pierson graduated from Harvard in 2014, in her commencement speech, Sheryl Sandberg asked the crowd, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid.” It inspired the pair to forgo their lucrative job offers in the worlds of private equity and consulting to launch Margaux, direct to consumer lifestyle brand dedicated to one single product: the ballet flat.
Like everyone else, the pair’s biggest bugbear with ballet flats was the fit. That’s why Margaux offers both standard and made-to-measure sizes in fourteen shades of suede ranging from rust to marigold, navy, aubergine and royal blue with a matching patent stripe up the heel, leather lining and a wear-all-day memory foam layered sole. For custom orders, all you need to do is follow the instructions on the site to take measurements or you can simply order a complimentary kit with instructions for measuring your foot length, width, girl and heel width to make sure you get the perfect pair. Even the standard styles allow you to choose between narrow, medium and wide fits.
Fit aside, according to Margaux’s founders, what sets their flats apart is their design. These are not the kind of flexible pairs you fold up and shove to the bottom of your bag before walking into an event. It’s not about having a pair of flats that take you where you want to go before changing. These are the kind of shoes you proudly wear all day…
ON HOW THEY MET AND HOW MARGAUX WAS BORN
Alexa Buxley: We met in the fall of 2010, our Freshman year at Harvard, and became fast friends. We lived together sophomore through senior year, and both studied history and government. After spending summers in the corporate world, we had time senior year to step back and think about life after graduation. We thought about becoming this ‘modern woman’ – about who she was and how she carried herself. After spending time working summers in consulting and finance, we were all too familiar with the under-the-desk shoe shuffle from flip flop to heel, back to flip flop. We were convinced that there should be (and could be) a shoe that combined form and function, and ensured that a woman could feel dressed and beautiful – while remaining comfortable – all day long. From here we set out to create the perfect ballet flat: a shoe that could take you any place you want to go, with confidence and chic.
THEY BOTH WALKED AWAY FROM LUCRATIVE CORPORATE JOBS TO START THE BRAND
Sarah Pierson: By the time senior year began, I had accepted an offer in consulting at Mckinsey, and Alexa had accepted a job in venture capital at Insight Venture Partners. We’d both spent time interning at the respective companies the summer before, and returned to school ecstatic about our post-graduate opportunities.
Alexa: Giving up my offer was terrifying, to say the least. We’d both had fantastic experiences during our internships the previous summer, and walking away from such tremendous opportunities was a gigantic leap of faith. That being said, as soon as we landed on the idea of the brand it was all we could think or talk about. Our senior spring was filled with secret trips to New York to prototype new products, and countless pitches to other entrepreneurs to get feedback on the idea. We also assembled an advisory board comprised of mentors both on and off campus who were integral in giving us the confidence we needed to take the leap of faith and go after our idea. If we were to give advice to new entrepreneurs, it would be to surround yourself with fellow entrepreneurs from the very beginning. We benefited tremendously from being able to bounce our ideas off of people who had already gone through the process of building something – whatever it may have been – from the ground up.
ON SHERYL SANDBERG’S COMMENCEMENT SPEECH AT THEIR GRADUATION:
Alexa: At the beginning of her speech, she asked the crowd, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” It was that that moment that Sarah and I, sitting just rows apart with our families, locked eyes and immediately knew the answer: It was now or never, and we’re far too in love with the idea to walk away.
ON BEING FRIENDS IN BUSINESS & THEIR WORK DYNAMIC
Alexa: We were uniquely lucky to dive into this crazy roller coaster of a ride as friends first. This gave us a strong foundation of trust and commitment – and the security of knowing that the other person always came first, no matter what. We worked on everything together at the beginning (and in many ways, still do) but have been forced to divide and conquer as we continue to be stretched fairly thin. I tend towards the external operations (marketing, PR, special projects), while Sarah manages the internal operations (product, web, logistics, finance, etc.). By now, we share the same brain (to the point where we often show up to work wearing the same outfit, head to toe) but are wonderful complements at the same time.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING A STRONG BRAND MESSAGE
Sarah: We believe strongly in creating products that solve problems. We’ve found that principle is absolutely crucial in allowing you to rise above the noise and build a lasting brand. For Margaux, it’s creating expertly fitting shoes. This focus enables us to add value for our customers in ways that didn’t previously exist, and develop an unbelievably loyal customer base as a result. In turn, our emphasis on “fit” has served as our north star in every decision we’ve made since launch – from pop-ups to packaging – which provides a focused and grounding sense of self.
ON MAKING THEIR IDEA A REALITY
Alexa: We hit the ground running as soon as we graduated in June of 2014. We moved to New York and began assembling a team of experts in everything from web design and social media strategy, to digital marketing and packaging. As two girls fresh out of college, we were willing to admit what we didn’t know, and find the experts that did. As the summer came to an end, we dove head first into prototyping. We spent months searching for the perfect factory partner – and when we finally did, we hopped on the first plane to Spain. It was on this trip in January of 2015 that we finalized the details of our production. The leather is sourced from Italy, the standard sizes and made-to-measure components are handcrafted in Spain, and the custom shoes are finished to order each week in New York. We engineered this three-step process to combine quality and craftsmanship with quick turn-around times. As soon as we finalized our production process, we dove head first into web design. We found incredible partners in Mark Noe and Tony King, who helped us define and bring the ‘Margaux world’ to life. During this time, we continued to build our advisory board and network of mentors. We brought in our PR agency to help craft our launch plan and a digital marketing advisor to teach us the world of Facebook. We continue meeting with entrepreneurs to refine our launch plan, and tested our product with countless friends and family members. By the time May 15, 2015 rolled around, we were ready to go live. We launched our classic ballerina flat with the goal of redefining the way that shoes are sized and sold, and haven’t looked back.
ON FUNDING
Sarah: We raised a round from friends, family and angels just before launching in May of 2015. This took us a year and a half through launch, and we’re now raising a proper Seed round which will close in the next month.
WHY TOP NOTCH CUSTOMER SERVICE IS IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY AS A NEW BRAND
Sarah: Anyone who orders a pair of our custom shoes receives a personal follow up email from a fit specialist asking about how the shoes feel. We guarantee the perfect fit, so if a customer feels as though they need an adjustment we will do this as many times as we need to until they are just right. We’ve found that creating this dialogue with our customers provides incredible real time feedback for us, and establishes a thoughtful relationship with customers that most brands – especially amid the noise of our fast-paced digital world – don’t provide.
HOW THEY’RE BUILDING THEIR FOLLOWING
Alexa: Customer acquisition is something we’re always thinking about. We took the first year to test (and measure) everything from offline activations to partnerships and paid marketing, and ended the year with a clear understanding of what works for us as a brand. As we dive into the new year we will be focused on opening semi-permanent pop-up shops around the country, alongside aggressive digital marketing across social platforms. We’ve found this two-pronged approach to customer acquisition to be very successful in speaking to our diverse customer base most efficiently.
THEIR CUSTOMISATION SERVICE
Alexa: We offer both made-to-measure and standard sizes because we believe that customers need more optionality when buying shoes. A customer interested in ordering a made-to-measure pair can order a Fitting Kit online, which contains all the tools she needs to place a custom order, or visit one of our pop-ups or our studio in Chelsea. After a customer takes their measurements, they create an online profile where their measurements are saved for all future orders. From there, a customer’s measurements are sent through our proprietary algorithm – overseen by our product team – that determines the perfect sizing combination for both feet. Our factory in New York then reactively makes the ballerinas each week, guaranteeing a two-week turn around time for a custom order, which is about a quarter of the time of the industry average.
Footwear industry experts thought we were crazy (and perhaps rightfully so) when we told them that we wanted to disrupt entire factory lines to reactively produce our custom shoes. In an industry that has been largely unchanged in the past fifty years, this idea was not met with overwhelming enthusiasm at the outset. Nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to meet two people who have believed in us, and in our vision, and joined our relentless quest to find a manufacturing partner willing to take a chance on us as well. We were ultimately successful in this search, and problem-solving mentality of this product duo remains one of our greatest assets as team.
ON HOW THEY’RE OVERCOMING BOOTS WEATHER SEASON
Alexa: We’re “chasing the weather” this winter by opening a pop-up in Palm Beach. This is our first semi-permanent pop-up, and we’re hoping to take advantage of the resort foot traffic down south as the snow piles up in New York. It has already been an incredible learning experience and we’re quickly realizing the value of these offline touch points for certain customers, so we hope to treat this pop-up as a test that will help us create a formula we can scale across the country.
ON WHY A PHYSICAL SPACE IS IMPORTANT, EVEN AS AN ONLINE-ONLY BRAND
Alexa: The idea for the Studio was born out of total necessity. At the time, we were working out of a co-working space and had customers showing up in the lobby regularly asking to try on the shoes or be fitted for a made-to-measure pair. It was at this moment – amidst the chaos of trying to fit customers in a busy lobby filled with hundreds of other entrepreneurs working on apps, brands and new ventures – that we realized we needed our own branded space.
We spent months searching for the perfect place, and finally found it almost exactly a year ago today. During the search, we hosted pop-ups across the country and realized the true value of an in-person experience for our brand. There is something quite special about walking into a comfortable space and getting fitted for pair of custom shoes – and we felt we could leverage this experiential aspect of the brand through a uniquely decorated space of our own.
We wanted customers to feel as though they’d just stepped into the Margaux world upon entering our showroom. We tried to emphasize color and light – while maintaining a balance between an elevated and warm aesthetic. We had the Margaux girl in mind with every decision we made – from the books in the bookshelves to the scent of candle we burn each day. Customers often comment that it feels as though they’ve just stepped into our living room when they arrive, which we’ve taken as a good sign!
THE BIG PICTURE
Sarah: Our goal is to disrupt the women’s footwear market, one silhouette at a time. Our value proposition of finding and delivering well-fitting shoes provides a unique opportunity for customer loyalty as we grow. That’s all we’ll say for now, but do keep an eye out for new styles and silhouettes coming soon!