CLAE Footwear. Shop modern silhouettes that emphasize uncommon comfort and versatility for today’s active lifestyle.
Source: CLAE
I’ve owned two different sneaker companies. While operating those brands, I had to navigate the deep waters where marketshare was almost impossible to attain. I’ve written reports on Facebook ads, Amazon ads and various strategies utilized to get people to take a chance on a new brand. While I’m not a proponent of utilizing social media ads, I realize that social media is where EVERYONE is and that a smaller company only has a few routes to be discovered:
- A brand can produce PR and send it to sneaker sites and hope that the site covers the release.
- A brand can pay sneaker sites to cover their drops.
- A brand can run targeted Facebook (social media) ads and hope for conversion.
- A brand can take the time to build the content to generate interest.
The reality is smaller brands have to do all of the above and typically the brands resort to utilizing Facebook ads because consumers are no longer web browsers. Why is this important to establish? A brand like CLAE loses a considerable amount of discovery by removing its ads from Facebook’s network, which includes Instagram. CLAE isn’t a company with huge reserves like Nike or adidas. It’s a Los Angeles based company born in 2001, making incredibly beautiful sneakers including the Napa Collection shown throughout this post (click the images to see more).
While I’ve been taking the time to look at larger brands who have all made statements of support against social injustice, I’ve been taking the time to start looking at smaller brands who are allies in the fight for equality. CLAE can’t donate parts of their sales to charities, or at least they shouldn’t because I know the difficulty of operating a sneaker company. How does a small ally show support? They do what is in their power to take a stand. CLAE has done just that by posting on their homepage a statement of solidarity against Facebook’s racist policies.
My job, although I’m a smaller media outlet, is to make sure that you are aware of what the smaller brands are doing. Please take a moment to visit CLAE’s site and share it with your tribe. When companies are allies it takes a team effort to help them stay above water and I want to send kudos out to the team of CLAE even if they never see this post.