Footwear Insight

S tuart Jenkins founded BLUMAKA earlier this year. His goal with the firm is to focus on a new way to engineer footwear compo- nents with a manufacturing process that allows brands to dictate foam design, performance and sus- tainability characteristics. Jenkins also owns White Hat Innovation in Santa Barbara, CA. A former leader of innovation at Deckers Brands, Jenkins played a significant role in the company's decision to acquire Hoka One One. Recently he delivered a colorful, shoot-from-the-hip talk on innovation to attendees at the Footwear Distributors and Retailers Association (FDRA) Sourcing and Sustainability Summit on Wall Street in New York City. Jenkins had this to say about the innova- tion experience: "There are two kinds of bull riders. Those who are afraid; and then there are damn liars. Innovation is that way, too. If you're not afraid of what's going to happen, when that chute opens, you probably haven't innovated." Here, more pointed commentary from Jenkins' on footwear innovation: "I've been in over 115 shoe companies trying to sell innovation for the last 42 years. Most of you rejected me multiple times. There's a hell of a lot more being said than done about innovation. And I don't think anything has gotten any better in the last 15 years when innovation has moved to the big buzzword and created innovation confer- ences and innovation speakers. Forty years ago, you were the geek with the idea and crazy as a pet coon. Now, you're a genius if the innovation succeeds. This industry isn't that great at accepting outside ideas." "I believe innovation is a business prac- tice every bit as much as accounting. There are principles you can apply to innovation that will make you far more effective. There are all these multi-million ideas, and some of them are billion-dollar ideas, that were rejected by our industry. We can do better than that. " I f o u n d H o k a when they sold 500 pairs of shoes. I was head of innovation at Deckers and we had an innovation summit where we were presented with a bunch of ideas. And guess what? Of all the people in the room — 28 — only two, the CEO and me, voted yes. Innovation is not a demo- cratic process. You have to get on the bull and open the gate and see if you ride. But, if you let everyone vote, you will pass up ideas like Hoka. "If you can't define innovation in your company, how will you find it? You can say, 'I'm going to innovate.' But, if you don't know where you're going, how the hell will you know when you get there?" Get an innovation Innovating with an Open Mind IDEAS THE FOOTWEAR EYE No Silica gel , clay, or biocides CAPTURES and ISOLATES MOISTURE in excess of 200-450% of its dry weight Prevention is better than cure Michael Hanrahan > > michael@superdryers.com (201) 679 4703 Steve Ryan > > steve@superdryers.com (312) 371 5438 Alex Chisholm > > alex@superdryamericas.com (904) 210 8602 MOLD? MOISTURE DAMAGE? AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE For orders in the Americas : w ww . s up e r d r y e r s . c o m Stuart Jenkins presented at the FDRA Sourcing and Sustainability Summit. Stuart Jenkins on why Innovation is a Business Imperative. 16 • Footwear Insight ~ September/October 2019 footwearinsight.com "If you think the power of the intellect inside your corporation is smarter than the power of everyone outside your corporation, you're absolutely disillusioned."

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