One thing I'd think would be amazing that is not offered ( although I don't know the logistics of how much it would make your life suck ) would be offering an option on the insole.
Hear me out...
I like a lot of the emerica/es shoes but their insoles blow and having to buy new insoles for a new shoe is ridiculous.
It would be rad if a company offered the same shoe with upgrade insole options. Maybe just two one for flatter feet and one with an arch support to start and then add a $5-10 upgrade fee. I would have kept buying es but when I can get a pair of adidas off the shelf that I don't have to do anything to that feel amazing, I'm not gonna buy the shoe just because it may be a few bucks cheaper and skater owned.
Being old, comfort and support are my top concerns. If you can figure that out I'll buy at least a couple pair to support the cause.
And fwiw I really appreciate you listening and taking the criticism ( good and bad ) and actually thinking about it
Good idea, been talking about it for years, but it's definitely a logistic nightmare. Nike ID used to get away with it since they did those custom builds and they had a longer wait time, but it definitely puts a company in a weird spot. Let's say I make 1000 pairs of a certain shoe, and it can come with insole A or insole B. Do I order 500 pairs or each? What if everyone likes insole A, and the 500 sell out? What do I do with insole B? You get stuck sitting on 500 of those things and then if people don't want the shoe you got 500 shoes sitting. I think the way it could work would be sort of combining a shoe company model with an aftermarket insole model. Like, Shoe with insole A costs 65 bucks but you can buy insole B which works with the shoe for an extra $10 or whatever like you said. Back when we did the Boston 2 (fuck it, autocorrect three times, it can be the Rick Boston model for all I care) we talked about offering a separate insole, but it gets expensive fast. I think one of the Kobes came with multiple insoles, but again, pricey.
My goal here is to make a good insole from the jump, and don't waste money in the shoe on dumb shit like technology you don't need or whatever, so hopefully that will cover you.
And no problem, I've been doing this for a long fucking time, so you get a thick skin and learn how to listen (and when not to.)