Laura Youngson: Like it's an open secret in the industry that they kind of shrink it and pink it.
Ben Sandu: Well, who's this bearded guy trying to tell us what's right for us and our bodies?
Laura Youngson: It's one of those things that once you feel it, you can't unfeel it. It's magical once you get something that actually works for you.
Ben Sandu: We do not make products for men, we make them for women because we think that women deserve a product that they know has been designed for them. End to end.
[Voiceover]: Welcome to Add to Cart, the podcast that express delivers all you need to
Laura Youngson: know in the fast moving world of E commerce.
[Voiceover]: Every month, Nathan Bush from 12 hi. And an E commerce industry expert will share the news, research and insights that you need to know to keep you
Laura Youngson: at the top of your game and
[Voiceover]: of course, keep your customers adding to Cart. Hello and welcome to Add to Cart. My name is Nathan Bush, host of Add to Cart and director at E commerce talent agency E Suite. Today's guest was brought to my attention from our producer, Amy. Amy came to me and she said, there's this great Australian company who are designing football boots especially for female athletes. Intrigued, I wanted to be more research. Their name is Ida Sports and the more we researched, the more we learned about the incredible achievements and the low profile that they've kept in the Australian retail market. So it was brilliant to have Laura Youngson and Ben Sandu, the co founders, join me to tell me their story. So far, they're only a couple of years old, but they've grown from an idea on the back of a napkin and what they call a Frankenstein prototype to selling out of their first range, getting stocked in Dick's Sporting Goods in the US and having Isabelle Dawes kick a goal in the AFL Grand Final winning team. So thanks to our partners, Shopify plus and Signet, let's get straight into our conversation with with Laura Youngson and Ben Sandu from IDA Sports. Laura and Ben, welcome to ADD to Cart.
Laura Youngson: Thank you. Great to be here.
[Voiceover]: Thanks for joining us. And Laura, you're joining us from Amsterdam, Ben from Perth. We're a multinational show. I love it.
Laura Youngson: Definitely you can e commerce from anywhere.
[Voiceover]: Turns out I've heard about that. It's amazing. All right, guys, I have done a really bad job of explaining ITA Sports in the intro. Can I throw to you guys to actually give me a qualified version of what IDA Sports is?
Laura Youngson: Compat.
Ben Sandu: You go Ida Sports. We're a women's sports footwear company. We launched our first product in February of last Year just in time for a global shutdown in sport. But in spite of the challenges of the pandemic, we've pretty much solved that. Our first production run and we've, we've signed a couple of retail deals with some of the largest U.S. sports retailers. And really the future for us is designing sports performance wear for women in a number of different categories. You know, this is a problem that's unique to football.
[Voiceover]: And when you talk about designing shoes specific for women footballers, women athletes, what are we talking about here? We're talking colors, sizes, designs is actually everything.
Laura Youngson: It's, it's taking. Putting women at the heart of the design process, which I think is, is kind of overlooked up up until now it happens a little bit. But actually a lot of shoes, like it's an open secret in the industry that they kind of shrink it and pink it. Let's take a man's shoe and just like squash it down a bit and slap some pink on and that'll be great for women. Yeah, let's go. And actually for us it, that's not good enough. And I think taking, taking female athletes, putting them at the center of the experience and then designing literally from like females feet are different. And so then you look at, okay, can we, can we make the shape different? And then can we make the design actually look cool so that you could go to the pub in it and you know, and you're building, building things that are really made for the athletes that are going to be wearing them.
[Voiceover]: It's awesome.
Ben Sandu: In a nutshell, it's not treating women as an afterthought in an industry that is prone to doing that time and time again, really.
[Voiceover]: And when I read about it, I was like, oh yeah, of course that's a problem. Like, it's just something that's not in the forefront of my mind. But when you read about it and the work that you're doing, it's incredible. How did you guys, like, how did that problem kind of surface for you guys? Do you have a history in shoes? Do you have a history in orthopedics? How did it come to the forefront?
Laura Youngson: We're such shoe newbies and we can tell you some hilarious stories of how little we knew about shoes before we embarked on this. But the problem kind of came out. It started with me that I'm an amateur player, just love, love sport, love playing and I always had to wear kids boots because my feet are what the industry would term small. I think they're normal. And I just got like frustrated. I was like, damn, these kids boots. They're usually not as good qualities. But I really love playing sport. And then I got this really great opportunity. We were doing a world record at the top of Kilimanjaro, playing 90 minutes of soccer up there, which was awesome with all these women and got to meet people from around the world.
[Voiceover]: You can't just skip over that. You can't go, I just suddenly found myself playing soccer at the top of Kilimanjaro.
Laura Youngson: Yeah. I mean, there's a few steps in between from like, yeah, let's go do a world record. That'd be awesome. But it was, you know, like, let's go rally the troops. And then off you go and have a spot of football at the top of the moun. That is an entire podcast in itself.
[Voiceover]: That's true.
Laura Youngson: Yeah, for sure. But, yeah, all these players are amazing and they play in men's and kids boots. And I was like, whoa, that's weird. Like, you're professional. You should be getting professional women's shoes and kind of looking at it and then looking at the research and the medical stuff, like, men and women's feet are different. What? And so why is this not happening? And starting to ask of those questions.
Ben Sandu: And then it's interesting because you mentioned how you weren't aware of the problem, and neither was I as a guy. So my background, you know, I played. I went to the UK and played semi professional cricket over there, and shoes have just always fit me. So it wasn't until Laura and I started playing indoor soccer together, she started talking about this problem. I was like, that's really fascinating. Why hasn't that happened? And the research, it always kind of goes to calling for gender specific footwear, but, like, not that not existing, it kind of ends there. And I think what's really exciting about where we are is we're in an opportune position to go and create a new field of research that basically hasn't existed up until this point around that relationship between footwear and all sorts of different issues that can come up for athletes.
[Voiceover]: And when you looked at it and you went, this is a big gap, and I'm sure there was a thought, and then you went, oh, let's go research it. Surely Nike or Brooks or someone has done something around this. What did you find?
Laura Youngson: We've seen instances of some shoes sometimes being made for one woman somewhere. And that's cool, but I think to really, what we're looking at is like, systemically changing the industry. So I know a lot of players will have had the experience. You walk into any sports store, I mean, you look at the rebels, the athletes, and you go in and there's a section for men, section for kids, and you're like, okay, so where's the section for women who play turf sports or any other sport other than running? And it just doesn't exist. The more we started looking into this, the more like they're very passionate people within the company. But for these bigger companies, it's perhaps not the most profitable sector. I mean, there's only 36 million registered female soccer players in the world, so that's probably not big enough to engage in. And yeah, it's really kind of one of those things that you're like, well, you know, why aren't you doing it? You've got the resources. And so for us, it was that kind of seeing that gap and going, well, let's go for it, let's give them a push.
[Voiceover]: Brilliant.
Ben Sandu: We would hear stories from you, talk to the clinical community and they'd say, we get the same problems over and over again in our clinics with, you know, blisters and black toes and pain the day after the game. And you talk to athletes themselves and they'd say, I really struggle to find a good pair of boots. So I drove from Geelong to Bendigo to find the last pair that they had in that particular store. So it's not exclusively a question of design, it's also a question of availability and signaling to the market properly. And so I think, you know, when we came along, we just wanted to say, well, there's no ambiguity here. There's no is it made for me or not? We do not make products for men, we make them for women because we think that women deserve a product that they know has been designed for them end to end.
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Laura Youngson: So I think one of the things we see that really kind of blew my mind and explained a lot of the reasons about some of the experiences I was having as a player. Things like women tend to have narrower heels just all the way through. And so you can end up getting blisters on your heel because they kind of slop around. We tend to have different ratio around our toes. So where the widest point of our foot is, is actually in kind of further back compared to men. So that means your little toe gets squished in and you get all these sorts of blisters. And you can also kind of get. Yeah, I call it squishy toe, where you get, you know, black toenails, things like that. And so all these things, I keep finding that things like we have higher arches, you need a bit more support through the midfoot. You have. Our hips are set slightly further apart, so where your pressure load is different. So what that means is kind of the outsole. And when you're making that running movement, that will lead to change. And once you start kind of correcting for those differences, you put your foot into a female made boot and you're like, whoa, this is what all shoes should feel like. And then you start like, I've got really kind of strict about it because I wear a unisex shield. I'm like, no, this feels so wrong. Yeah, it's one of those things that once you feel it, you can't unfeel it. It's magical once you get something that actually works for you.
[Voiceover]: And I could imagine that it's not just talking about feel or blisters or squishy toe. Like, the impact could be pretty severe, couldn't it? If you've got shoes that don't fit you.
Laura Youngson: Yeah. I think one of the things we've been looking at with podiatrists and physios is there's a real link between comfort and fatigue. So if you're not wearing something that's made for you that feels comfortable, you're more likely to fatigue faster. And what does that mean at the end of the game? That means you're more at risk of getting an injury because your muscles are fatigued. So it's a real impact and it's perhaps not the acute stuff. So it's not necessarily that it will be one particular game, but it's that it's recovery time, it's how do you feel the next day? It's how do you. Can you spend more time on the pitch? And that's why really, we're very passionate about, like, just get something that works for you. Because if you're wearing something that doesn't, then it's really. If you want a good playing career, that's. Yeah. Putting yourself at risk of injuries.
Ben Sandu: I think what's really interesting about the way we went about designing, you know, our boots was a lot more sort of anecdotal. And by that I mean we spoke to hundreds and hundreds of players and. And dozens of clinicians and we looked at. Well, based on what you're telling us on what does a women's specific outsole need to look like? I think what's really exciting for us now, 12 months in, having huge moment for the company recently, shout out to bel doors from the Brisbane Lions, who brought home an AFLW premiership in our boots, which was like, huge step. Cheer, cheer. Yeah, yeah. But having Bill in our boots and playing in them and being able to give that feedback, we can now take that. And with the network that we've built in university research partners, we can look at, well, how do we apply a much more scientific lens to this. How can we strap our boots to machines to look at rotational traction force, to get really nerdy for a second at a time and to be able to build a body of knowledge that does not exist. Because there hasn't really been that level of scrutiny on female footwear before. So, yeah, it's. It's why every day kind of feels fresh, I suppose.
[Voiceover]: It's so funny. My daughter's five and she's got a Brisbane Lions girls jersey. We went to the game, the Adelaide game, and it was incredible. Like, she's so excited, but I never even put the pieces together that by the time she wants to play sport, and it could only be a few years, that she could have boots that are made for her feet.
Laura Youngson: 100%. I think when you start thinking it through and then looking at the lifetime of a player and just that ability to enjoy sport, one of the things we're really passionate about is removing barriers to playing. And if one of the barriers is, hey, my feet hurt every time I play and we can remove that, then that's awesome. And that keeps girls in sport that little bit longer.
[Voiceover]: Awesome. So we've got this problem, right? And we're trying to solve this problem. You guys mentioned at the start that you don't have a background in shoes or manufacturing. Where do you start creating a shoe from scratch?
Ben Sandu: A napkin, I think, was the Original. The original design was kind of like, yeah, what about this? It's been such a fascinating journey. It's really interesting looking back now, I constantly have to remind myself of it, but Laura and I literally knew nothing. And that's scary and daunting in some ways, but it. It's also great in others because you can challenge every single orthodoxy that exists. So she's like, why do we do it this way? I think where it started was I was just interested in the implications of the problem and to talk to your daughter's experience. The reason why we have this inequality in sport is about much more than footwear. It's about these barriers that we put in place. And so as a guy, it becomes. Wait, so if women have to deal with that, with something as simple as boots, what does that mean about all the other structural, systemic things going on? So where we started was I just remember going on LinkedIn and just messaging anybody with footwear in their job description and just being like, can I buy you a coffee? I want to ask you everything about what you know. And we were super lucky with, you know, some of the people that got back to us with lots of experience that found the problem we were exploring really interesting and wanted to help. So that's how I approached it in the beginning.
Laura Youngson: Then we made a shoe in the kitchen. So, yeah, we properly went all shoe dog on it and just found some tpu, which is what you make outsoles from. Made a mould from our current shoes, made our first prototype, got it stitched together by a guy that makes boots in downtown Melbourne, and, yeah, took it for a test run, and that was enough to kind of kick start us and get us going to go, no, there's a market for this.
[Voiceover]: And when you put that boot on that you designed and prototyped, did you know straight away that there was a difference here?
Laura Youngson: Maybe. But, I mean, to be honest, we refer to it as the Franken shoe now. So there was probably a little bit of work to do. It was a very. It was a really great accomplishment to actually have a shoe and have a physical thing and know what goes into making shoes. But I would say there were some improvements to be made. So the next step up was really getting like, then you go down the wormhole and we got our last made and outsole 3D printed and kind of. That was a step up, but even that looks really terrible now. So it's one of those things that you just keep improving and iterating and then eventually you make an actual shoe.
Ben Sandu: I think There was enough there that even when they. When they put it on. So the Franken shoe, basically, to use a technical term, exploded within, like, two weeks. Right. But putting it on a whole bunch of athletes, it's amazing how much you learn from that process and the fact that they could put it on and couldn't necessarily play a whole game in it, but they could feel what the difference could be like. And it gave us enough encouragement to go, okay, well, let's make something that's a step up from that. And then when those arrived and we tested those, we stepped up from there. And it's been a truly kind of iterative process.
[Voiceover]: So how long was it from Franken shoe to getting the first shoe on the shelves that you'd be confident selling to customers?
Laura Youngson: A year? No. A year and a half. Two years. Yeah.
Ben Sandu: There's something. Sometimes there's some poetry in the universe, I feel like. So the story I always like to tell is it was exactly two years. January of 2018 was the first time Laura and I had a coffee. And two years to the day from that first coffee, I was on a factory floor looking at our first production run. And so the Frankenstein sat in between those two things by about six weeks from the first coffee. So in industry terms, that's really quick. You know, it's. It certainly we put a lot of time and effort into things, but it's a pretty quick turnaround from no to
[Voiceover]: go and to get that manufactured then at scale, was that hard to find people who would manufacture with you?
Laura Youngson: Yeah, so kind of the biggest challenge on that one was convincing people that you needed a women's shoe so people know how to make football boots. That's great. That's awesome. But actually, that added layer of complexity of us saying, we'll know that the whole reason we want to redesign the outsole and redesign the patterns is because. Because we want to fit them for women. And so that kind of was quite a big step to talk with the factories and really convince them that there's a market for this and that also we want to do something different. And there is an associated cost with making something from scratch. So really getting their understanding of what we were trying to do and selling that dream before we'd. Even before we'd even got. She was really. Yeah, that was quite a tricky part. And we worked with a few factories that definitely turned us down for being idiots. But we. Yeah, we. Over time, we've started to be able to access more people who really understand what we're doing. And I Mean, obviously having like player in the Grand Final, we've got players in lots of clubs now training and playing in them and so it's a lot easier now to go back to them. And especially as we're saying, well, now we want to do this, and they're like, oh, yeah, we totally get that. That's awesome. So it's been a real turnaround actually, in the last 12 months being answ. Show what we've done and then show where we want to go.
Ben Sandu: I remember Laura. So you, in the early days, I think you did. Was it like a 28 kilometer day indoors at a trade fair, like looking for our first manufacturer.
Laura Youngson: Genuinely walked a marathon. And I think I met probably about, I don't know, just like hundreds of suppliers and from that whistled it down and whittled it down and interestingly, like some of them we go back to and kind of check in on and yeah, it's. That's mad. It blew my mind actually going through these hauls and just seeing all the things that the world is buying.
[Voiceover]: So many options. Isn't there? If we talk about products you mentioned, Ben, that you've sold out of your first. Is it your first range that you've sold out of?
Ben Sandu: Yeah. So we've got like literally just a handful of sizes left in our first run, which is, given everything that the world's been through the last year, a bit of a minor miracle that we come into this year in a position not just surviving, but we can actually, like, we're thriving and we've got an expansion in the range coming up. So we're in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign. We've launched an indoor shoe and we're already, I think just check before I jumped on this call, like 125% funded with about three weeks to go, which is so good. Cool. Because we did run a failed crowdfunder around about 18 months ago there and we swore we'd never do it again, so we thought we'd give it another go.
[Voiceover]: What made you do it again?
Ben Sandu: Just we realized the problem the first time. I remember the day that it failed. Sitting in a pub, looking sadly into the bottom of a pint glass, wondering if it's. When I snapped out of it pretty quickly, it was. The main thing was players were telling us, love the idea, love what you're doing, you should absolutely keep going, but before I give you my hard earned cash, I need to try this thing on. And so we got in a position to actually allow more athletes to do that. We've since sold product and now it's more like, well, I've heard such good things. There's a lot more proof now we've got professional players in them, so it's a much better. It's a very different climate to what we were in, say, 18 months ago.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, makes sense. So what's range version two look like?
Laura Youngson: Oh, it's been really exciting, actually. We've been prototyping again and kind of improving some of the materiality and we had a lot of customers actually asking us for slightly lower price point boot, so something a bit more entry level, so making a synthetic boot. I think we've got a sock boot in the works as well, which is cool. So a lot of people are asking for that, but we're really kind of customer driven, so we've just. We kind of try and respond to the inquiries and go, you know what, actually, then we can do this and let's improve this and keep going.
[Voiceover]: Awesome. One question I had right at the start that I didn't ask was, where does the name Ida come from?
Ben Sandu: I always feel like there's kind of two versions to this story. It's kind of like one of those names that you select and then it just becomes the perfect name. So for me, I was riding home on my bike in Melbourne trying to think of what's the name, what's going to be the name for this thing? And I used to work for a company in London that had a name that was really difficult to pronounce. And, you know, I was like, it just needs to be simple. And I just thought about Ida B Wells, who's the kind of civil rights pioneer and suffragette. I thought Ida. Like, it's a simple name but it's memorable. And then as we've gone along, it's just become such a perfect name. I think, like, Ida means the way in Portuguese and Spanish. I think the one that really tipped us over the edge was looking up, if you look up what Aida actually means, it's a Germanic name which means hard work or hard working. And I was like, that is what our athletes are like in a nutshell. This is perfect.
[Voiceover]: Brilliant. Don't you love it when things come. Come out like that? And you can get the URL.
Laura Youngson: And you can get the URL.
Ben Sandu: Yeah, yeah. It's a big. It's a big one. Except we don't have ida.com. i think that's wrapped up by a Korean hair salon, I believe. So. Can't get ida.com but idasports co we could get pretty early and we'll keep growing one day.
[Voiceover]: Keep growing. You might have a hair salon as well. Now you mentioned a lot of your growth has come off the back of your partnerships and your athletes. We mentioned Bell there from the Brisbane Lions who's proudly wearing your boots. How do you establish those partnerships with those athletes early on?
Ben Sandu: So I think that this is. Yeah, I was like, I'll take this one, Laura. So I just. Basically, because I was a bit of a pest through Instagram, one of the upsides or the opportunities throughout the pandemic was, you know, normally when players would be in the middle of a season and players generally don't want to change boots in the middle of the season, that makes sense. With a shutdown, all of a sudden all these players have time on their hands and they're not training with their mates, so they just sat at home looking for stuff to do. We just got in touch with as many of them at that level as possible and said, hey, maybe now's a good time if you want to try something that's designed for you. And it all just kind of snowballed from there, really. I think it really validated the fact that stumbling into a real problem was the amount of take up that we had for people willing to give us a go. It really helped.
[Voiceover]: And what's the typical reaction you get when you get a response back from an athlete?
Ben Sandu: There's a few different camps. It's interesting too. Yeah. Some players are like, my boots are fine, buzz off, that's okay. You're always gonna get that. Interestingly enough, we've had a few players like that in the beginning that then see teammates wearing them and then come back and say, oh, actually there might be something to this.
[Voiceover]: My Instagram got hacked. That was someone else that said that
Ben Sandu: most, most of the time though, it was, yeah, just. That's really interesting. Some players are like, I do have pain when I. When I wear boots, I'm going to give this a go. Or other players are like, I've never found a boot that fits. Thank you for contacting me. When can I get them? You know, that's generally the three kind of reactions, probably in the reverse order of what I mentioned, actually. Yeah, yeah, it's a. Yes, most people are. One of the great things about working women's sport too is all the athletes are such great, well rounded, wonderful people. You rarely ever, if ever get a negative reaction.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. And how does it normally work? Does it normally work that if someone shows interest that you'll send them a pair of boots for free if they're kind of high profile, if they're that elite female athlete level to try on and have a go.
Ben Sandu: Yeah. Particularly at an AFLW or W league level, we're pretty open. If you're not happy with your boots, I won't say that this walked into a. If you're contracted or not contracted, then I was like, hold on, I can't say that. But if.
[Voiceover]: Break your contracts.
Ben Sandu: No, no, definitely don't break your contracts.
Laura Youngson: Keep your contracts. But do try the shoes.
Ben Sandu: But do try them. We have had players under contract try them and give us pretty good feedback. But I won't say who because then that would. Getting into do do. But yeah, if you're playing at that level. Fundamentally we believe that players at that level, they shouldn't have to pay for their boots. They're professionals. So at a minimum, we're still a small company where we're fairly new to the scene, but we can supply product and kind of scarily, despite the fact that we're up against sort of billion dollar companies. That's generally the deal if that. That the current professional crop of players are getting. So that's something that we're really keen to change, is to improve those conditions as we move forward.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. And from what I've seen, your athletes are just your biggest advocates. Like, they will sing this from the rooftops. Do you have to give them much content or do you just let them go nuts with their, you know, whatever their experience is?
Laura Youngson: So far. Yeah, we really haven't kind of pressured people to wear because one of the weird quotes, the boot contract thing, is that you get a free pair of boots and then you have to really love them. And we never wanted that to be for our athletes is that you have the choice. Like we're all about choice. If it works for you, please wear it. If it doesn't, please don't. You know, and so everything that you've seen so far, it's kind of the athletes just jumping in on our behalf. We've seen actually some of our supporters jump in on threads where there's like dissing some of the other brands and things like that. And we're like, we didn't tell them to say this, it's not us. But it's so lovely to see that. And I think for me, that seeing some of the testimonials from people that have tried the boots and worn them and it's really worked for them and they've had perhaps chronic pain or they've had serious blisters or just it's really not been a great playing experience and they've now flipped that around. That's super cool.
Ben Sandu: And if I may speak as a bearded man, there's a healthy level of skepticism. Any club I would walk into, there's this sense of, well, who's this bearded guy trying to tell us, like, what's right for us and our bodies? And that's a perfectly legitimate response. And so I think, you know, it's crucial to our business success that this is driven by the players themselves. And that, yeah, it's been so pleasing to see how version one has been reacted to. And it really inspires us to keep going and improve and do it better. And as Laura said at the beginning, you know, really be driven by our customers. It kind of helps that I can't actually wear the shoes because I have to rely completely on what the athletes are telling me.
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Laura Youngson: It's mad. It's so great. And I think one of the things we love about it is the timing is so right. And especially those two brands that you just mentioned, they're really ideologically, they get it that they have underserved women before and they really need to improve their offering. And so it's been so nice to work with them and kind of, it's not only about kind of the retail contract, it's about the messaging they're giving out and what they're talking about and how they, their willingness to work with a small brand, their ability to kind of showcase us and that kind of thing. But it's really, it's given us the confidence to keep going and kind of keep producing things, knowing that again, there's this market in America where it's probably one of the biggest women's soccer markets in the world. So, yeah, it's been awesome.
Ben Sandu: It just shows you with these big brands too, you know, they've been around for a long time and, you know, so it's. It's obviously very encouraging for us as a new company that we're entering this new space. But it's also, I think, a really good example for those companies to set to other companies in the industry that, you know, you can embrace something new and you can really accept that, you know, perhaps we haven't treated our female athletes well as an industry and let's really seek to be forward thinking in doing the right thing, moving forward. And you know, I think the Dick sporting goods and soccer.com, they're both fantastic retail partners. They've treated us really well. They were super excited when they got on the phone and, you know, to work with somebody like us, that's so new, it was a risk for them and it's nice to see it kind of paying off.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Dick's just do amazing stuff. I was lucky enough to go visit a couple of stores when, when I was over there before COVID and it's just phenomenal, like what they've got set up around golf courses inside the stores and baseball nets. And it's really cool in terms of that customer though. So I'm assuming that if you're in a Dick's, for example, you are placed in the female shoes section. Am I right? Do you have to kind of do anything differently to educate a customer who just comes off the street to make them realize that these are actually different boots designed for women?
Ben Sandu: Yeah. So we're, you know, the initial partnership with Dick Sporting Goods. We're listed through their E Commerce. So I've got a really good, strong E Commerce set up. To be honest. You know, at the moment, that's hardly a hindrance in the current circumstance, like most people are ordering stuff online, but in terms of educating the market, yeah, it's. It can be a challenge, you know, because for a lot of players, they might have heard this before. You know what really is different? You know, how do you go into the anatomical differences between men's and women's feet without boring people to death? It's just about really trying to hit on what, you know, the wonderful thing about having worked with hundreds of athletes now is you can usually boil down things down to a handful of problems. And so we've just spent, you know, the last couple of years trying to really figure out how to nail that messaging as succinctly as possible. But it's definitely a process, an ongoing process, but it's a challenge. You're welcome, you know, because ultimately, whether you're in our boots or competitors, the main thing you want to see is, as Laura said, it's about removing the barrier. We want to make sure every woman who's playing sport, whether it's for the first time or at a professional level, feels comfortable in what they're wearing and they deserve it.
[Voiceover]: And, Laura, you mentioned before about getting frustrated in unisex clothing and that, like, shoes are just the start of this movement. What other changes would you like to see in the industry, whether it is apparel or whether it is broader than that, to encourage greater participation in sport for women?
Laura Youngson: I think one of the biggest movements we're actually seeing is more of a movement towards inclusivity. So can you see yourself in sport? And that for me, like, the way terminology is changing as well, especially around. So, for example, football shirts. And now instead of being men's and women's, it's kind of loose fit and tight fit, for example. And that perhaps is more descriptive of the product that you're going to get, because everyone comes in different body shapes and sizes and that, I mean, that is the beauty of sport, that literally everyone can play something. And so I think what we're seeing more of is a trend towards clothing and footwear that you have this choice, it's not just your sample is made from off the standard male body. You're actually looking at the range of body types that are out there and providing something for everyone. So I think, yeah, as opposed to a very gendered thing, we're looking. We approach it from choice. So is there something that's going to work for you? So go out and choose that and as a customer, demand more and expect more from the brands, because I don't think they'll change unless you provoke them.
Ben Sandu: I think, too, that's probably a good time to mention as well. When we look at our first generation of products, it fits like quite a lot of women in Australia and the us but our work isn't finished there. You know, you look at, you know, across the Tasman, you know, for like a Mori female rugby player, our boots might not be quite the right fit. And there's. There's so much that can be done. You look at populations in Asia that might have smaller feet again and slightly. And these differences that occur around the world, ultimately, as Laura said, it's about choice, and we want to play as big a part as we can in that choice for women as we can. So that's why it's been so important for us along the way. We encourage as many women to try our boots as possible. That's fantastic. But even if it's not right for you, we really want to understand why so we can, as a company, get better, come back with a range of products that can suit more people. That's really the goal.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. Nice. And is there any particular customer story that stuck with you? Like, since you've had your boots out in the world and you've had your initial vision and you've realized the problem, is there any customer story that stuck with you and gone, oh, that's why we're doing this?
Ben Sandu: Yeah, there's one that immediately jumps to mind. So there was a Richmond AFLW player that bought a pair of boots without my knowledge, and I didn't realize that she bought them. And about two or three months in, I got an email from her saying, hey, we talked a couple of years ago. I ended up buying a pair of your boots. And I've had the most productive pre season that I've had. I've been injury free for the longest period of time that I can remember. And I'm absolutely convinced that it's your boots that, that are why. And I just remember being so struck by that and so deeply encouraged by that that, like, you know, it's. It's not easy being a startup company trying to take on these, you know, billion dollar behemoths. But when you get a message like that, you go, okay, this was version one. This is with the deck truly stacked against us. It's going to get easier from here. And I just, you know, sent her as lovely a note back as I could. Just thank you for.
[Voiceover]: That's incredible.
Ben Sandu: Super humbling.
[Voiceover]: Are you gonna take the boots up Kilimanjaro, Laura?
Laura Youngson: Well, no, because we've already done that. We're gonna take them somewhere else.
[Voiceover]: Nice.
Ben Sandu: I like it. I like it.
[Voiceover]: Yeah.
Laura Youngson: There's more mountains to climb. Don't worry.
[Voiceover]: That's true.
Laura Youngson: Yeah. I'm also looking at me like a super cold game, so we're gonna have to make ice shoes or something. Like, now we've got the knowledge, we've got the power. We can do anything.
[Voiceover]: Love it. So talking mountains to climb, what's next for you guys? What's on the radar for yourselves and ITA Sports?
Laura Youngson: Well, I think so. Obviously not expecting a pandemic that was kind of new for everyone. I think our big plan was to keep growing our exports in America. And so that's our big focus at the moment, is continuing to grow the export market. We're making new products with engaged in research with universities to really kind of put some data into the gap where there is no. No female data. We are so excited about the World cup in Australia and New Zealand. Oh, my goodness. Wow. It's going to be epic. And so it's going to be amazing. So I think for us as a company to just keep growing and keep getting that feedback and more product lines, more excitement, more opportunities. So, yeah, and to play some real sports, sport in real life, that would be awesome. We are a company built upon the mantra that if there's a sporting clash with one of your company meetings, you should definitely play sport. So there's not been enough this past year.
[Voiceover]: Fantastic. Thank you, guys. I love your story. Love, love, love what you're doing. And I've got a feeling that this is just the germ of the idea that's exploding out and I can't wait to see the impact that it has beyond just footwear. So what is the best way? So if you've heard this and you go, oh, great, I got to get myself some of those boots, or I've got to speak to Laura and Ben, because I've got something that can help their business. What's the best way to get in
Ben Sandu: touch in terms of Laura and myself individually, we're pretty active on LinkedIn, so you can just find me if you search Ben Sandu my name. There's not too many of us around and Laura's under Laura Youngson. Go to our website, Vitasports.co. there's a handful of sizes left. We've created a discount code specifically for this podcast for the listeners. So if you put in the discount code, add to cart, you can get 10% off.
[Voiceover]: Thank you, guys.
Ben Sandu: No worries. The other thing is, if you head to our website, you'll get a link directing you to the crowdfunding campaign for our futsal shoe, which is launching very soon.
[Voiceover]: Brilliant. So that campaign, I think, has three more weeks to run as we're recording. So by the time we're out, there may only be a week left. So if you're hearing this and you're keen and you're a futsal player and you want to get on the crowdfunding, now's the time to do it. Get in straight away, guys. Thank you so much. Incredible. Love it. And keen to hear more. We'll keep an eye out for you.
Laura Youngson: Thanks Nathan.
Ben Sandu: Thanks so much for having us.
[Voiceover]: How good was that? It wasn't a problem that I was really aware of until Laura and Ben said it to me. And then you went, oh my God, of course it's obvious. And we didn't speak specifically specifically about mission, but I don't think we had to. While we were initially interested in the ITA sports story because they designed a football boot specifically for female feet. Yeah, as you heard from Laura and Ben, everything they're doing is to encourage inclusivity in sport. It's not just about the football boots. The football boots are just the start. Now if you want to hear more and you want to go back to where it all started, we've added Laura's TEDx talk in the show notes and she shares the Mount Kilimanjaro mission, which is what really inspired the EIDER sports to become a reality. And It's a fascinating 10 minute watch. You should go see it. You can really see where all the passion for IDA sports has come from and how ITA sports will turn from football boots into something much bigger for inclusivity in sport. And we can't wait to see how it grows. To finish up, I have three resources for you. Firstly, if you're a first time listener of Add to Cart and you want to stay up to date with new episodes, head over to addtocart.com and you can sign up for our weekly newsletter. We'll let you know every time a new episode drops as well as giving you my three takeaways from each episode and a link to the transcripts so you can know that this is an episode that you want to dive into straight into. Secondly, if you want a weekly roundup of the best e commerce case studies, tools and research, sign up to the High Five Friday newsletter which is delivered to inboxes at 8am every Friday morning. I read all the e commerce news and send you the bits that I think you can take action from. Sign up at 12high12hrgh.com au and the last thing if you are looking to explore your next e commerce opportunity, head over to esweettalent.com we are a dedicated e commerce talent agency connecting the best e commerce talent with the fastest growing brands. Check it out, Sign up to the email and get in touch with me if you want to discuss your next move. Until next time. Thanks for watching, listening and keep those customers adding to cartoon.
