Source: The Fine Game Plan
Project + Exec is a new series where I’ve decided to seek out footwear executives who are minorities (Black, Latino, Indian, Native American, Asian men and women) who are doing some dope work, but are being overlooked by the larger media outlets. It’s my small part. I really hope you look more into the brands and people behind them.
With so many people entering the consulting and branding industry it’s getting more and more difficult to discern who actually has a plan and who is just winging it. Matthew Fine has a long history in business and the various moves he’s made would be well suited as a consultant with a chain like Eblens who I just discussed in a recent post:
Insider Ties Ep. 148: Comparing Kith’s Site (3 stores) to Eblens’ Site (40+ Stores)
In my neverending quest to promote diversity in the sneaker industry I’m continuing to dig and find people who are worth knowing. This P+E is special because it is one part introduction and one part wow. I say wow because it isn’t often you get to speak with someone who left the confines of a safe and secure billion dollar company to take on the impossible. Most people typically go from one million/billion dollar company to the next. That’s easy. When you dig into the dirt and have to find real answers is when you learn about who has the skill to move brands and companies in a different direction. This is a long interview so take your time and read it in chunks, but definitely read it because it’s a great discussion on an intriguing person.
Introducing Matthew Fine of The Fine Game Plan
My words are in italics and Matthew’s responses are in bold print.
Since we are both So Cal graduates and you graduated from the lesser school in USC Marshall School of Business and I came from the elite San Diego State, I’ll take it easy on you with the questions.
Matthew Fine’s Response:
I’ll do my best to askew a typical arrogant Trojan retort and just appreciate the opportunity to dialogue with another kid from So Cal.
Lol, seriously, I’m excited about this Project + Exec. Most of the people I’ve had a chance to interview have been industry vets who are still working inside of the ‘safety’ of the business. You left the comfy confines of the Nike Berm to venture into possibly the most difficult job in the industry. Let’s go backwards first, and this is for the sneaker culture guys who I’m trying to help understand that there are jobs in the industry that they love. What exactly was your position at Nike?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
I had many roles at Nike over the course of my 12 years. My first official corporate job was as an EKIN. I then ventured into sales and worked my way up through the ranks. The job that people are generally most fascinated by was my role as Category Sales Director Nike Sportswear. My specific focus was on what became known as City Specialty as well as overseeing the Boutique channel. I essentially oversaw sales and distribution strategy for every meaningful sportswear release from 2011-2014. Aside from my day-to-day responsibilities, I also had the unique opportunity to work with a mentor of mine to redefine the entire distribution and segmentation strategy for North America Nike Sportswear. This was easily the most meaningful accomplishment during my time at Nike.
Why leave Nike? When I speak to people their dream job is to work for Nike. They feel like there is prestige and opportunity there. I’ve found that Nike isn’t all roses. Was your decision to leave a part of a company restructuring? There were a few layoffs at Nike right after your transition to your next stop, right? Was it frustration with the company? Or did you decide to step away because it was time to take on a bigger challenge?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
I am a big believer of beginning with the end in mind. I was a business major with an emphasis in entrepreneurship at USC. I think I always knew in the back of my mind what I wanted out of my career. When I graduated, I honestly was not sure what my first step would be to get there. I ended up landing the EKIN role almost by accident. I had interned at Nike in college and it was a great experience, but I really never thought of making a career out of it. That being said, from the moment I started at Nike, I knew I was working for one of the most incredible companies on the planet. Nike is truly a first class organization in everything they do. It is not an accident that they continue to dominate the industry.
My decision to leave was a personal one. I enjoyed almost every minute of my time with Nike, but unless I ended up as the President or CEO (odds were heavily stacked against it), I knew that I would have felt unfulfilled professionally. I wanted to test myself in a way only possible being at the top of an organization could provide. While my move to Sheikh certainly presented a unique set of challenges, it offered me the ability to devise a strategy, implement it, and lead an organization.
Okay here is the tough stuff. Those questions were for the Trojan graduate, lol. You know I’m kidding, but this is going to get into the tough stuff. You accepted the position of President at Sheikh. I remember Sheikh as a women’s shoe store. As a matter of fact when the company arrived in Memphis from Cali I questioned the logic and the decision to expand to the Midwest. You left a great job at Nike, a 12 year career where you rose through the ranks, and you took a job that was the toughest job in the footwear industry. Sheikh was a women’s shoe company that barely had a Nike account. You had to walk in and change the entire culture and fix a broken machine. Here are my questions:
How did you transition the company from women’s footwear to athletic footwear?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
Well to be completely fair, the Shiekh stores you experienced in the Midwest had an incomplete assortment, as we were not allowed to distribute Nike. That being said, you are spot on in that Shiekh Shoes certainly led with private label women’s footwear.
But, again, I’ll refer back to beginning with the end in mind. I knew going into the role that two things had to happen in order for us to survive. First, we needed to change the Shiekh brand image to one associated with being a leader in the athletic fashion/streetwear space. Second, we needed to transform the operation from transactional brick and mortar retailer to an omni-channel experiential brand. There were several other smaller goals along the way, but essentially every action we took was geared towards accomplishing those two things.
During the transition did you really have control?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
Any time you are working for someone you ultimately do not have FULL control. Shiekh remained very involved in certain aspects of the business. For the first two years, I had a tremendous amount of autonomy to implement many of the changes I deemed necessary. In year three, there were a few key occurrences that helped us identify some differences in long-term philosophies on how we thought the business should run. This ultimately led to what I would call an extremely amicable mutual separation. Shiekh and I remain friends to this day.
Why on earth did the Sheikh open stores in the Midwest without having a Nike deal in place?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
Shiekh is a very opportunistic entrepreneur. He’s often willing to roll the dice and bet on himself. It is what has made him tremendously successful throughout his career. He saw an opportunity to expand the business and was given information that led him to believe that obtaining Nike distribution for the Midwest could be possible. He took a chance and it didn’t work out. Win some. Lose some.
You had to manage a new e-commerce platform, open new stores and then you were assigned the job of fixing Karmaloop after it was acquired… did all of this lead to the eventual collapse of Sheikh?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
No. While we certainly had a ton on our plate, we were able to manage all of it fairly effectively. The team really performed admirably under an immense amount of pressure. I’d say this, the Midwest acquisition coupled with a sales decline in the marketplace, largely due to Nike/Jordan slowdown were the largest contributing factors.
During the acquisition of Karmaloop you made a statement to WWD about the merging of brick and mortar and ecommerce. It was prophetic, but it seems that you never really got to realize the strategy that you developed… which was eventually co-opted by GOAT Group in their reverse acquisition of Flight Club. I consider your vision the reason for the current investments and growth of streetwear into luxury and into the mainstream.
Do you feel that your work in converting Sheikh and attempting to create what would have been the first true omnichannel experience in streetwear helped to lead the way for the current investments into sneaker related businesses?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
I’m a big believer in Wayne Gretzky’s philosophy of “skate to where the puck is going and not where it has been,” but I honestly can’t take credit for leading the way of an entire industry. I don’t think people were following our lead. I do think we recognized where the market was headed before our competition and I firmly believe our strategy was the right one. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to bring it to fruition the way I had envisioned it.
I feel like you were the Obama of the sneaker industry. There aren’t many African-American men at the helm of 100 plus store companies. Obama was given the chance because the country was in the dumps in 2008. Sheikh was like America and you were brought in to fix a sinking ship. The amazing thing is you held it all together. That experience led to a rough period for both Sheikh and Karmaloop, but both companies are in better places with a chance to start over. That makes you a Ray Donovan styled fixer. Your work wasn’t pretty, but the endgame was a clear slate for both companies.
How do you take the incredible experience that many might see as a negative, but I see it as a positive, and help companies make the transitions before they hit the sea floor?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
I don’t look back upon the experience as a negative at all. There is not one moment of it that I would change. I have gravitated to broken and untenable situations my entire career. This was no different. There were certainly things I did not anticipate during my tenure, but I largely knew what I signed up for and approached each day with a tremendous amount of passion and energy. I was given a tremendous opportunity to prove to myself that I had what I took to do that job and I will always be thankful to Shiekh for that opportunity. I can honestly say I am proud of what the team accomplished during my time there. Those who remain are still implementing some of the groundwork that we laid and I continue to wish them success as they move forward.
The Fine Game Plan is an elegant, but functional concept. I feel like your experience is timely with the amount of investment taking place in this industry. I don’t see your experience as being limited to kicks though. Tell me how the Fine Game Plan will help to empower and improve companies?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
Thank you. It’s in its infancy stages, but The Fine Game Plan concept was essentially birthed by accident. After my departure from Shiekh, I took some time to breathe and reflect on what had transpired during my tenure. I realized that many of my strategic concepts were applicable to a broad range of brands, retailers, celebrity and influencer driven entities, and industries as a whole for that matter.
I’ve been very fortunate to have people reach out to inquire to see what was next for Matt Fine. Many of those conversations led to opportunities for collaboration. I began to formalize and really structure the concept in the summer of 2018. The Fine Game Plan is an a la carte menu of services to help businesses create strategy, structure and scalability.
Everything starts with the consumer and understanding the behavior that drives a purchase. The game plan is to create individualized sustainable strategies to drive purchases and build infrastructure to enable and sustain growth. While I have spent most of my career in the athletic/streetwear/fashion space, I’m confident the formula can be applied to almost any industry. I currently have clients in sneakers, sportswear, and in the luxury fashion spaces. I am certainly open to broadening our reach.
Can I have a job? Seriously… I’m just kind of kidding. I admire you and I’m humbled that you’ve taken the time to pull the curtain back and answer these questions. Do you have anything you want to leave the readers with?
Matthew Fine’s Response:
I’m sure we can find some ways to collaborate… but in all seriousness, I’m a very private person by nature. I largely put my head down and feet gently on the backsides of my teammates to accomplish our goals. To lift my head up and have someone say they admire what I’ve done is truly humbling, especially considering that not everything I have done would be viewed as an unquestioned success. To anyone out there reading this, I’d leave you with this:
Pursue your passions with vigor and leave it all on the table. You will feel as though you have never worked a day in your life and no matter the outcome, you will be free of regret.
Understand that you don’t know what you don’t know. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Be strategic. Start with the end in mind and work backwards. Make decisions that align with your long-term goals.
Don’t seek credit. Seek results.
And maybe the most important thing to remember… no one owes you anything.
Where can people connect with you?
I try to stay fairly active and responsive on LinkedIn. Feel free to reach out any time and of course I welcome inquiries at The Fine Game Plan
https://www.thefinegameplan.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-fine-b93081b/
Thanks a million for sharing with Project + Exec.
