Local Ecommerce: Gentleman's Shoes

Cobbler Union is a luxury shoe provider for the common man. With a firm belief that a pair of well-made shoes have the "power of transforming a man", Cobbler Union was created in an effort to allow such a transformation to take place. And at affordable prices, to boot.

Owners:
Daniel Porcelli, Santiago Pereiro, and a small group of investors.

Location:
I moved to Atlanta from Argentina in 2001 to attend Emory's Goizueta Business School. Upon graduation, my wife and I decided that Atlanta would be the place to start a family. I love being in a city that's big enough for business yet small enough to enjoy a fantastic quality of life.

Employees:
Three full-time.

Founded:
2014

Funded or bootstrapped:
Both, funded and bootstrapped!

Price of Services(S):
Our shoes start at $395.

What Customers Get:
Customers get bespoke-inspired handcrafted luxury shoes at an exceptional and affordable price.

How'd You Get The Idea For It:
After spending two years immersed in the luxury sector seeing demand grow, prices rise and quality deteriorate, we saw a unique opportunity to introduce a more honest value proposition to luxury consumers. We thought the product, not fancy marketing, should reclaim the center stage. Also, we believed that there was great social and economic value in taking an active role in the preservation and promotion of genuine high-end craftsmanship - a rapidly depleting and very scarce resource.

Collaboration Tools & Processes Do You Use:
Pretty much everything that Google provides for free.

Where do you gain your insights from and how do you stay on top of emerging trends?
Newspapers, magazines, blogs.

What's Unique About Your Company Culture:
We pursue excellence. We are pragmatic. We value autonomy and empowerment. We play to win.

What You Need Most Right Now:
We just launched, so the one thing we need is exposure.

[Photo Credit: cobblerunion.com]