Final+Paper



// Helping the world one step at a time. //
 * Student for Shoes **


 * __ Product Name: __** The Life Shoe


 * __ Introduction __**

Our group has decided to focus on designing a shoe that is inspired by many other existing specialized shoes on the market. We have decided to focus on creating a social-design project where our efforts mainly lie in fundraising, and introducing an entirely new designed business model. Using our individual talents as students, we have created a two-sided business model where individual on both side benefit.

We have initially found and researched a problem and therefore decided to re-create a system to manufacture shoes along with a shoe re-design.

Research to back up our reasoning for the need for a high quality pair of shoes.


 * __ The problem: __**

• August 26 2010 • 193 killed, 65 missing
 * 2010 floods **

• Sunday, August 8, 2010 • 500 missing, 150 killed
 * Flash floods **

• October 2009 • worst flood in the area in the last 100 years • killing 250 people and making 500,000 homeless
 * South India Floods **

• 3 July 2008 - September 2008 • 2400+ fatalities
 * 2008 Indian Flood **

• July 2005 • Over 700 dead
 * Mumbai Floods **

** Pakistan ** • In 2003, Sindh province was bading affected due to monsoon rains causing damages in billions. • In 2007, cyclone Yemyin submerged lower part of Balochistan Province sea water killing 380 people. Before that it killed 213 people in Karachi on its way to **Balochistan.** • In 2009, Karachi was flooded. (see 2009 Karachi floods) • In 2010, from Mid-July till Mid-August - Pakistan's four provinces (Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Southern Punjab and Sindh) were badly affected during the monsoon rains when dams, rivers and lakes overflowed, killing at least 1,750 people, injuring 2,500 and affecting 23 million people. The flood is considered the worst in Pakistan's history, affecting people of all four provinces and Azad Jamu and Kashmir Region of Pakistan. (see 2010 Pakistan floods)


 * __ Our Focus: __**

Floods are common in South Asia, particularly in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which is why we decided to focus on these regions. After doing research, we found that many people living in poverty in these regions are affected by foot disease as they have inadequate foot protection.


 * Walking barefoot can have the following effects: **

•Large cracks can form as the skin on the bottom of the feet toughens and thickens, allowing parasitic infections such as hookworm and threadworm to penetrate the skin •Risk of puncture wounds, cuts, scrapes and burns to the feet •Untreated injuries lead to serious infections, amputations and even death •Feet are at tremendous risk as the child hunts for food or household items in garbage dumps, abandoned housing/construction areas, or while crossing through open sewer trenches and contaminated areas. •Hookworm infections are about 60 times more common in children

Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India are regions known to be flood prone. Sri Lanka has experienced a moonson this past December to January that has affected over 1 million individuals. They have experienced over 1600 mm of rain over 45 days. Pakistan has recently been hit by a massive flood in August 2010, causing over 1,781 fatalities.


 * __ The Solution __**

We have been inspired by the specialty-designed shoes such as the water shoe and Tom’s shoes for its simplistic and lightweight design.

One of our goals is to raise money so that we can create the shoe we designed, and ensure that we are creating sustainable and fair jobs according to appropriate labour regulations. We want our company to set an example on how employees should be treated in regions with abused labour laws.

We have decided to work with Soles for Souls as it legitimizes our positioning within the charity and shoe industry. We believe that it will allow our shoes to not only be distributed fairly, but also allows our business to be associated with a reputable charity organization. This will help us to earn trust amongst people who participate and donate.


 * __ Business model __**

One side of our business model involves designing, creating and distributing shoes to India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan as was briefly discussed above. In order to finance our project, we would like to use our talents as students and would like to do something to benefit other University/College students-all for a good cause. We have decided to create a website where students can find meaningful work while helping out a good cause. We wanted to behave as the intermediary between students and companies, thus we created a platform/ hub where students meet employers.

Within our website, we created a section where we reach out to Canadian post-secondary institutions by allowing students to post their resumes and portfolios for prospective employeers. We then partner those individuals with companies that pay our charity for the students’ efforts. We do this by giving companies access to the website and provide a database of students so long as they agree to donate a share of money for our organization. Not only are students getting experience and growing their portfolios, but they are able to give back to a charity.

There is a trend with unpaid internships and many of the positions do not full fill and take advantage of the student’s skills. Many parents are now actually paying companies to help their children find internships. These placements run from round “$5000 to $9500”. We wanted to exploit this trend and bring charities into the picture.

By connecting the need of corporate social responsibility and the need of meaningful work on students, we believe that we can benefit both parties.The McKinsey survey that found “90% of companies surveyed are doing more on corporate social responsibility than 5 years ago”. This means that more companies are putting more money aside from their budget towards social responsibility. Companies are dedicated to put money towards a social cause and although there are existing ways of attracting students, they will have a strong incentive to work with us.

Students are more inclined to do charity connected internships because they are building their portfolios for a more competitive workforce when they graduate. Many students are aware of world issues and are more concerned about social problems in the world, they will be happy to hear about our core values. It is an incentive for employers to work with the charity because they are targeting two social responsibilities. One of them being helping local youth by allowing them to gain valuable work experience and helping to build their portfolios and the second is to give protective shoes to individuals in dire need.

As part of our business model, we would also like to offer marathons that any company/individual wishes to participate in. This gives individuals and businesses the opportunity to get involved in with international efforts, in particular help the manufacturing of shoes.


 * __ Student Efforts __**

We are targeting students across Canada in college and university institutions. We plan on spreading the word through their campus career center, student blogs, networking events as via local and national newspapers such as the Global and Mail, and Toronto Star.

Although reaching employers may be difficult, explaining to them the good cause brings an incentive. This includes explaining how they how could help local youth and international efforts. They could also use some of their CSR budget towards “Students for Shoes” efforts.

Our pricing model involved the employer paying a flat fee to place their ad on our website and having access to students who are seeking internships and in turn advertise on our website.


 * __ Marathon __**

We think health is extremely important and marathons will generate additional money for our charity. Generally, not all companies donate to charity out of the good of their heart, but it is mostly due to corporate social responsibility. When a corporation donates, it wants to make it a clear and bold statement, so it goes on to litter the charity with banners and give aways. We will aim to target a certain city, and aim to be sponsored by a local firm that is looking to carry out its charity duties. We would organize a run, and try to gather people from all around the city to join the run and donate for this good cause. We also think the marathon and the shoe are quite relevant to one another, where we could use the charity slogan, “Helping the world one step at a time”.

This event can go on all around North American cities, and if it gains proper momentum, would excel into the global scene. We believe this event would help us garner a great amount of funding, and would gradually help us produce more shoes.


 * __ Shoe design: __**

When we first decided to develop a possible prototype of the shoe, we decided to look at existing models and try to build up on that. We studied various types of shoes, and how each tried to tackle a specific issue. With the Toms shoes, we were inspired by the simplicity of the shoe’s overall design, and how it’s light weight and simple structure implied that it was a summer shoe. It is always a good sign when the customer can understand the product’s purpose by simply glancing at it, rather than having to thoroughly inspect it.


 * __ Wages __**

Although the Toms shoes offered an overall simple structure, the material used in the shoes would not help with the climate changes that occurred in most South Asia countries. During monsoon seasons, the countries fall victim to severe rain falls and floods, leaving parts of the country generally moist and extremely wet. The material needed in our shoes has to be waterproof with holes to allow air and water to flow in and out freely, along with having a hard enough bottom to avoid any sharp objects cutting through. This is where we turned our heads to two different shoes; the Scuba diving shoes (or water shoes), and the Hunter boots. Neoprene, the material used to make scuba shoes, is slightly higher in price than general purpose synthetic rubbers, but is resistant to water, ozone, oil and chemical. It would work really well with our concept of a safe, cheap shoe. Recycled rubber has been highly praised for its eco-friendly features, and it is cheaper than normal rubber. If we manage to incorporate recycled rubber into our shoe, it could perfectly create the solid bottom part of the shoe.

Ideally, the final design would have the overall simple design of the Tom shoes, the waterproof material of the scuba shoes, and a thinner rubber base that would be sufficient enough to protect the user’s feet.


 * What will be the cost of the shoe? **

Approximate material costs:



Finding the exact manufacturing costs will be difficult to determine, because it depends on a lot of the factors stated in the chart above. According to research, the actual cost of a $100 shoe manufactured in China is only $12. If we were to exclude both retail store and profit costs, we would arrive at a much cheaper product to manufacture. A ton of Neoprene costs somewhere between $3500-$4000, and would be greatly sufficient to produce around 50,000 pairs (assuming a pair consumes 20g of Neoprene).

In the past 6 months, the price of rubber has sky rocketed, nearly doubling in price from $1.50/lb to $2.80/lb. According to these numbers, a ton of rubber would cost around $6170. Recycled rubber has been gaining a lot of publicity, and a ton can be bought for as little as $560. Assuming a pair would consume 200g of rubber and 20g of Neoprene, the cost of manufacturing a pair would be 20 cents. The price would also have to include wages and other production costs, but it would not exceed a dollar per pair.


 * Left column represents monthly salaries in CAD($)
 * Blue section indicate the current amount paid
 * Red section indicates the increases we are willing to pay

Students For Shoes ultimate goal to create a sustainable minimarket within India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Our charity would love to create shoes for the citizens of these countries and these employees to help out their communities by supplying them with the Life Shoes. In Pakistan, the current monthly minimum wage is 6,000 Rs which equals to approximately $69 CAD a month. However 49% of works are being paid less than minimum wage in 2003/04. India’s minimum wage is also similar with a mimimum wage of 3000 Rs per month, which equals to approximately $66 CAD a month. Sri Lanka’s monthly minimum wage is a bit more competitive with $77 CAD per month. By creating jobs and giving the opportunity for individuals to contribute to their own economy and create the Life Shoe, we hope that will increase their own well being and to help the country in many ways.

Soles for Souls is a non-for profit organization created in 2004 right after the devastating tsunami hit South East Asia. Soles for Souls acts as an intermediary between organizations like footwear companies, churches, and charities who donate either money or shoes, and the other 90% who are in need of the shoes and charity. Soles for Souls is an extremely successful organization, which is why we had our eye on it for our project. We aim to get exposure from their website and publicity. Because they are legitimate highly reputable organization, it will offer our new design product a higher credibility and success rate. Soles for Souls recognizes all charitable projects they intermediate, and we hope that our project can be recognized on their website and amongst charities of individuals and large organizations. Apart from sending out our product to benefit the other 90%, our most important goal is to generate more awareness about these social concerns that led us to start our own project and help out.
 * How will we distribute? **

Soles for Souls distributes all over the world, so we can use them to specifically distribute the shoes to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other areas susceptible to floods and wetlands. Soles for Souls already has a method of distributing according to “style, quality, and season”; therefore, we know our shoes will be sent to the appropriate destinations. However, Soles for Souls allows donations to be location specific, meaning we can specify exactly where we want our donations to go if we don’t want to implement their strategy. Essentially, this is what we planned on doing. The biggest advantage of having Soles for Souls distribute for us, is the extra time we can use to focus on funding, and on obtaining materials for and creating our design.

Soles for Souls allows for delivery donations from several different countries. They are associated with Unishippers, a shipping company that eases the delivery process for donors. With a short phone call, they can basically locate the nearest shipping destination for donors and advise them on the simplest method of delivery. Using their simple delivery method, we will be able to distribute our product in the most efficient process.

We hope that by using Soles for Souls as our distributor, our donations will receive media and recognition, refer other charities to some of our fundraiser events like our marathon event, and most importantly, find their way to the soles of the people who really need and deserve them.

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