Gentlemen (and Gentlewomen) Start Your Engines and Nacho Libre

I can't think of anything much more exciting than the start of a NASCAR race, it's the 200 left-hand turns after the start that make me a little bored. :)

Even better than the NASCAR start is the fact that Lucha Shoes production has officially begun!!! After months of design, testing, and negotiation, we are finally getting down to the nitty gritty (thank you Nacho Libre). Our factory is now acquiring all of the materials needed for 2,000 pairs of Luchas.

And to quote one of my favorite movie heroes once again, Nacho calmly leaves us with this inspiration, "Tonight, I will fight the seven strongest men in town, maybe the world. And I will win because our Heavenly Father will be in the ring with me. And He and I will win 10,000 pesos."

Well Nacho, here's to your 10,000 pesos and our 2,000 Luchas.

Not so smooth.

I attended a nice Christmas party filled with cookie decorating, magic dollar games, a photo booth complete with mistletoe, and good friends. As I was conversing with a nice young lady about the Toms she was wearing, I explained Lucha Shoes and how we are going to provide a better shoe at a better price. She then mentioned that her Toms, which were brand new in August, were already wearing smooth on the soles. You can see by the frowny face that she is looking for a shoe that won't get smooth with her :) If we chance to meet a frown (about shoes), we'll quickly turn it upside down and smile that frown away. The rubber we use for our outer sole is strong and long-lasting.

What are you fighting for? Fight With Your Feet. Lucha Shoes.

Meet in the Middle

After hearing that we had to order a minimum of 3,000 pairs of shoes (instead of our original 1,000 pairs agreed to), we weren't sure what to do. Luckily Dave knows what he's doing and was able to negotiate with the factory for a minimum order of 2,000 pairs. We are now going to only have two colors per sex, but we are happy with the colors. Men's sizes will come in gray and navy, and women's sizes will come in gray and red (with white stitching).

We paid a large down-payment this week and hope that production will start shortly.

Keep Fighting With Your Feet. Lucha Shoes.

Chinese Websites...

Maybe the two words in our title don't really belong together but I thought it was catchy. In the latest Lucha news, our website is oh so close to being done. Just a few minor tweaks and we'll release it for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately it isn't quite ready ready for your purchasing pleasure...which leads me to the second part of this post title.

We are having a bit of a struggle with our manufacturer in China. Originally we agreed with them to make an order of 1,000 pairs (which is relatively small for them). A couple of weeks ago we made this order, only to have them respond that this quantity was too small and that we have to order at least 3 times that amount. Ouch. We're not too nervous about being able to sell them all, just the upfront money part is putting us behind in our scheduling.

We originally thought that we could have shoes in September, then the samples weren't up to our expectations, so we waited until we had a sample we were happy with. Then it was going to be before Christmas, and the minimum order quantity debacle came about. So now we're fighting for a spring surprise of a nice large shipment of Luchas. We're being tested by the entrepreneurial gods, and we say bring it on because the harder we fight now, the stronger we'll be later.

What are you fighting for? Fight With Your Feet. Lucha Shoes.

We're from the school of the hard knocks...

The book "Glorious Accidents" is an excellent resource for any entrepreneur. It is in essence an easy-read case study about many different successful entrepreneurs from small janitorial companies to Huntsman Chemical. This book was written by Michael J. Glauser, who isn't me. It's my uncle. I'm not sure if this is in the book, or if uncle Mike just told me this, but he said that when it comes to starting a new company, things always take longer, cost more, and are more complicated than you ever imagine when you start. We're finding this to be true.

Initially we were hoping to have shoes to sell in the early fall. Now we're hoping to get shoes by year end. Creating a website is more complicated than you think, legal fees are more expensive, and putting it all together is nothing short of a miracle. Marketing, sales, and advertising just add to the never-ending task list.

Have these things discouraged Dave and I? Nope. Absolutely not. It puts smiles on our faces as we thrive in the sheer challenge of it all. We're learning a ton and getting a better and clearer picture of where we're going and what we want to accomplish.

Thanks for your moral support and encouraging words. We're fighting hard to get you your new favorite shoes :)

What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet. Lucha Shoes.

Lucha Love

Dave is marrying Sarah Squires this Friday. She'll be sporting the cream Luchas at the reception. Here's to the fight for good marriages that last. Congrats Dave and Sarah!

Chilean Miners

I have been following the rescue of the trapped miners in Chile, and I must admit that when I was reading an article about it today, this portion tickled my fancy...

Pinera after his rescue, according to an Associated Press translation. "The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain. We had strength, we had spirit, we wanted to fight, we wanted to fight for our families, and that was the greatest thing."

These people were fighting for a good cause. They had strength, they had spirit, and they wanted to fight for their families. So here's to the good fight that brought 33 miners back to their families after being trapped for 70 days.

I say props to everyone involved in this amazing rescue effort that ended as well as it could have.

What are you fighting for? Fight With Your Feet. Lucha Shoes.

Final Sample???

Dave and I are doing everything we can in order to get our first shipment here before Christmas. Luchas will make superb Christmas presents! This is the latest (and hopefully last) sample. Let us know how you like this pair.

We're fighting hard for your feet :)

Product Shoot Photos

A few weeks ago, Dave and I worked with Stacy Young to do a product shoot for our website. Our website is getting close to being finished and it looks good. The product pictures that Stacy took look absolutely perfect. Props to Stacy and Three Winks Studio for making us look professional. Here's a sample of few of the pics.

Can Luchas Hike???

I decided to test my new Luchas on a nice hike Saturday morning to Stewart Falls up Provo Canyon. Not only did the Lucha Shoes pass with flying colors, but the falls were amazing. I pushed the shoes hard as we did some very steep inclines/declines, as well as the steep entrails from an old mine.

In other Lucha news, Dave is currently in China for work, and engaged to be married in just a little over 3 weeks! Can you say Lucha Love?

Also, our website is coming along nicely. I got our first beta version today, and it put a nice grin on my face.

Lastly, our current samples ended up not being our final samples. There are still a couple changes we feel that we need to make in order to make you as pleased as possible with your Luchas. We're pushing as hard as we can to make sure we have your Lucha Shoes for you before Christmas!

Keep Fighting With Your Feet.
Lucha Shoes.

3,000 and counting...

To commemorate our 3,000th blog hit, I'd like to share our experience this morning in doing an "urban" photo shoot. Matt McDaniel answered my desperate facebook plea for someone who has a nice SLR camera, and would want to help out in the Lucha cause. Let me just start by saying that he's great. He had a perfect location for us, and the shots he took will be good (I haven't seen them yet, but I'm sure they will be). Our location was downtown SLC, and I was once again reminded of how amazing our downtown area is. The architectural feel just makes me want to walk around staring at buildings all day long. If you haven't spent time in downtown SLC lately, go there. You won't be disappointed. Matt's photos will be coming soon, which will be used for our website, along with various brochures, and probably a few facebook profile pictures ;)

We need to give a special shout out to Dianna for being a good sport and agreeing to be our female model with very short notice. Here's a picture from the models' side of things.

Good, Better, Best

We had a very productive meeting last night, and we decided to make a few changes with the shoes. Stay tuned for more about that...

We also talked extensively about how we want to make sure that you get the best product possible, and in a timely manner. In order to expedite our testing of the product, Dave hooked us up with the ultimate test. He put a Lucha Shoe in a washing machine with 200 golf balls. After an hour of running it--the shoe looked fine--no visible wear. After a few more hours, and a weight inside of it to weigh it down, the only visible wear was from the weight. So as long as you don't put metal weights in your shoes and then throw it against hundreds of golf balls for hours on end, we feel like your shoe will do well :)What are you fighting for? Fight With Your Feet. Lucha Shoes.

Self, Great Day!!!

I had an economics teacher who would say the weirdest things, and "Self, Great Day!" was one of them. Today I could say that. We finished our first product photo shoot with Stacy Young at Three Winks Studio (more to come on that). We're loving the look of our pre-production samples. We also got an unexpected comment on our blog that made us realize that there are more people noticing us than we realize (also more to come on that). And last but not least, we entered the world of Twitter. We're now tweeters. If you'd like to follow us, it's @luchashoes.

Most of all, I just want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement. If we are ever half as successful as many of you feel we'll be, this will go big. Thanks for your advice. Thanks for your praise. Thanks for your excitement. Thanks for your willingness to help. And last but definitely not least, thank for being willing to Fight With Your Feet.

Lucha Shoes, pre-production samples.

This past week was a big one for Lucha Shoes. We received our pre-production samples. They look great. We are doing some testing this next week, and will hopefully start into production in a week.

We were very worried about the labor shortage in China. We have been discussing this with our factory and we have taken measures to help keep the workers. Here is an image of workers in our factory.

What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet – Lucha Shoes.

Dave

Christmas isn't here yet...

Do you remember that feeling you had on Christmas Eve when you were trying to get to sleep and it seemed like no matter how hard you tried, sleep would never find you? I remember it well. Then I would wake up extremely early only to find that I had to wait another few hours for my parents to come down to get us and lead us up the stairs with the video camera catching our every move. It seems as if I was the one waking up my siblings, getting them ready to wait. :)

That's how I feel right now. The pre-production Lucha Shoes have supposedly been shipped, but Dave and I thought they would be here by now. I can't wait to throw them on and hit up the town. I want to fight with my feet right now. I suppose I'll just have to be patient and realize that Santa will be here soon enough with our new Luchas...

Right now I'm fighting for more patience.
What are you fighting for?
Fight With Your Feet.
Lucha Shoes

Lucha Shoes and Lucha Colors

Lucha Lovers.

Everyday gets closer to you wearing a pair of your very own Lucha Shoes. Here are a couple of pictures of the colors we are coming out with.

Let us know what you think.

What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet, Lucha Shoes.

Dave

Lucha Lines

After an amazing trip rafting down the Colorado on Friday, I noticed something that put a gargantuan grin on my face...Lucha Lines!
What are you fighting for?
Fight With Your Feet.
Lucha Shoes.

Write Your Fight on Your "In-Soul"

As part of our desire to help you fight with your feet, we decided to include a small gift with each pair of Lucha shoes purchased. We really do want everyone who buys a pair of Luchas to choose something that they are fighting for, and we really do want them to write what's "in their soul" on the bottom of their "in-sole."

As soon as you get your Luchas, you can write your fight with this mini key-chain sharpie, and then keep it on your key chain as another reminder to fight with your feet. One of my favorite movie quotes is, "The Greeks didn't write obituaries. When a man died, they asked only one question: did he have passion." (Can anyone name that movie?) I'm all about passion. In my opinion, a boring person is that person who isn't passionate about anything. Be passionate. We hope Lucha shoes will help you show your passions, and even make your passions grow.

What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet. Lucha Shoes.

Mike

Where am I fighting with my feet???

I took my Luchas on the road this week.
Some might know me as a true baseball geek.
My favorite color is Dodger Blue, not green,
This week I attended MLB stadium number 17.
If you can guess where I was from this photo,
You'll win a decal with the Lucha Logo!
Leave comment numbers one, two, or three,
And you'll get a great prize, Yippee!!!

I know my poetry skills might be lacking, but if you guess correctly where this Lucha Shoes pic was taken, we'll get you a sweet Lucha logo decal!

What are you fighting for? Fight With Your Feet. Lucha Shoes.

-Mike

Cause for Celebration!!!

Last night we got our thousandth hit on our young Lucha Shoes blog! We're getting closer and closer to giving you all the ability to fight with your feet. I thought it would be appropriate to give you a small treat as a token of our gratitude. Thank you for following our progress! This link will let you play with Dave. If you've ever wanted to spin someone around a hundred times just because you can, then you'll really enjoy this ...

Lucha Shoes - Coming Soon

Product Update . . . Trying to get some Luchas on your feet.

Yesterday was Mike’s birthday, a big ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ to him. I showed up at his party last night to once again see him wearing around our original samples. After the initial ‘break-in’ period for these shoes, they haven’t changed much. This has been just under three months of continuous wear, and he wears them everyday. The soles are holding up very well, and the canvas has had minimal wear as well. These are all great things for any shoe wearer.

I’ve been in constant contact with our factory in China to get the Fall ‘10 designs finalized. The factory is currently making our PP (pre-production) samples for our approval, in which they will then start production. We should receive these in the next couple of weeks. We will then have samples of all the colors we are producing. We will then post some pictures and give you a glimpse of the upcoming goods.

As these are for this fall season, the colors represent such. What colors do you like for spring? Yellows, oranges, reds? Leave us a comment and let us know your favorite.

Mike and I are also working hard on our timelines. We want to get you the shoes you want as soon as possible. China is currently going through a labor and power shortage. Many factories are having to ship their Fall ’10 production late or even cancelling entire programs. Some are even having to shut down. To over come this problem our factory is making the necessary changes to keep their workers - increased wages, and other worker benefits.

We feel it very important to reduce wasted materials, energy consumption, and even try and reuse scrapped materials. We are even working on a pair of shoes that will be made completely of recycled or scrapped material. Fight to reduce waste.

What are you fighting for?

Fight With Your Feet – Lucha Shoes

Dave

While visions of the OR show danced in our heads...

I really like attending the Outdoor Retailer Show here in Salt Lake at the Salt Palace. I've only been twice--once to the winter version a few months ago, and today to the summer version. Today I went for a couple of hours, and it's incredible. They have the latest in every type of gear or outdoor clothing you could ever want. I imagine that it isn't as fun for Dave because the OR just means long days with long meetings for him. I'm just more of a spectator and I can go where I want to go and see what I want to see. I met Dave there for a minute and he introduced me to a couple of really good contacts inside the shoe industry. I also talked to a Jenni from Missionary Mall who seemed excited about Lucha Shoes.

I've emailed the people who are in charge of the show asking how much it costs for a booth. I do have visions of the OR show dancing in my head. I'd love to get a chance to show off Lucha Shoes. I want everyone at the OR show to know how to fight with your feet. While there I meandered through a couple of our competitors' booths to see what we're up against and to get some ideas on future designs. Let's just say I am inspired about some future possibilities.

Last week Dave sent in our final design proofs to the manufacturer. We should have those shoes in the next month, at which point we will start showing some potential retailers. I honestly can't wait. Better shoe better price. I make it a point to talk to everyone I see who's wearing alpargatas, and without fail, when I'm done talking with them, they're excited about our shoe. I just talked to someone yesterday who bought a pair of Toms in June, and he said that they are already wearing out because he wears them so much. Let's just say that it would be extremely difficult to have worn them more than I have worn my Lucha Shoes in the last two months. I held mine up for him to see, and he was quite surprised how pristine mine looked. These Lucha Shoes are tough shoes. Luchas can take a beating and come out screaming.

I recently got a shoes catalog in the mail, and after I had been reading it for a half hour, I realized something. I'm passionate about shoes. I do have too many shoes, and I love it. Lucha Shoes make me smile. I like talking about them, and I love thinking where we can take this idea and this company. Visions of Lucha Shoes are dancing in my head.

What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet. Lucha Shoes.

Mike

Lucha Shoes--Personal Fight With Your Feet

Each pair of Lucha shoes can be personalized to help you remember what you're fighting for. When you see someone else wearing Lucha shoes, please ask them what they're fighting for. The more you talk about something, the more you remember it, and the more ideas you'll have on how you can fight your good fight. Fight With Your Feet.

I have recently personalized my Lucha shoes for two different things. First of all, I'm fighting for Rachel Steele and her fight with Leukemia. Second of all, I'm fighting for regular exercise. I need to do it more, and I feel like most people need to exercise more--whether it's simply running or lifting weights, or getting out and playing a game, hiking, riding a bike, etc. These latter examples are my favorite kinds of exercise. When people ask me if I like running, I usually reply that I like running if I'm chasing a ball. I love being active and I love how good I feel when I'm doing it. I'm passionate about it. I believe that physical health correlates directly with emotional and mental health.

Fight for your education, fight for civil rights, fight for your political beliefs, fight for your right to party (thank you Beastie Boys), fight for a team you play on, fight for a team you cheer for, fight for your school, fight for a band you love, fight your mother-in-law (kidding, kind of...), fight your weaknesses, fight for spiritual growth, fight bad karma, fight temptations, fight pollution, fight global warming, fight against child prostitution, fight for clean energy, fight the BCS, fight for a cancer cure, fight HIV. The possibilities are endless. Leave a comment and tell us what you're fighting for.

Use your Lucha shoes to show what you're passionate about. What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet. Lucha shoes.

Luchas Save Lives

On the fifth of July, after playing some beach volleyball, swimming, and before enjoying two barbecues, I found time to experience for the first time the Alpine bike jump. This was as thrilling and adrenaline pumping as it gets. The first video is my roommate (a seasoned bike jump veteran), then the second video is me almost botching the approach (which has given countless people broken bones, concussions, black eyes, swollen faces, etc.), and the third video is me nailing the jump.




All in all I jumped 4 times--with three perfectly successful jumps, but the botched approach could have been bad--had I not been wearing my Lucha shoes! These were the perfect recipe for saving my 27 year old life. The combination of the Lucha shoes' good grip, form fitting, and better than flip-flop protection and stability enabled me to discard the out of control bike, and run safely into the pond. We're fighting for a better shoe at a better price.

Fight With Your Feet. Lucha Shoes.

Mike

Durability and Comfort

Greetings Lucha lovers! We’ve been working hard to produce the best alpargata. We have studied several different materials and manufacturing processes and feel that we will be making a very comfortable and very durable alpargata.

We started off by finding a reliable and professional factory to help us develop our shoe. We received a sample and have been testing it extensively for the past few months. If you run into Mike sometime after work, he’ll probably be wear-testing a pair. You’ll be surprised at how good they look after hearing about where they’ve been and what they’ve been through.

As we continue to develop the Lucha alpargata, we have a few specific things that we are looking for. First off we need a shoe that is very durable. We’ve been comparing other similar alpargatas, such as TOMS, and even some that are commonly worn in Argentina. We found that these types wear out very quickly. Their soles don’t last, they simply wear out very quickly. Our soles are made from an EVA rubber, which has two layers. A harder rubber for the outsole, helps with durability, and a softer midsole that helps create comfort and shock-absorption.

We also noticed wear in the upper part of the shoe. The canvas of the other alpargatas is thin and doesn’t have any structure. The Lucha alpargata is made with a thicker canvas that holds its form. In areas of wear and abrasion, where other alpargatas have failed, the Lucha has held strong.

The other alpargatas are also hot and cause your foot to sweat, making for some unpleasant shoe wearing. To combat this last issue of breathability in these types of shoes, we have added two embroidered air-vent-holes to keep your feet cooler. We also wanted to increase the comfort even more than just from the sole so we added a pigskin insole that helps fight odor and adds arch support to increase comfort.

The Lucha alpargata is a durable comfortable shoe. You won't be disappointed.

What are you fighting for? Fight with your feet. Lucha Shoes.

Dave

Lucha Logo Lessons

We are learning valuable lessons as we begin our first venture together...

The logo for any company, especially an apparel company, is an integral part to its success. We want a logo that will appeal to the teenagers to late twenties crowd. The underground feel is a must. We want a small logo that can stand by itself or be combined with the text, "Lucha Shoes - Fight With Your Feet." These are leisure shoes worn without socks--simple throw on shoes, take to the beach, ride your bike to the local shop, simple but still very comfortable. We want a fresh new urban feel. We need a clean and concise logo that "says it all," and we're willing to take the time and spend the money necessary to get to this point.

Initially we hired someone out of India who we thought could do a good job for a very very low price. Unfortunately after receiving those concepts, we weren't impressed. We didn't see the right feel we were looking for. So now we are working with Capital G Design to get a logo that will fit. Take a look at a few of the logos and leave your comments, thoughts, feelings, ideas on what you like and dislike about them.

Lesson learned--when attempting to create a cultural feel with your logo, it helps to use a designer who knows and lives in that culture! Sometimes you can't explain a cultural feel through emails and skype.

Mike

What Are You Fighting For?

We'd like to expand on the "Fight With Your Feet" theme we have created. For those of you who don't know, lucha is Spanish for "a fight." A few of you have commented, "Those shoes don't look like fighting shoes to me." You're absolutely right. These are not physical fighting shoes. These shoes will help people fight for good and against evil. Dave and I have decided that there isn't enough fighting for good in the world. So we are going to incorporate a personal, individual fight for good into each pair of shoes. Each person who purchases a pair of shoes will be able to personalize their Luchas to remind them what their fight is for. We haven't nailed down exactly how each one of you will be able to personalize your shoes. It might be a small tag you can write on, it might be simply writing on the bottom of the removable insole. If you have other ideas, please comment and let us know what you think would work well.

Are you fighting against racism? Cancer? Hate? Depression? War? Hunger? Are you fighting for peace? Love? Families? A loved one to succeed? The lists can go on and on. Every time you put on your Luchas, every step you take, will act as a reminder of your fight. Fight With Your Feet.

These pictures are of a volleyball team I've been helping coach for the last six months. Recently a member of our club, Rachel Steele, was diagnosed with Leukemia--and only two weeks before we were supposed to attend the national tournament in Reno, NV. Our team had orange jerseys made (which is Rachel's favorite color as well as the Leukemia awareness color). We also handed out orange ribbons to each team we played against--and some teams wore them to support this fight against Leukemia. Another of our Club Utah teams and countless parents made t-shirts in support of Rachel. A different club team's girls all put orange shoelaces in their shoes to show their support. They joined this good fight. These girls are fighting for Rachel--fighting against Leukemia.

Lucha Shoes, Fight With Your Feet, Fight the Good Fight!

Beginnings

We (Dave Blackwell and Mike Glauser) are starting a company that sells alpargata shoes. Our company's official name is Lucha, LLC. We got incorporated last week, got our tax id number, and we have our first prototype. We are working with Owen Fuller at Fit Marketing to get our logo and web site designed right now. We originally hired someone in India for $8/hour to design our logo, but the initial logos he sent us didn't have the feel we're looking for--so we decided to go with Owen. As soon as we have a logo, we'll be able to move on with our design as well as get our next sample shoes. For our first shipment, we'll be ordering 1000 pairs, which will hopefully arrive in the fall. The women's colors will be ash, maroon, and cream. The men's will be white, navy, and charcoal.

If you aren't familiar with alpargata shoes, they are similar to Toms Shoes. Ours will be a better shoe at a better price. There are a few main differences between our shoes and Toms. Ours have a thicker canvas and will therefore last longer. Ours also have a better gripping sole, as well as some small embroideredholes to help your feet breathe easier. These are relaxing, chill, everyday, wear to the beach or park type of shoes. Good for any occasion. They are simple and easy. No socks required (but some girls like to wear the "barely there" socks that basically just wrap around your toes and heels).

Dave and I are both very very excited about this company. Dave is the design and manufacturing expert. He currently works at backcountry.com designing clothing. I'll be in charge of sales, marketing, and general business operations. Part of the reason I'm so excited about this is that everyone I tell about our company wants to buy a pair of Luchas. We ultimately want to start with this simple alpargata, then get into other types of casual shoes, then maybe to apparel and other accessories.

This is the first company that Dave and I have started, and we both want to work hard to get a good product at a good price. We are learning more and more about this everyday as we talk to different people who have experience in starting companies, importing goods, etc. A man I met with last week said, "If importing from China (where our shoes will be made) was easy, everyone would do it." One thing that has really stood out to me is that everyone wants to help out. I talk to everyone about this, and it seems that people just come out of the woodwork with advice, or recommendations of people to talk to about being successful with a start up. Keep posted for updates on designs, our Lucha Launch, and our general progress!

--Mike