This Footwear Founder Shares Her Secret to Working With Factories

0:00So I started listening to a lot of podcasts like we're doing right now. So I would like listen while drawing shoes. I would say this is what motivated me to start a business because like I had no idea how to start a business.

0:21You're listening to Shopify On Location. I'm Shuang Esther Shan in downtown Montreal. Some of the biggest shoe companies in Canada are right here. And Maguire shoes stand out as a part of a new generation of direct-to-consumer brands, making European-quality leather footwear for a fraction of the cost. Co-founder Mariam Bazile-Maguire has lived and worked in almost every major fashion city, from London to Milan. But Montreal had the right combination of affordability and talent to get Maguire off the ground. Miriam is joining us in the studio today to talk about entrepreneurship in the city and finding the best manufacturers and suppliers.

1:06Thank you so much for joining us, Miriam. Thank you for having me. So the footwear industry has been strong in Montreal for many decades. And you grew up close to here, so you had some exposure to it. Why did you want to focus on shoes? I think from a young age, I understood that footwear was kind of a niche and not many people knew about it. And if I could crack this niche, it would be, I guess, successful for me. And I didn't grow up in Montreal. I grew up in a small city close to Quebec City. So I was like a small town girl. So I was trying to figure out like what to study. And I did a lot of research at the time.

1:47I didn't speak English. So I went in the dictionary and checked what the word in English shoe or footwear was. The Internet was starting. So I entered online and then I found this school in London, UK, where you could study footwear. And I think at the time, the pounds was three times the Canadian dollar. So I showed that to my parents and I'm like, OK, this is where I'm going to study in London in shoes. And they were like, OK, we won't take a second mortgage on our house to send you study there. So you're going to have to find another way to study shoes. And this is how I started like researching what other footwear designers study in.

2:29And I found that a lot of sport footwear designers study in industrial design. And that's what I decided. I think I was like 14. And I decided, OK, I'm going to go in industrial design and hope I can do shoes after that. Very early on, you were already really resourceful, which is so important to be an entrepreneur. and you did later find yourself in London, a part of studying and also working. So talk to us about that journey. Yes. So basically I did four years in Montreal and then in my four years in industrial design at University of Montreal, I could go do an exchange. So I did six months in Milan and instead of taking industrial design class, I managed to take a few fashion class like mix in my university classes.

3:20and then I really enjoy it. All the classes were in Italian, so I was learning Italian and English at the same time.

3:33And then because I was not good in English and then Italian is pretty close to French, so I learned a bit of both and then it was all part of my big plan because I was like, okay, if I didn't work in shoes, the shoe manufacturer are in Italy, so Italian will be really useful. and it ended up being really useful. And then after that, when I graduated, the program I wanted to do in London, they were offering a one-year class and then the price was like much lower than a three-year BA. So I went in London and then I borrowed money and then I went to study in London for a year. And then I think last year in July, I finished to pay my studies in London.

4:14So it took me like, I think, 13 years to reimburse the fees of studying in shoes.

4:25So it was like a full circle moment for me last year when I finally finished to pay all these studies. And sometimes I'm like, maybe going to study in an expensive school is maybe not the solution. Where I learn a lot, it's by working in the shoe industry. So I would say this is where I learn most of what I know today. and like it really helped me starting the business. And you've worked with some legacy brands building up that extensive experience. So I lived for a year in a town called Treviso. It's where Benetton, United Color of Benetton is based and they have a design studio called Fabrica at the time.

5:09I'm not sure it's still active, but I went there for a year. So the way it worked is you go there for a week or two and then you do a trial and like hundreds of people come to do a trial and only like I would say like 30 to 40 people are selected. And for some reason I was selected. And what happened is they were paying for my flight, my visa, I had a place to live and I have free lunches. And my job was just to design and work on like product design, but I did a bit of shoes also with Benetton and I would just do fun product design for a year with people from all over the world. So in my team, I had a girl from Korea, a guy from Japan, a guy from Scotland, UK, Chile, France, Portugal.

5:58So we were like a mix of different people from a bit everywhere working on design projects together. So that was a really fun year. And after that, I went back to work in shoes. So you had great jobs working for iconic brands at some really cool fashion capitals. But then you decided that you wanted to start your own business. How did you pick Montreal as the base and start your business? Yes. So for many years, I did a bit of material sourcing and I was designing at the same time. Then I was doing only footwear design. So I would spend my day only drying shoes. and I like doing a bit of everything.

6:41So I like doing like a bit of pricing and then a bit of designing. I like kind of multitasking and doing a bit of everything and I kind of became a master in designing shoes and I was really wondering what's next. So even though I would travel around the world and I had like this dream job from people that were looking at me and my progression, I felt like I wanted to learn more and be more challenged.

7:13So at the time, there was a lot of women founders, like starting businesses. So there was Sofia Amoroso starting Nasty Girl, and then she was everywhere in the media. And then there was the girl from Away, and there was also Emily Weiss from Glossier. So I was seeing all these like women entrepreneurs kind of in the fashion space or like product space. And I was like, OK, no one is doing footwear direct to consumer. And I feel like that's a product that is good for direct to consumer. So I started listening to a lot of podcasts like we're doing right now. So I would like listen to podcasts and while drawing shoes, because you can like listen to podcasts when you're drawing.

7:59So I would work and listen to entrepreneurship podcasts. and I would say this is what kind of motivated me to start a business because no one I knew had a business and like no one in my family, like I had no idea how to start a business. So that's why I was listening to all these other people to kind of understand how I can start and like quit my job. And at some point we did really well and I got like a$15 ,000 bonus with a raise. and when I saw the money, like I never had like that much money given to me at once. So when I saw the money and the raise, I was like, okay, like I have enough to live for like four months, so I'm going to quit.

8:42So I quit on the spot when I saw like the check that gave me like the confidence to be able to quit my job. And I also had a boyfriend that was like, you can do this. Like, it's okay. You can quit. Like he was really not stressed about it. So I think that also helped me in my process. I also like the part of the story where sometimes it might be counterintuitive to entrepreneurship is the fact that having a corporate job is actually pretty beneficial. It gave you the experience, built up your expertise, and then it also gave you the financial foundation to actually chase after this. Yeah, and I feel also what I learned and what we saw during COVID is that there's no job that you should take for granted.

9:27So even if you have a corporate job and it feels really safe from the outside or you think you're going to be there forever, you could be layoff at any moment. So what I feel like a lot of my friends were layoff during COVID because there was like no more store running. So they had to do layoff. And then because I had my own business, I was able to like sell online and keep going. So you can be an entrepreneur and kind of decide of your own fate. Or you can also have a corporate job, but both are not safe, basically. And with entrepreneurship, you can hopefully create your own security in the way that fits your life.

10:06So you got this bonus from work. You decided to start Maguire Shoes and you returned to Montreal. What about Montreal, its fashion, its style, its environment that made sense to you? Yes. So like living in other places like London and Milan, and I had friends living in New York and Paris, I felt like these cities were like very active in terms of fashion. Like there was a lot going on, but it was also extremely expensive. So it was hard for me to imagine like hiring people. And most of these places, let's say they hire a bunch of interns and they don't pay them. So for me, like, I didn't want to run my business unpaid intern.

10:53Like, I've seen all of that. I've been an unpaid intern for doing all kinds of errands for, like, a couple of months in London. And I felt like this is not a sustainable way to build a business. So that's why, like, I felt Montreal was a good mix of people that have experience in fashion and that are artistic. but also like the rent is cheaper here than a lot of like other big Canadian cities or big American cities. So that's why like I feel Montreal was a good place to start a business. And I believe that's why there's a lot of fashion business in Montreal that are international, but based in Montreal because of the cost of living.

11:36So from day one, I was able to pay for my logo, pay for my partners. And here, there's also a lot of different grants. Because we speak French, we have a lot of grants to export outside of the French province. So we have a lot of programs to help entrepreneurs here that my friends in the U.S. don't have access to. And now I have a business in the U.S., and I'm not able to get funding for the first two years because I'm from Canada. So that's why, like, starting here for me was, like, much easier. And speaking to grants and resources, what advice do you have for people who are preparing an essay, a pitch about themselves when they're trying to seek out funding or grants of that sort?

12:21Oh, my God. The first thing we did was a business plan. So this is where my sister got involved because my sister is in marketing and communication. So when I quit my job, she was like, oh, my God. So she started helping me just out of PT, I say, but she started helping me and building the business plan with me. We wrote a really good business plan. And since, like, our business plan hasn't changed too much. Like, when I read it today, it's not so far from what we end up doing. So we did that. And there's, like, a bunch of different grants in Montreal. So we pitched to Futurpreneur that gave us$15 ,000, I feel.

13:03I bought my first production with my$15 ,000. Then when I saw I was working, I needed more money to buy more stock because the shoe industry is very capital intensive.

13:19When you're small, you have to buy all your product in advance. So my sister did the business plan, and then we went to get our first loan. And then the second loan was with PME Montreal, and they help us to do all the projection. So basically, the girl there, I'm going to say her name, Valérie Lafineur, she did all her business projection for the next three years so we could get more money to found her business. So that was really helpful. And then from there, when we started to grow, then we started to learn a bit more about business and projection, and we had a bit of more help. So we went to BDC.

14:01Then last year for New York, we went to Investissement Québec. So there's a lot of different places where you can get money here in Québec and also in Canada. And I would say the grant, you have to just keep your eyes open for any grant. So here we have in Canada CanExport that can help you to export your product outside of Canada. And we also have PSCE in Quebec that help you export your product outside of Quebec. So these two grants helped us to open in Toronto and in New York after. So there's so many of them. You just need to check and like try to find them. I think there's a parallel story or a parallel theme here where when you were 14 and you were really resourceful looking for shoemaking classes and finding industrial design.

14:51And also now as a business owner, you're being very resourceful at finding all these new opportunities. And it's also interesting to hear that that one business plan was so essential for all of these opportunities. A big part of the business plan was to actually focus direct to consumer and be very transparent about your sourcing and pricing to the consumer. So talk to us about taking this route and doing something new in the industry. Yes. So, like, I would say I've worked in the industry and I saw all the struggle of selling wholesale. So you have to, like, find all your customers and you have customers that commit on orders and then they run out of money or, like, their season is not going so well.

15:42So if you're late, like a few days, they cancel your orders. So I didn't want to deal with all of that. I felt like a lot of good footwear brands in the past have went bankrupt because they would get shoes placed in a major retailer. And then this retailer wouldn't sell the product and ask for markdown dollar back. So that means if your product didn't sell in a big chain, they ask you like, OK, now we didn't sell your product. So you owe us, I don't know,$50 ,000 in markdown dollars. So we're going to buy your next collection and we won't pay. So I didn't want to like enter this game. I felt it was kind of risky.

16:25And also with that, you need to double your price. so like your old seller need to make at least 50 to 60 percent so that's why like all the price structure is based around them and I went to factories like iron factories and I would go in the factories and ask the owner how much is this shoe and he would tell me$20 US and then I would go to the airport and see the same shoe for$450 US so I would be like okay I'm sure there's a way to do like iron shoes and not sell them$400 and sell them more around my budget, which is like, let's say$200 to$300 for like a good pair of boots. So that's why I was like, okay, there's a place to do like a business that is fair.

17:16And that's why like I started this company because I wanted access for myself. I love designing with iron factories. I love all their knowledge and how they make it easy. Like when I sketch something, they make it look even better than my sketch. So I wanted access to all these amazing suppliers with great materials that I could never use in fast fashion because they were too expensive. I wanted to use all of that without compromise, but also offer a great price for my customers, basically. So I didn't want to compromise anymore, either on prices or on my design. So that's why I just went direct.

17:59And it's like slower to build a brand, but I feel like the reward is really good at the end. You're definitely getting the best of both worlds from the quality and also the value for your customers. And a big part of business is finding the right suppliers. And we're going to get into that part next. I'm chatting with Miriam Bazile-McGuire, co-founder of McGuire Shoes. If you're enjoying today's episode or if you want to give us feedback for the show, leave us a review wherever you're listening and give us a follow or subscribe if you haven't. It really helps us out. Thank you so much. So before you even expand the team, the most important part is actually finding the manufacturer in the beginning to make that first run of production of your design.

18:52How did you go about finding that partner in the beginning? So what I did is I went to a show called Micam. You have all the suppliers there, and then you have to walk around and try to figure out if the supplier is an agent or a factory. So I walk around, and then I just stumble on these two guys. They only spoke Italian, didn't speak English. Kiosk was not super busy, so I went there. And then I started talking to them in Italian. I realized they were, like, based one hour from Milan in a region that I have been before. So I kind of knew the area. So I said, OK, are you going back, like, in two days?

19:35And then after the end of the show, and they were like, yeah, if you want to come visit. So I rented a car, and then I went to visit. And then I saw their factory. I saw it was like something like 20 people working in the factory. So I really liked the size of the factory and they accepted to do small quantities for me. So that was like my first factory where I could design like a bunch of different styles from scratch. But when I first launched the project, I asked one of my friends that I studied with in London to do a sneaker in an iron factory in China. and often people are like, China is cheap and then like European factories are great.

20:16So I feel like there's good factories in every country. You just have to know the people. You have to visit it. You need to check how it is. So China has some of the best factories also in the world. And like Europe have some of the best factories in the world and they also have bad ones. So my first product was a sneaker made in China by my friend because I didn't know where to go. And my friend had this contact in China that was working with a lot of iron factories. So I had access to a really good factory in China. And then I moved to Europe because it was easier for me to travel there and like go in the factory and design with the factory.

20:58It would be also cheaper to travel to Europe versus traveling to China. So this is why I started finding European factories. And then I think in 2019, something like that, the factory shipped me my order. Like it was going really well for us. The quality was amazing. People really liked the comfort. So the factory shipped my order, I think, in August. And then they're like, we're closing next week. So at the time, I had one factory. My sister was like five or six months pregnant. So we said, okay, we're just going to go back to Europe, to the show, and we'll try to find like more than one factory.

21:42So we'll try to have at least three or four so that if one closed down, then we still have two or three factories. And now we work with 10 different factories now in four different countries. So that's why I learned from not having all my eggs in the same basket and working only with one factories. And also I went to a leather show and I found a stretch leather. So material supplier is a good way also to find factories because they don't care to disclose the factories because they want to sell their material. So if they know that a specific factory use their material and really buy from them, they want to give you the contact because that means maybe more business for them.

22:25So I found this guy from Belgium selling extensible leather. And they said, oh, it's these guys in Portugal buying it and they do amazing booth with it. And this is when I met one of my still most successful relationships to this day. It's like these three brothers making shoes in Portugal and we've been working together for the past four years. So this is how you find factories. It's like a bit of luck, a bit of contact, recommendation. And now that we're bigger, factories come to us and offer their service. I think there's so many great takeaways in your story because, one, you have to be resourceful and diversify your contacts.

23:13Because relying on one sometimes might not be the best for your operations in case something happens to that factory. And two, I love your story of working directly with a supplier because that could also give you contacts from the material supplier to actually the manufacturers. All of these different relationships, 10 different factories. How do you make sure everything is on schedule and all of the quality is consistent so that when someone gets a pair of shoes, they know that this is up to the Meguiar standard? First of all, no one is ever on schedule. So, usually, the way it works is they're going to try to be on schedule for bigger brands that have stressful deadlines.

24:00So, like, bigger brands with factories, they have all kind of contracts together. And if the factory is late, let's say two days, they have to pay a certain amount. If they're late, like, one week, the brand can cancel the entire order. Like, there's all kind of rules like that. And for big brands, they're often like pretty harsh with the factories. And what I like is we don't have this kind of contract with the factories. It's based on trust. And we're trying to be like nice with them, basically. And I think that's why they keep us. Because they know that if they're a bit late with us, we still have a relationship.

24:40And that makes their life less stressful and easier. Because sometimes they're late and it's not their fault. They have, like, problem recruiting employees. Like, they have the same problems that we do here. So that's one thing that we do to kind of be better with the factories. When we work with a new factory, usually I do a test order of only a few pairs. And if I like the quality, then I increase my order. So, and then if I have a factory that I have consistent, like, quality problem with them, at some point I just let them go and replace with another factory. So usually you start with a small order, so you don't go and, like, do a crazy amount of style with a factory you don't know because they could be, like, four months late and they could also have terrible quality or they could take your money and just never send the stock.

25:34Like, everything is possible. So that's why you start small. And then if you like the relationship, like, we have a factory right now we're testing. they work with a lot of big French brands and they don't answer email but they just answer phone call in Italian so it's not great for my team that is trying to follow up on product like they're doing everything right it's just they won't email you and tell you so sometimes it's like you don't like the way they work so you have to let them go because it's too complicated to work with them and with time some of the factory will give you credit, will give you time to pay, and that will help you to grow the business.

26:17But if these factories don't help you, then they might not be good partners because the way I see my factory is like part of my team. So, yeah, I'm trying to find the best partner for my team, basically. So not just quality and also how punctual they are with delivery, It's also the style, how they work, and if it fits into your work culture as well. I think what else is interesting, like you mentioned, there are trade shows and there are suppliers that will recommend manufacturers to you. So there is more approachability and more access for anyone to access the factory. But it's actually hard to convince them to actually take you on and develop that relationship over time.

27:02What advice do you have for founders who are new and they're trying to convince whichever factory in whatever industry to actually work with them? I would say go work for someone else. So if the factory sees that you have experience somewhere else, they're going to take you seriously from the first meeting. So that's going to really help. So because I worked for a big corporation in the past, when I would go see them, I would introduce myself and say I was a designer for this amount of years for this big company. They would be like, oh, okay, great. And do you know this person? Because it's such a small industry.