For sports fans and twin sisters Kathleen and Kristina Cuce, an idea started with cold feet.
“My sister [Kristina] is a huge Colts fan, and we really didn’t know what shoes to wear [to the game] because it was freezing, so we figured perhaps a lot of other women felt that way,” Kathleen Cuce said.
While pro teams have finally started to provide women’s lines of clothing, no prominent female sports footwear lines exist on the market, and that was incentive enough for the Cuce sisters to begin to brainstorm two years ago.
Eager to launch their boots idea, the sisters from Virginia Beach put their heads together and began a lengthy research process. Once they had samples set in place, it was time to make their written blueprints and drawings into an actual product, but convincing people to listen wasn’t so easy.
“That was probably one of the hardest things that we had to do,” said Kathleen. “My sister is really persistent. She was literally just emailing, leaving messages hoping someone would get back to us. After about the third or fourth month of just pretty much harassing, finally someone said, ‘Okay, what is it?’ and we talked to them.”
After flying to New York City and presenting their plan to NFL business representatives, a few months later the sisters got the call that their shoes were given a green light.
Today, these first time licensees have launched Cuce Shoes, and their brand includes three different types of boots that feature designs for every NFL team and a select number of colleges. The sister duo plan to launch an NHL line after Thanksgiving and MLB boots are also in the works.
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What are Cuce Boots?
The Enthusiast boot is a classic rainboot, but with a lightweight twist.
“Every women owns a pair of rain boots, but we didn’t want to make them really heavy so we decided to use neoprene, which is a diving material,” Kathleen said. “It’s what surfers wear—it’s very light and it stretches which is very nice because a lot of female football fans come in a variety of sizes so we didn’t want to exclude any type of woman based on her size.”
Besides being cute, the boot also functions as a comfy option for long game days.
“So not only does neoprene make for a light size, it also stretches, so if you have a small leg, it’s going to conform to you. If you have a larger leg, it stretches. We put padding in there because I know when I would go to watch a football game it’s usually all day so we really wanted to make them comfortable.”
The Devotee boot is a warmer option for those female fans that double as fashionistas.
“It’s just furry and fun. We follow the season’s trends, and the trend for 2011 [is that] everything is furry, so we decided to just follow that with synthetic fur. This has a rubber sole, and we decided to give it a shearling [lining] on the inside so it’ll keep people warm.”
The boot also offers fewer frills so that women can focus on more game-time thrills.
“We know women may be running around the stadium. We didn’t want to have zippers or ties that would make it more difficult,” Kathleen said. “They’re very easy.”
The most surprising seller for the sisters, though, is the Supporter boot. Originally, this shoe started out with the least amount of buzz.
“We went to a consumer products convention [in March], and all the buyers from every studio shop or sports shop, NLF shop or anything that sells NFL apparel all flock to this to see what products are coming out,” Kathleen said. “But no one ever picked up the Supporter boot.”
“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, I think we’ve made a mistake.’ So we ordered less of those, and those are the ones that sold out the first week we launched,” she said.
Animal-friendly footwear
While the shoes are hot products, they are also animal-friendly.
“We’re vegetarians and huge animal activists so it was very important for us to try to come up with all synthetics which we were able to do [by using] animal-free glues and faux furs.”
As well as being animal-friendly, the products used also help maintain a longer shoe life.
“Synthetics are safe to wear outside. So if you’re caught in a rain shower or there’s snow melting on the ground and you’re wearing real fur boots, most likely you’re going to ruin them whereas these boots can get wet, and they’re perfectly fine,” Kathleen said.
Giving back to charity in a stylish way
Kathleen and Kristina’s newest addition, though, adds a touch of pink and charity to their business.
“The breast cancer boot, it’s awesome—we call it the “Believer” boot. It’s designed just like the enthusiast boot. It has the breast cancer ribbon logo mixed with the NFL shield so it’s kind of a universal boot for all women that are fans of the NFL,” Kathleen said. “Half the proceeds of the sales of the boot go to the breast cancer foundation. It’s actually offered exclusively on NFL shop. We don’t give anyone else that boot.”
The shoe landed the sisters a trip to the Washington Redskins game versus the Philadelphia Eagles. The Redskins’ Women’s Club raffled off a pair of boots and gave the Cuce twins a chance to connect with women interested in not only the game but their product.
“It was just cool going to the stadium where you have these diehard fans and they root like crazy—you would have thought I was throwing money for how many people were following me [because of the boots]!” Kathleen said.
“To see this kind of reaction in an actual stadium was amazing because this is who we created the boots for and come to find out on Monday morning when we were going through our orders, we reached like 25 orders on Monday, and they were all Washington Redskins,” Kathleen said.
The trip was also a chance for the Kathleen and Kristina to reflect on the success they’ve had so far.
“We’re really lucky because we’re first year licensees, and the NFL is marketing the product like crazy themselves, which is a blessing for us because we’re this little company. Our boots are in the NFL shop, we were on E News, [and] we were in USA Today[a few] weeks ago, and all of those things are happening thanks to the NFL.”
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What’s next for Cuce Shoes?
With their line expanding to cover NHL and MLB teams in the future, the sisters ultimately want to set their entrepreneurial sights abroad.
“Our dream in a few years would be just to do some international sports, especially soccer. Professional teams have such large followings, but I think that might be a little down the road.”
The sisters want to cater not only to female sports fans, but they also hope to grab a few endorsements with female athletes and sports publications in the future.
“Right now we’ve been trying to get in touch with some editors from Sports Illustratedbecause they do a lot with the female athletes, and they have the swimsuit edition that comes out in a couple months and [the models] wear bikinis and pair them with other things, and we would love to have them wear our shoes,” Kathleen Cuce said.
Expanding would not only help their business, but also help promote the message that female sports fans are ready, willing and more than eager to buy gear to help them cheer on their favorite squads, and front offices are responding.
“The female apparel business in the sports world is the fastest growing sector of the business. They’re selling more female apparel and making more money off of it than anything else, and I think that leagues are starting to take notice of that,” Kathleen Cuce said.
“When we met with the NHL, it was 10 times easier getting in with them because they see how well women are responding to our NFL collection, and they know, ‘Hey, there are a lot of women out there, and they’re fans and they’re willing to spend money on these products.’ A lot of these leagues will actually change their color schemes or change a logo every year just to promote a buying scheme,” she said.
This urge to get female fans’ attention also helped land the sisters a fun opportunity outside of the office.
“The campaign by the NFL called, ‘Fit For You,’ [is] all of the women’s apparel that the NFL makes. They did a huge campaign last year, and they invited us to participate in the campaign so they flew us up to New York City in July,” Kathleen said. “It was cool because they did still shots and then they did video, and it was a little intimidating at first because we’re not used to being in front of the camera, but it ended up coming out so well,” she said.
A little bit of sisterly advice for future entrepreneurs…
While these twins get to live the “glamorous life” on occasion, they still feel more comfortable keeping their business strong and encourage other women with ideas to work hard to obtain their dreams.
“I would tell women if you have an ideal and you have a dream and it’s something that’s sensible, I would say go for it. I mean it’s been the toughest year of my life but it’s been the best too,” she said. “I always warn people if you have a dream, go for it, but if you’re work ethic isn’t like a brick wall, you’ll never make it. Do your homework, really check out things, be persistent.”
And doing their homework has helped them expand their knowledge and interest from not just one team, but to all.
“Working with the league now, I find myself tuning into every game and really feeling a connection with every franchise because we’ve worked with all of them and they all offer something different,” Kathleen said. “For instance, the Cincinnati Bengals, who I never even paid attention to, were the first franchise to order from us so they kind of have a soft spot in my heart, and the Green Bay packers are the number one selling franchise for us so we just go back and forth with them. You just end up loving all of [the teams].”
And loving all the teams also has brought the sisters love from some of the most important women inside the league—the mothers, wives and daughters of NFL players, coaches and owners.
“They love [the shoes] which is really nice because a lot of the wives have actually joined the campaign for women so they were very receptive to them.”
“Tonya Snyder, who’s the wife of the Redskins owner Dan Snyder, is a huge advocate for female apparel, and she has worn our boots everywhere and endorsed them, and her daughters own a few pairs already,” Kathleen said. “We have a couple cheerleading coordinators for the teams interested in getting boots for the girls so that’s been fun.”
“The Eagles coach, Andy Reid, his wife was on Fox [recently] and she bought [a] pair and was ecstatic about them. The owner of the Kansas City Chiefs wife bought a few pair. It’s really exciting to have them like them so much.”
At the end of the day, the Cuce sisters’ brand is all about footwear, but they also have a few ideas about the teams we may see at the end of the season in the Super Bowl.
“It certainly not the Colts, I can tell you that,” Kathleen said. “Honestly, I know right now that the Greenbay Packers are the only undefeated team in the NFL, and I know it’s a little early to predict, but they look very strong. I think the Ravens are doing a phenomenal job. And the Detroit Lions are doing really well, so I think they could too. There’s just so many teams out there that are switching it up which is what makes football so fun!”
The sisters hope too that they their shoes can also add a touch of comfort, fashion and fun for women as they cheer on their favorite team—after all, every woman deserves a homerun in the footwear category!
Sources:
Kathleen Cuce, Owner and Founder of Cuce Shoes
www.lovecuceshoes.com/
Pictures:
Courtesy of Kathleen Cuce