Q&A w/ Harmony Pilobello: Lessons Running Her Shoe Business, Alterre
Tags: Women In Business, Footwear For Women, Shoes For Women, Women In Tech, Entrepreneurship

Can you describe what led to you starting a shoe business?

I graduated from Parsons in 2012 with a BFA in Fashion Design and a focus on sustainable design practices.

My career led me into trend forecasting and analysis for various companies while I built Alterre with Shilpa.

After two years of beta testing, we launched our first collection in 2015.

Two years after that I took the plunge and went full-time.

It’s been growing ever since!

What is your tool stack for running your footwear business?

We currently use Shopify to run all of our ecommerce.

How much does it cost to start a shoe business?

It really depends on what type of shoe being created.

I would say a small shoe string budget (pun intended) could be as low as 10k for a full size run in a few colorways.

This is assuming the person creating it will need to make a website, DIY photoshoots, and influencer marketing.

This is also assuming they can work from home and do the majority of the startup on their own.

A comfortable startup cost for a small collection, showroom, and part time help would be around $300K.

Walk me through your design and prototyping process and how you find inspiration.

A lot of our designs are based on an accumulation trend research, understanding our demographic, and filling in gaps for our existing product line.

In terms of inspiration it really varies.

We’re both creative people so the trends tend to organically inspire our theme for the next season.

We generally start researching two years in advance, prototype 1.5 years ahead, then go into production around 6 months in advance.

Tell me more about how you plan upcoming seasons/collections/releases.

We try to work backwards from the date we know we want to launch something to turnaround times of different materials.

So for example, if a material is being sent from Portugal, we will place the order for the materials to be sent with more time than if we ordered materials near our factory.

We also try to drop new items when we know more people are shopping online (i.e. around holidays)

How would you describe what makes Alterre special to a desired customer?

Our shoes are versatile and can be renewed with new straps as often as they like.

Overall, our products take up less space, are seasonless with the ability to renew straps, and extremely comfortable as heels.

It really appeals to those with limited closet space, women on the go, and the eco-conscious.

Talk to me how Alterre has responded and adapted to COVID-19.

I truly believe that every obstacle has a silver lining.

When COVID-19 hit New York City, our sales plummeted while people transitioned to working from home.

We used that opportunity to streamline various aspects of our business and make sure we were stronger positioned for things reopening.

That included engaging more with our community, improving our marketing funnel, and restructuring for an even more sustainable future.

What advice would you give to a first time footwear entrepreneur? What advice should they ignore?

Outsource menial tasks. There’s no such thing as over-communicating and never expect things to go perfectly. This is a marathon not a sprint.

How can I learn more about Alterre?

Sign up for our newsletter! We always post updates and share information through it. You can also follow us on Instagram or Facebook

What are big announcements that you want anyone interested in Alterre to know?

We have some really cool Vegan materials coming out soon.

We hadn’t made anything Vegan until now because neither of us want to promote the use of petroleum or plastic.

We also needed to know we could make something of the same quality as our existing shoes.

The new materials are soft, breathable, and last longer than several pleather options I’ve seen.

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