A local footwear subscription startup, FTL, has scaled growth to prove its concept for several years.
Now, through a new partnership with a major sneaker retailer, co-founder Matt Murphy thinks FTL can capture sneaker fans like never before.
FTL is a sneaker subscription service that curates personalized shoe collections for members based on their preferences, cutting through the online clutter and sending a targeted selection of shoes directly to members’ devices on a regular basis.
For the company's first four years, Murphy and his co-founder, Zeke Schriefer, could only fill their inventory with shoes the two of them bought and sold at retail. This made their profits very little, as they depended on subscription money and shipping costs instead of raw sales.
Now, through a new partnership with Stadium Goods, a sneaker and apparel marketplace similar to StockX, FTL will have access to an inventory of more than 60,000 sneakers to recommend to its members.
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Murphy hopes the move will both boost its member base and offer more to its current members than ever before and allow FTL, fully funded by Murphy and Schriefer, to make profits like it has never seen before.
“The goal is ultimately growth, and to show people that FTL is a platform that custom curates sneakers, because it's not really there right now,” Murphy said. “What we really want to do is use the Stadium Goods partnership as a launchpad to bigger and better things.”
Murphy is a long-time sneakerhead with a dream of starting his own footwear company. FTL launched in 2018 out of a frustration of digging through online marketplaces to find the shoes he wanted.
“There was one night I was lying in bed and I was thinking about whatever sneaker release was coming out, and I'm like ‘God, it's just impossible for somebody to buy the shoes,’” Murphy said, explaining the raffle processes on apps like Nike’s SNKRS and how consumers have to get lucky sometimes in order to get a shoe.
The main goal with this new phase of FTL’s journey is to prove the concept to the marketplace, as it's a new idea. The company's other goals include re-engaging dormant users and perfecting its proprietary algorithmic processes.
With the increased inventory, Murphy thinks that proof will happen quickly. From there, he'll try to get in front of sneakerheads everywhere.
“That's really what FTL was born out of, there has to be a better way for somebody to be able to go out and buy the shoes that they want to buy without having to jump through all these different hoops,” Murphy added.
