Category 5 Welcomes You Aboard

Looking out into a sea of frat stars, you will find that many sport a common shoe style: the boat shoe. In 2010, five fratty men came up with a stellar idea to redesign the style and make the boat shoe more comfortable and longer lasting.  

 

Category 5 worked to improve the traditional boat shoe and after two years of samples and meetings, came out with its first model called the Yachtsman. It is offered in three different colors, mahogany being the most sought after with walnut in a close second. They have created even more styles and will soon be introducing a new women’s line. 

 

Of the idea for the company, Julien Rousson, a member of the Category 5 team said, “While the light bulb went off in Jason’s head first, he enlisted us to help him start the company. We had one person for the accounting/finance, one for web development/graphic design and sales, and I ran the campus rep program that was on 85 campuses last year”.

 

 

Category 5 is still in the stages of a startup company, with their office location in a suburb of Boston (the lovely hometown of HC’s Headquarters). In what they’re calling the “Kickstarter period”, the five guys are looking to gain backers and pledges before more orders are placed, through their Kickstarter profile. The Kickstarter period began the August 28 and will run until September 30 with a fundrasing goal of $15,000. Currently, men’s shoes can be ordered, but on their Kickstarter promotional video, they highlight the new women’s line and new royal blue, island red, and charcoal colors available for men. 

 

HC first got wind of the company from Gina D’Isidoro, a junior Kappa Kappa Gamma at Miami University, who worked with Category 5 this past summer to help promote and market the company as a brand ambassador. 

 

“I am a backer of this project, pledging $70 dollars, meaning when the $15,000 mark is reached, I can place an order for my boat shoes with ‘KKG’ inscribed on them,” D’Isidoro said. 

 

In the first nine days alone, Category 5 acquired a successful total of 132 backers with a pledged amount of $10,901. After just 21 days, Category 5 gained 161 backers and $14,395, which is bound to keep rising with continued support from eager consumers. 

 

“The response has been great,” Rousson said. “Seeing so many people back this product really proves to us that there is a demand for a women’s line of boat shoes as well as additional colors and products.  We’re only $600 off of our goal with two weeks to go, but we would really love to hit our reach goal of $17,500 so we could release additional color options like Navy.”

 

Category 5 can be found in almost 30 retailers across the country, but in the next five years they are hoping to see that number increase greatly. 

 

“We also plan on releasing a number of new products including more shoes styles and apparel. We’ve begun releasing some of these products through Kickstarter, such as our boat shoe lace bracelets and seersucker pocket tank tops,” Rousson said. 

 

The men behind Category 5 see their company as a lifestyle brand and have aspirations of becoming a household name for those that love a fun and laidback lifestyle. Each pair of boat shoes they create is one-of-a-kind, and is guaranteed to make it through the long recruitment season, sticky college bars, never-ending classes, and of course the casual boating trip. 

 

Check out the accomplished fraternity men and the brand they’ve built on Facebook and at Kickstarter.