Opinion
Edy: inov-8 was probably more profitable under founder ownership than private equity
“No, I wouldn't say so, actually. I think the business was probably more profitable when I was CEO and in ownership of the business because it, you know, I always looked at the longer term best for the brand, but I was very careful with the money because that w…”
Opinion
Edy: Descente was slow at corporate decision-making
“They're Japanese corporate, very respectful, very considerate, but they are slow on the decision-making process, and everything has to go back to Japan to take decisions”
Opinion
Edy: Asia is best for sports footwear due to superior machinery and materials
“For the type of footwear that we do, it's best made in Asia because that's where there's the most development and they have the best machinery and processes and materials to make sports footwear.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Edy: Over 70% of fell race runners wear inov-8 shoes
“And you know, today, if you go to a fell race, there's probably 70, 75% plus people are wearing Innovate shoes at these races, which is fantastic to see.”
Opinion
Edy: inov-8's niche running markets cannot support its full growth potential
“I think we've got a long way to go, actually, because we're well known in the small niche markets, but actually they're not big enough to grow the brand to its full potential.”
Assertion Supported
Edy: The UK Fell Running Market Was 5,000 to 6,000 Runners at Launch
“I knew that there were about five or 6000 fell runners in the UK, so it's quite a small market, but quite easy to market to because they, you know, subscribe to the same magazines, and they go to the similar races, and it's a community, so I thought that that …”
Disclosure
Wayne Edy: Inov-8 was launched using all personal savings
“All my savings and all the profit that I'd retained within the consultancy business went into that.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Edy: Tooling molds for a shoe size range costs $30,000 to $40,000
“So just to give you an idea, the mold costs are about sort of 30 to 40,000 dollars. ... Sorry, that's for a series of the molds, so that's for a size range. So to do one shoe, you've got to invest that sort of money And that's only to make the moles.”
Assertion Supported
Edy: Marketing to early CrossFitters fueled inov-8's growth
“It was a great partnership, and we started marketing to CrossFitters, and it was the early days of CrossFit, and we got some real traction, and that helped fuel the growth of Innovate.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Edy: Manufacturing factory demanded upfront payment on orders in 2008
“The factory that we were working with changed our terms to when we actually placed the orders.”
Assertion Supported
Edy: Private equity acquired a 42% stake in inov-8
“I was still the major shareholder of the business, so they took, yeah, 42%.”
Disclosure
Edy's Descente deal structured a 5-year dilution to zero
“Over five years they wanted me to dilute down to zero.”
Assertion Supported
Edy repurchased inov-8 from Descente in 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak
“In 2020, I bought back the business and actually signed all the paperwork. At one of the most difficult times, because COVID had just hit Asia and was spreading across.”
Insight
Edy: Launching a Brand Requires Finding a Differentiator and Niche Gap
“Whenever you Launch a brand. You've got to find, well, what's our differentiator? And where's the niche or gap in the market that we're going to go for?”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Edy launched inov-8 by mailing a single shoe to running retailers
“Whilst I did have a lot of connections, I had to pioneer a lot of the running shops, and basically all I did was I built a database of them, and we basically did a mail shot to all the retailers, and put one shoe in with the mail shot, and then I gave them a s…”
Assertion Supported
Edy: inov-8 Product Numbers Represent the Shoe's Weight in Grams
“Our naming system is the sole name or shoe name, and then the number is the weight of an average size shoe.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Wayne Edy: inov-8 turned profitable in 2005, two years after founding
“So it would have been two years in, so 2005, and that's when I managed to negotiate the bank facility for that quarter of a million pounds.”
