Editor’s note: Feelgoodz, with the help of singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, is building a flip-flop brand with products sold around the world. ExitEvent’s Laura Baverman reports in this latest post from the WRAL TechWire-ExitEvent partnership.
RALEIGH, N.C. – Mark Saad admits he’s had some luck in building Feelgoodz into a flip-flop brand with products sold around the world.
The mentor he was assigned in college at North Carolina State University became a key investor and advisor. He was introduced to Kyle Berner, a New Orleans flip-flop entrepreneur with a similar socially-conscious concept and products in 150 Whole Foods Market stores—Berner became Saad’s partner.
A California shoe and sandal designer moved to town and contacted him for a job.
And the globally-known singer-songwriter Jack Johnson began wearing Feelgoodz leather flip-flops with little prompting. A Feelgoodz sales rep in Hawaii met him and handed him a pair several years ago.
But Saad also knew when to seize opportunity. And a new partnership launching this month with Johnson is the perfect example. As the musician begins his latest global tour, he’ll be wearing and selling pairs of flip flops he designed in partnership with the Raleigh company with proceeds benefiting the Kokua Hawaii Foundation (He’ll be promoting when he sings in Cary May 21st). It’s the first partnership of its kind for Feelgoodz, which has a mission is to become the next major global shoe brand.
It’s still early—Feelgoodz will sell $2.8 million in shoes this year. But sales are projected to jump to $8 million in 2015. In 2011, the year Saad and Berner joined forces, sales were $400,000.
The full post can be read at ExitEvent.
