Brigitte Foisy, president of The PR Department, is stepping into the world of luxury men’s footwear.
The self-described serial entrepreneur and shoe fanatic, along with her business partner, Milton Fonseca, have launched The Milton Shoe Company. Fonseca’s family runs a luxury shoe workshop in Portugal, where artisans use Goodyear welting, a high-end manufacturing process.
“He’s an engineer by trade, and has more of an engineering, manufacturing and sales background, and I’m all marketing, so we decided to get together and merge our skills,” said Foisy, who’s also launched a number of footwear brands in Canada throughout her PR career, including Geox.
Each Milton shoe is named after an entrepreneur, business leader or trailblazer who inspires the co-founders. The men behind the inaugural collection are Joseph Ng, CEO of Umoro Inc.; chef and food journalist Mike Ward; Roger Gingerich, fashion broker at The Gingerich Group; and Christian Foisy, chief energizing officer of Consilium Insurance Group (and Brigitte’s brother).
The business mantra that guide’s each man’s career is printed on the inside of their eponymous shoe. For example, Ng’s is “Pursue the impossible, because all of mankind’s greatest achievements were once thought to be impossible until someone did it.” The Milton Shoe Company’s mantra, “focus on greatness,” is also inscribed on the soles, which are green.
With a target demographic of entrepreneurs and go-getters, the co-founders wanted the shoes to have a motivational aspect to them. “As entrepreneurs, when you step out in the morning, sometimes you need that kick in the butt. You need that saying that will drive you to say, ‘okay I can do this,’” said Foisey.
The Milton Shoe Company is launching with a pre-sales campaign on its e-commerce site, www.milton.shoes until July 31. Each style (up to 250 pairs) is being sold for $350, a 30-40% discount.
The sale will fund production for the company’s retail launch for fall/winter 2017. Because the shoes are sold at a discount, The Milton Shoe Company is asking each customer to provide feedback about the brand, allowing the company to make any tweaks before the shoes hit stores.
Foisy said the company has a hit list of five retailers in North America, including small and large retailers. “We want to be at the right place and not necessarily be plastered all over right now,” she said. “We want a good fit and we want to make sure those relationships are long term.”
Foisy said customers will become part of a “club,” which will offer discounts and services such as at-home fittings. They’ll also receive information about opportunities for networking and giving back to the community.
“We want to partner with organizations we admire, where entrepreneurs are giving their time to help people who are starting in business,” said Foisy.
