Big Ideas From the Conversation with Michele Levy, Melissa USA; The Shocking Stats of Footwear Industry Waste; and How to Build Cool Consumer Brands

It is unbelievably hard to build a category leading consumer brand. It’s even harder to do in a highly commoditized market like fashion or footwear. That’s one of the big reasons why I jumped on the opportunity to record an interview with Michele Levy, who managed to built Brazilian brand Melissa into the top footwear brand in the US, using innovative technology, creative storytelling, design collaborations and sustainable production.

So what is Melissa?

👡 Today the Melissa brand is owned by Grendene SA, a public listed company headquartered in Brazil. Grendene is one of the world's largest shoe producers and was founded by the Grendene Bartelle brothers in 1971

👩‍🎨 Melissa was one of the first brands in the world to create collaborative collections with iconic designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier

♻️ The company makes 100% recyclable products in a zero-waste facility with renewable energy and an entirely closed circuit of production

🚀 Each year, Melissa produces ~176 million pairs of shoes and launches ~400 new products

🏭 Grendene’s Sobral campus where Melissa Shoes are produced houses six footwear factories, offices, labs, quality control centers, one PVC plant, and one of the most technologically advanced distribution centers. It has its own water treatment center, and all solid waste is reused. All of the campus’ liquid waste is treated and recycled onsite, so none of it enters the public system. The treatment’s sludge byproduct is used as fertilizer on the campus grounds, which, by the way, feature a biome that’s entirely native to Brazil. Here’s the picture of the campus to illustrate the scale of production 👇🏻

🧑🏼‍🌾 Melissa provides more than 16,000 jobs in Brazil, and all employees are local. The materials and supply chain are ~93% local or regional

‼️ To me it’s an insanely inspirational case of Brazilian company leading the world in terms of creativity, sustainable production of ethical footwear and impaction local communities. From Brazil to the world! 🙌🏻🇧🇷

Before we transition to the five big ideas from my conversation with Michele, here are some shocking facts about the global footwear industry that could help fully appreciate how unique and special the Melissa brand is👇🏻
💰 Experts say that the global footwear industry will be worth USD 568.54 billion by 2031. Every year, more than 20 billion shoes are manufactured

🗑 Every year in the US, people throw away over 300 million pairs of shoes, 95% of which wind up in landfills 🤯

🚬The footwear and apparel industry produce a combined 8% of the world’s greenhouse emissions. More than 50% of footwear emissions come from manufacturing and the extraction of raw materials

⚡️To address the waste outputs and inefficiencies the footwear industry is to transition to renewable energy, prioritize efficiency and embrace circularity. Spoiler: Melissa is doing all these things (while few other companies are)

AND NOW FINALLY FIVE BIG IDEAS FROM MY CONVERSATION WITH MICHELE

1️⃣  In a heavily-commoditized market brand is a moat 🦸‍♀️

To avoid competing on a margin, a company needs durable differentiation that others cannot copy, differentiation that customers care about

2️⃣  Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools brands can use to build relationships with customers

People buys stories, emotions and memories. They don’t buy products

3️⃣ The first rule for building great teams is hiring for talent, personality and attitude not for skills

High expectations, sense of urgency, diversity of thought, measurable outcomes, growth mindset and commitment to the purpose are the critical elements

4️⃣ The best way to empower women in business is by giving them an equal voice, equal opportunity and the system of support

There’s no superiority of gender. What really differs is access to opportunity

5️⃣ Technology was critical for creating a personalized customer experience and strengthening customer loyalty in Melissa stores

Early in the cycle, Michele did a lot of collaboration with tech entrepreneurs that beta tested their products in Melissa stores and wholesale business

You can watch the full interview with Michele on Youtube 👀👇🏻

Or listen / watch the episode on Spotify 🎧

Before you go, here’s more on the important of differentiated brand building and how to win in a commoditized market:

I went down the rabbit hole studying the story, launch and growth strategy of one of my favorite new brands - Liquid Death, which is canned water made cool. Today It’s a $1.4B beverage brand, but when it got started in 2018, it didn’t have a product and the Indiegogo fundraising campaign was an absolute failure. Check out their original video that failed to raise $150k but went viral on social media and led to thousands of subscribers 👀👀👀

For many, Liquid Death’s success is paradoxical because there’s no real innovations neither around product (water) nor around materials (aluminum). It’s not a celebrity-founded brand either. The math is not mathing. So how did Mike Cessario and his team won as a premium player in heavily saturated commoditized categories, and all while battling major resistance from most retailers and distributors not understanding their brand or giving them meaningful space? See growth figures below 👇🏻

Well, it’s all about the BRAND, baby. Here’s a good listen about that and here’s a good read.

Also - in case you want some inspiration for building brands in our fast-pace digital environment, do follow Mike on LinkedIn. His posts are priceless.

Thanks for reading,
Olga