Bringing RE:GENERATION Closer

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in footwear but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Anna Yona, founder of Wildling Shoes, located in Engelskirchen, Germany.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Wildling Shoes is a purpose-driven company - we make minimal shoes out of organic, recycled materials. Our minimal shoe design and the uniquely shaped flexible sole create a feeling of freedom. Sporting a thickness of between 1.5 and 3.5 mm, the sole ensures that you feel every step you take, putting you in direct contact with the terrain – just like walking barefoot.

We live in a world where for decades, everything has been pushed in one direction - more, more, more. Limitless extraction of resources, greed, and economic systems built to grow continuously without calculating the true human and environmental costs of our economic activities. This has created the huge challenges we are all faced with - climate change and global injustice. We, therefore, urgently need to find ways to build regenerative economic systems by emulating nature's principles and indigenous wisdom. Wildling Shoes is embarking on that journey, but having a regenerative impact will be our organization's biggest challenge and foremost goal in the years to come. Creating a minimalist product lies at the core of that. Using as few resources as possible to create our shoes is a big step towards a more sustainable product. At the same time, creating a shoe that is "as little shoe as possible" is the prerequisite for allowing a truly natural gait and the sense of freedom that should come with wearing Wildling Shoes.

Tell us about yourself

Wildling Shoes kind of happened to us by chance. My husband, Ran, and I met in Israel while I was studying in Tel Aviv. Our kids grew up roaming the Israeli countryside with bare feet, developing an amazing sense of body control and swift, agile movement in the process. We then moved back to Germany in 2013 with the family, and we're starting a new life. Our kids - who had grown up mostly barefoot up until then, needed shoes to get through the German winters. They simply refused to put up with conventional footwear that was restricting their feet and free movement, so we had to become creative.

Looking into the data on how frequently people suffer from footwear-related health issues, we quickly felt that we were onto something important. With the right design and function, we were certain that we could create a product that would really solve a problem. This gave us the energy and commitment for what then turned out to be a rather lengthy product development process.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

One of the most important moments in the organization's development was when we realized that we could use Wildling as a means and vehicle for the kind of change we were seeking in society. Through direct interaction with partners in our supply chains, the creation of a workplace that adhered to our standards, transparent communication towards our customers, sharing of knowledge with other companies, and not least, through actively engaging in societal and political dialogue, we saw that we can make a change - not only regarding our direct impact on people and the planet but hopefully also by contributing to the design of an economy fit for the future.

Our biggest accomplishments along this path so far have been the establishment of transparent supply chains for our most important textiles, close working relationships with our main producers to ensure continued collaboration on working conditions and environmental standards, the establishment of several regenerative sourcing projects, and the creation of a workplace that employs 3/4 women, in leading positions, with equal pay and large flexibilities concerning place and time of work.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The biggest challenge for us is to bridge customer expectations with an uncompromising approach to sustainability and fairness. As customers, we have all learned that we can have everything at the cheapest price right now, but this is not compatible with a slower, more mindful, and fairer way of doing business. For example, we have all gotten used to wearing high-tech mountaineering gear (with a terrible ecological footprint) to arrive at the baker's next door completely untouched by the elements. While it is easy to make a waterproof shoe using plastics and chemicals, it is much harder to achieve performance with only natural materials. Therefore, this demands some understanding and dedication from the customer - for example, they may need to periodically re-wax the materials.

Similarly, we need to become more aware of price structures and learn that quality and fairness have a price. If a pair of shoes cost less than a good meal, then somewhere along the way (often at the start of the value chain), money is not being distributed fairly. Finally - if we can have everything now at the touch of a button, then invariably, there will have to be surplus production to make sure everything is available all the time. In Wildling Shoes' case, we are surely losing customers because not every shoe model is available all the time, and we often cannot ship overnight. This is because we produce carefully to avoid overproduction and waste.

Our logistics team does not work in shifts (we are a family business, and we know about the negative impact shifts can have on family life). Nevertheless, we feel that times are changing and that customers are becoming more aware of their impact and their choices. It is good to learn together and to enable customers to partake in the re-shaping of our economies by being open and transparent about the whys and how's behind the scenes.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

When you embark on the journey of founding and building up a company, there is barely a day that passes without learning something new or the opportunity to grow with a challenge. My three tips for founders are purpose, focus, and the creation of meaningful relationships. If you want to start a business today more than ever, you should start with the "why."

Is your idea solving a problem? Is it something that is needed and that will create value? Or is its sole purpose of creating wealth for a handful of people? I believe we have come to a situation in which the world simply cannot afford another product or service that is not beneficial to the world. In return, if it serves a purpose, your business idea has a good chance to succeed. Focus on that purpose and on what makes your business idea truly unique. Also, expect your fledgling enterprise to take up much of your time and attention.

Last but not least, growing a business is much more about the creation of meaningful relationships with other people than about crafting excel sheets. Learning from and with each other, practicing self-reflection, questioning your perspectives, and embracing diversity and complexity are what truly define collaboration. Good collaboration with people within and outside of your team is what will be the cornerstone of your company.

With each little success Wildling Shoes has had, I have become more and more painfully aware of the responsibility that we have - as founders, as a team, as people - to turn around what is going terribly wrong in the world. As an organization, we have an even bigger responsibility than as individuals to question how we act and to find ways to do better. At the same time, Wildling Shoes is offering more opportunities to have a positive impact than I could ever have hoped. I believe our purpose is to co-define a regenerative economic system by trying and failing and succeeding, by encouraging others to try, and by learning from each other to generate transformational change together.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://us.wildling.shoes/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildling.shoes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildling.shoes/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wildling-shoes-gmbh/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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