One Day, One Job » shoes

BeachMint

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:37:43 +0000

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Back in June we told you about Birchbox, a company that offers a subscription to customized beauty product samples for $10 a month. It’s an interesting model, and it seems to be working out extremely well for them. BeachMint is a “social commerce” startup with a similar subscription model, but a very different approach. They’re a Santa Monica, CA based company with four brands: JewelMint.com, BeautyMint.com, StyleMint.com, and ShoeMint.com. I think you can guess what each offers a subscription to. When you sign up they give you a quiz to get a sense of what you like and what you don’t like, and then they start making new recommendations for you every month. It’s a little weird in that it’s structured like a subscription, but you don’t have to buy every month (but it sounds like it’s more of a monthly opt-out than opt-in). I kind of wish they stayed true to their name and would send me to a different beach every month.

Making a Mint

BeachMint is still a very young company, but they’ve raised a ton of money (nearly $40 million) and had some great early successes (apparently BeautyMint got 500,000 visitors in its first day). A big part of BeachMint’s strategy and a likely reason for their rapid growth is that they’ve aligned with some big name celebrities like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Jessica Simpson, Rachel Bilson, and Kate Bosworth. I’m sure they had to spend a lot of their funding on getting those names to sign, but it seems to be paying off with huge growth now. I’ll admit that I find BeachMint’s model a little confusing, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping people from signing up.

If you’re intrigued by what BeachMint is doing, then you should take a look at their Jobs page. There are a ton of jobs posted though most of them are either tech (Web/Software/Mobile Development) or Mint Brand Ambassador Manager / Independent Sales and Promotions Coordinator positions. The latter are available all across the country, and seem to be heavily commission based. The job best suited for our readership is probably the Merchandising / Design Assistant, which unfortunately is only part-time right now. Additionally, there’s the option to apply for future opportunities, and I also found a Customer Care Associate position and an Executive Assistant/Office Manager position on Startuply. I also found a Content Department Coordinator posting from a couple of months ago. It seems that BeachMint might be a bit disjointed in posting jobs, so don’t be afraid to apply for future opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried any of BeachMint’s offerings?

New Balance

Willy Franzen — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:39:50 +0000

I’m not big on shoes during the summer. I try to wear flip flops as much as I can, and most of the exercise that I get is from beach volleyball where wearing shoes looks about as dorky as you can get. When I do go to the gym, I typically wear my Vibram Five Fingers (which you may also consider dorky looking). So I have no idea why New Balance popped into my head–I don’t even own a pair of New Balance shoes. In case you don’t know, New Balance is a Boston, MA based company that “began as an arch support company in the early 1900′s, developed into a specialized shoe manufacturer in the 1970′s, and has grown to become a leading global athletic products company.” They also own some other brands that you may be familiar with including Aravon, Brine, Dunham, PF Flyers, and Warrior.

Work Life Balance

I don’t know when New Balance got so big, but their “worldwide sales have increased from $210 million in 1991 to $1.64 billion in 2008.” That sounds like a long period of sustained growth. What’s also cool is that they have 5 New England factories, which makes them the “only athletic shoe manufacturer still making shoes in the US.” It’s only 25% of their shoes, but it’s still impressive. It’s pretty cool to see a business like New Balance that has been around for over a century, yet continues to find new ways to grow in a principled way. If you think the New Balance shoe would fit, then check out their Careers page. While most of the jobs that they have posted are in Retail, there are a few positions that seem like good fits for new grads who want to work at corporate. These include CAD Designer, Product Data Specialist – SRT & Merchandising, Trim Coordinator (New York, NY), and Product Developer – DryDock Footwear.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you wear New Balances?

Converse

Willy Franzen — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:49:55 +0000

It’s been a long time since an airline has actually lost my bag never to be seen again. I think that I was about 6. Unfortunately it was the most awesome bag ever. It wasn’t very large and probably would have been carried on if it didn’t include one of my toy guns. It also had a bag of shark teeth that I collected from the beach, some clothes, various other toys, and a pair of Batman logo emblazoned Chuck Taylors. It was a devastating loss, and I’m still not quite over it. Now it’s been a long time since I’ve worn Converse shoes, but they certainly seem to be making a resurgence (or maybe they’re just always popular but in different subcultures). We’re lucky we still have North Andover, MA based Converse, because it seemed like they might go out of business until Nike swooshed in and bought them in 2003. If that hadn’t happened, I bet the market for second-hand pairs of Chucks would be insane—and then I’d really be missing those Batman All-Stars (even if they were a Size 1 or whatever).

Be an All-Star

I’ll bet that a big part of the reason that Converse struggled in the past was that the demand for their shoes seems to ebb and flow with our country’s cultural shifts. Converse shoes have been popular to basketball players, punk rockers, rappers, hipsters, greasers, and many other groups at varying times. That has to be really hard to plan for. I’d imagine that the influence of Nike has helped Converse run much more smoothly as a business. If anyone knows shoes, it’s Nike. Now that Converse seems to be back on the right track, you might want to check out their jobs. They don’t appear to have any clear cut entry level jobs posted, but of the 40 openings that they have right now, quite a few seem as though they could be suitable for new/recent grads. Unfortunately their applicant tracking system doesn’t let us link directly to the postings, but you’ll want to watch out for job titles like: Photographer, Footwear Designer, Retail Corporate Financial Analyst, Demand Planning Analyst, Accounts Payable Coordinator, Associate Menswear Designer – Knits (NYC), Assistant Womenswear Designer – Wovens (NYC), Assistant Designer – Womens RTW Apparel (NYC), and Accessories Designer (NYC). You can apply online, and if you land the job, I’m sure that you’ll never have to worry about buying shoes again.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do wear Converse All-Stars?

Vans

Willy Franzen — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:40:08 +0000

Yeserday we talked about jobs at Vann’s, which made me think that we should talk about with jobs at Vans today. The two companies don’t have much in common beyond being homophones of each other, so let’s start talking about shoes. Cypress, CA based Vans was founded in 1966 as the Van Doren Rubber Company. They started out by producing shoes for sports like baseball, basketball, and wrestling, but that didn’t end up working out too well for them; in fact, it led to bankruptcy. They eventually came out of bankruptcy, and then Sean Penn’s character wore a pair of Vans checkerboard slip-ons in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. That changed everything.

Jobs with Sole

Since then Vans has really embraced the skater culture that first embraced them. It’s pretty much become an essential part of their brand. They don’t offer a ton of information about their company (there isn’t even an about page), but I do know that they are part of a larger company called VF Corporation. Since there’s no quick and easy way to “get to know” Vans, you’ll have to do some browsing around their website to get a better feel for what they’re all about. You might also want to check out their LinkedIn Company Profile. Once you feel like you have a good idea of what Vans is all about, you can check out their Jobs page. They give you the option of checking out jobs at Corporate, Retail, or their Distribution Center. For our purposes we’re going to focus on Corporate, where they have a Corporate Trainee Program. It is “a one-year cross-functional developmental program for a recent college graduate with a business or art degree who seeks a broad experience in key areas of Vans.” It sounds awesome, and you can apply online. It seems like nearly any career path at Vans should start with this program.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you wear Vans?

Deckers Outdoor Corporation

Willy Franzen — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:55:06 +0000

At some point during my Junior year in college (by the way I’m back at Cornell for the weekend), I got the bright idea that I could wear slippers as shoes. These weren’t flimsy slippers, these were sturdy leather ones with shearling lining. They were made by Orvis (where I interned and had an awesome 50% employee discount), and they were great. I loved sitting in class knowing that my feet were more comfortable than everybody else’s. Then I came back from Thanksgiving break. I was admiring the Christmas lights that my roommates had adorned our otherwise aesthetically unpleasing house with, and I slipped. See, my slippers had flat rubber soles. My feet came out from under me as I fell down a muddy slope. My right hand came down hard on the sidewalk, and I had a broken wrist. I gave up wearing slippers for a while, but when my Mom bought me a pair of UGG slippers with proper soles, I reverted. Now UGG slippers are my go to shoes during the winter, and I’m a huge fan of Deckers Outdoor Corporation. They’re the company behind UGG, Simple, Teva (is it Tee-va or Tevv-a?), Tsubo, and Deckers, and they’re headquartered in Goleta, CA with a location in Flagstaff, AZ as well.

Hit the Deckers

I had no idea until today that Outside Magazine has a Best Places to Work list. Now I know about it, and I know that Deckers Outdoor Corporation is on the list (ranked 7th). While Deckers’ Careers page doesn’t say much more than generic stuff like “We are looking for energetic, hard working, success oriented individuals to join our dynamic team” and “All candidates must be team players, have high energy, good organization and excellent communication skills,” it’s pretty obvious that Deckers has a unique employment brand that is well aligned with their product brands. If Deckers sounds like the kind of place that you’d want to work, you should check out their current job openings. Their job descriptions don’t have a ton of detail, so it’s hard to tell which jobs are best suited for new and recent college grads. My guess is that your best bet is to take a look at the following positions: Administrative Assistant – UGG, Collections Analyst, Product Coordinator – UGG, and Programmer at their Goleta, CA headquarters and Search Engine (SEO/SEM) Marketing Coordinator and Web Developer at their Flagstaff, AZ location. You can apply for any of these jobs by sending a cover letter and résumé to hr@deckers.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you wear UGGs?