Founder Spotlight: David Even (PRIMAL Soles)
Meet David Even:
PRIMAL Soles are our Planet's first 100% recyclable, circular, and sustainable shoe insoles made from natural Mediterranean cork.
Startup Stage:
Bootstrapped from savings and a small family round
Location:
Amsterdam, Netherlands
When did you launch the business?
2021
What led you to where you are today?
We had a vision to provide maximum comfort combined with minimal footprint for one of our most primal activities: walking. Since this did not yet exist in the market, our goal was to provide easy access for everyone to the most comfortable, natural, and recyclable shoe insoles. Because we believe that everybody deserves to move with comfort.
What do you wish you knew before embarking on your entrepreneurial journey?
That Facebook ads don't work for insoles. I really wish I knew that before. I mean, we knew insoles weren't sexy - but that's why we entered this market: to bring sexy back to the sole. But you live and you learn. Our philosophy is to try and fail fast. Therefore, we are focussing now on more niche markets through merit and common interest rather than paid ads.
What is the most difficult decision you've had to make regarding your business so far?
The most difficult decision has been to not accept the fact that our supplier wasn't able to produce 100% recyclable shoe insoles. We almost lost all that we had invested before we even hit the market. We were told to just take the highest quality, like all other insole brands out there. We were told that making a fully recyclable sole could just not be done. After all, no one had ever done it before! But we persisted, our suppliers persisted, and together we have indeed created our planet's very first fully recyclable shoe insoles.
What can you help the VEGPRENEUR community with?
We can help by sharing our mission and vision, which is to inspire consumers and producers to do better and to be better. We aim to inspire others that creating sustainable brands can work and that we can have a positive impact. We must lead by example. In our case, specifically, our mission is to shed light on and reduce the negative impact the shoe industry has on our landfills.
How can the VEGPRENEUR community help you?
The community can help us by spreading our message. To share our message with others we increase the reach that we have and become that much closer to achieving our mission.
Fun fact about you:
I reached the second highest point on earth to space...
Anything else you would like to share?
We have three very exciting topics headed into the new year. First, on January 1st we will officially become part of the 1% for the Planet community. We are very proud and excited to be joining this special initiative. Second, we have been shortlisted by Financial Times for the top student-led "Responsible Business Education Awards 2023", of which the results will be published end of January. Lastly, we are looking to raise a seed round investment so that we can scale our growth and have a greater impact on our mission.
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