“How might we generate funds for the organization while engaging our donors and supporters in meaningful ways?”
We proposed a sandal with almost unlimited customization, where the World Shoe Sole (a biodegradable and protective sole against injury, infections, and diseases) would be the foundation for different sandal configurations and designs that each customer can mix and match. The shoe is named TEMBEA meaning walk in Swahili, matching the vision of Samaritan's feet to give all the opportunity to walk to their destiny.
CMU 2017
Design and Business Club
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Fusion 360
My role: Illustrator, Graphic design, Experience design
Project constraints
- Must retail for less than $40.
- Manufacturing Cost includes $20 to fund the shoe donation Samaritan’s feet makes.
- Must incorporate the biodegradable World Shoe sole into commercial shoe for $3.50.
- Complete project in two weeks.
Competitive Analysis
By incorporating customization of the shoe, Samaritan's Feet has competitive advantage over other non profit organizations that retail shoes.
Personas
Frank Wu
About
Frank is 27 years old living in Denver, Colorado. He pursues an active outdoors lifestyle. He will often hike on the weekends or will travel to California. He is a part owner of a marijuana dispensary. He has a comfortable income and is diligent about saving.
Motivations
It is important to him to give back. He wants to know where his donated money is going to. He places value in non-profits who engage him beyond the donation campaigns. Traveling often, he seeks comfort over style
Barriers
Working often, he does not have the time to volunteer or investigate organizations. He mostly relies on the information they provide. Juggling multiple organizations is also exhausting, he would like to be invested in one.
Jane Mulera
About
Jane is a 24 year old about to begin graduate school in California. She leads a healthy lifestyle, practicing yoga and seeks products that are sustainable and durable. Her evenings are often spent on the beach while she works over the weekends at as a Realtor.
Motivations
Since she is aggressively saving money, durable products are attractive to her. Her way of giving back is through volunteer work during the week. She seeks comfort and style in her attires and will often shop in thrift shops.
Barriers
Cannot volunteer as often as she would like. Wants to donate or engage with organizations without taking away from her time.
Sustainability being a key part of this project meant that the team had to make decisions on the materials that will be used on the shoe. Research determined that the sustainable materials that would keep costs low were, Hemp, Natural Cork, Natural Indigo Linen, Organic Cotton. These materials are not only Sustainable, they also have great performance in different climates that would cater to customers in various climate conditions.
The shoe has multiple straps that offer 100+ range of possible matched options. The interchangeable sandal system will allow shoe lovers the ability to experiment freely with the footwear
A customer would receive a set of sandal top pieces on first purchase.
Additional straps are purchased as add-ons
- 1 wide band that connects to all four slots,
- 1 medium width band
- 2 bands to use at the same time or with either one of the - 4 thin band strips that are included in the set.
Marketing Strategies
Partnerships with social media influencers as part of the marketing strategy would increase awareness of the new shoe.
Profile: @sunitav on Instagram
Financial Summary
How can we ensure a profit with the projects financial constraints?
Future service
When a customer buys the shoe that the we designed, part of their cost covers the cost of donating a pair of shoes.This cost is used to pay for the shipping costs, included in the donation box are - World shoes ( these are the main shoes that Samaritan's Feet donates),
- A tag with a message that a customer wrote
- A post card that allows the receiver of the donation to send back a note of gratitude or to make a connection.
This was done to demonstrate transparency with Samaritan's Feet customers to how the money is being used. It offers a line of connection between the donators and those who receive the shoes from the organization.
