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Let's Bring Soap Shoes Back!
Apr 30, 2006 by SapAuthor Hey all. I'm tired of having to scrounge around for a pair of soaps. Let's revive the beast! I sent the following letter to Soap Shoes: Salutations, My name is Trevor. I wanted to email you to tell you that Soaps aren't dead, but it's become extremely difficult to obtain them, many people are striving to find larger pairs of these shoes but to no success. I run a famous web comic strip, sonicandpals.com. Nearly all my fans are Sonic the Hedgehog fans, and being such, most have played the games (especially Sonic Adventure 2). In this game, as you may have known, Sonic uses Soap like shoes to grind on rails. I noted that I was getting interested in Soap shoes on my web site, and I got a bunch of emails of others saying they want in. So here's the thing, we need soap shoes again! Heelys, well they are all right, but we don't want the wheel, and because of the wheel they make the soul of the shoe hard as a rock (for balance) and make them extremely uncomfortable on the heal (my feet are often bruised from just normal living). So, you have a target market, I would be more than happy to advertise for your shoes on my page which gets around 700 hits a day (and rising), and maybe work out some sort of contract with getting your shoes going again. I don't want anything really for me, maybe at most a discount on a pair so I can get them, but I want people to get more active and enjoy just getting out, and I want soap shoes to come back. You don't know how hard it is to find soap shoes size 11+, I'm a size 12 and it's darn near impossible (although I think I may have found 1...) Take a look at http://www.solidgrind.com/, It's a site devoted to soaping, see all the people who are looking for them, excited about them, and loving them! What I propose is this, if you are still under the authority of Heely, tell them that the market wants the original soap shoes back, no wheels. Maybe have them take a look at remanufacturing the shoes, and some new ones. Give me some banners and info and I'll be more than happy to put it up on a section of my web site http://www.sonicandpals.com/, as well as put you up on one of the 10 slots on my add bar for free. It's a win win situation, you bring back soaps, we get people to buy them and use them. I don't need any cut in the deal, I just want to be able to go out and get a pair and enjoy living life a bit on the edge of a rail. Please response to this email when you have read it over. I'll get back to you as soon as possible. At the moment I am out of my home state attending the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) for DECA, I compete in E-Commerce, placed 7th in the nation last year. I have experience in selling, E-Commerce, web site management, and have a ton of loyal fans who want the same thing that I do. Even talking about it at school has gotten some people interested, just wait till they see me in action! Sincerely, Trevor Fayas of Sonicandpals.com - The Comic! I'm standing by my words. Show your support and email Soap Shoes at info@soapshoes.net and tell them that you support the revival of soap shoes. I'll get my fans to do the same as soon as I get some time to get the word out and get people rallying for this. Let's do this, get pumped about it, and support the shoes!!! Replies
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Apr 30, 2006Surfaced
Regardless, this is an excellent idea. Let's see what HSL says in response.
Apr 30, 2006dunk
This is a simple case of supply and demand; shops don't stock 'em because people don't want 'em and it's going to take a lot more than you or your 700-visitors-a-day to convince HSL to remedy the problem.
We're talking about MILLIONS of dollars of investment required to set up shoe production (research and development, raw materials and manufacturing, advertising and promotion, warehousing and distribution... the list goes on), and to justify investing millions of dollars HSL and it's investors need to be guaranteed a decent return in sales, ie., the business must be commercially viable. A few people searching for a place to buy Soap shoes online ain't gonna convince them in the slightest and neither will a few emails from loyal Soap shoe fans. Just remember that HSL already own a much more popular competing brand (Heelys), so why the fuck should they invest in a badly performing, loss-making brand rather than plough more money into a popular and profitable brand? It just isn't a priority.
If you want HSL to do something about the problem you're going to have to do the work yourself;
Get some video footage, take some pictures, make a website and put everything online so people can see what Soap shoes are and how ridiculously fun they can be.
Quit bugging HSL and start bugging your local store owner as it's they who will place orders with HSL for Soap shoes and their communication with HSL will be taken a lot more seriously (since HSL use retailers to gauge public demand) than some kid off the street, even if you do own a 700-visitor-a-day website.
And even then, there's no guarantee anything will work, you're running against a tide of disinterest right now. In the last ...8 (!!) years I've seen the brand reincarnated too many times, and each time with little success, although HSL have given it an admirable stab.
Bar a miracle or Soap shoes appearing on a nationwide TV feature it's going to be hard work regaining popularity (hard work that HSL don't see the commericial viability in doing).
Sorry for being blunt, but this is the absolute bare bones of the situation.
I'm hoping to publish some of UKFSW's video footage online soon, need to speak with the others first, but hopefully this will help revive the community, but it's a drop in the ocean.
Apr 30, 2006Surfaced
Dunk's post reminded me about how expensive the entire process is. Besides, Soap is stuck in a ditch. The reason Soap rapidly shot off and gained huge popularity was because of Sonic Adventure 2, and it's update, Battle. More than half of us who are here now discovered Soap because of that game, and the contract for that partnership has been inactive for a while. This means that the number of people who are discovering Soap is about 1000 times smaller. In addition, HSL doesn't want to put anymore money towads Soap. Even if HSL finally wanted to re-activate that contract, the next Sonic game is supposed to be a revamp of the original Sonic for the Sega Genesis. Giving Sonic some Soap shoes or slapping some ads here and there in that game wouldn't fit at all. Coming back to the issue where HSL doesn't want to put any money towards Soap: even if the partership continued, this fact still exists. Those kids who notice the Soap ads ingame- where would they buy Soaps? It is a never ending cycle of bullshit, and for one simple reason that every company, including HSL knows:
You have to give to get.
HSL doesn't want to give up any money, so they aren't gonna get any money. This shit hasn't changed for quite some time, and as long as HSL think what they think, as long as we don't collectively start huge things, it will remain this way. And one last time, according to Dunk, we still don't have a guarantee for our efforts.
It's a choice. Given the factors, we can choose not to do anything. We can move on, we can do well in school, and up our chances of success in our lives, because one less thing would be taking our time.
On the other hand, we, or some of us, can attempt to bring Soap back into power, despite the odds which have a seemingly unforgettable grudge on us. Still, we aren't assured what we do will be worth while.
PS: Sorry if everything above seems really crackpot; I was listening to the overture of the Kingdom Hearts games so I felt really empowered and courageous lol I usually don't say stuff like that...
Apr 30, 2006SapAuthor
Apr 30, 2006AnthoFlex
Apr 30, 2006Surfaced
May 1, 2006dunk
As I recall, the Sonic Adventure deal came about at a time when Soap shoes were really struggling under Artemis Innovations ownership, the deal deffinitely helped bring things back to the boil for a while.
SapAuthor... assuming you have the right connections in the industry and enough time then go for it. Personally, I think Soap shoes have always been a bit of backyard fun which is why I think underground promotion via the internet would be the best way to build up a new following. Soap shoes have been forced on the skating crowd ever since their conception and most people these days see them as a running joke.
I hear what you're saying. But just be content with what you have and don't worry about trying to control the powers that be.
The irony is, here in the UK pretty much every size and style of Soap shoe is widely available (from the 1997 Scabs right through to the latest HSL design Soap shoes), the complete opposite of 5 or 6 years ago when the US had everything and we had nothing. Retailers over here have been buying up the shoes and have now found themselves stuck with the things since there's no demand anymore.
May 1, 2006SapAuthor
May 1, 2006Surfaced
Dunk, can I have your email address? I'd like to ask you some questions.
May 1, 2006Wesker
My contact in Soap shoes has recently left the company for a better job, so I am awaiting their replacement to see what I can do to further help Soap shoes.
May 1, 2006Sugarfree
May 1, 2006Wesker
May 1, 2006AnthoFlex
May 2, 2006Curtinator
May 3, 2006dunk
May 6, 2006mrman
Manic dreams excite only the foolish. Sometimes the writing is on the wall, invisible to some, but painfully obvious to all.
May 6, 2006AnthoFlex
May 6, 2006mrman
Better, smarter, more dedicated people have tried and failed when times were better in the context of Soap's success.
Try as you like, but your efforts will go in vain.
When you're monkeys in a dangerous time bruce cannot save the past from disolving into untold symphonic backlashes.
May 6, 2006SapAuthor
May 7, 2006mrman
personally, I know where my money will be placed if asked what the outcome will be.
listen to dunk. he knows it's hopeless.
May 7, 2006SapAuthor
May 11, 2006SapAuthor
May 13, 2006SapAuthor
Hi Trevor,
We appreciate all of your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. They have been forwarded to our CEO. We are definitely interested in the free advertising on your website. We are very familiar with Solid Grind, as it is run by our Soap Team Captain Derek Brooks. He is incredibly talented and has helped us in our marketing efforts up to this point, and has been with us since the acquisition back in September of 2003.
Soap Shoes are still here and with out wheels. The shoes with the wheels are the HEELYS. While the SOAPs may be in a shortage right now it is due to the retailers who do not want to order more. Please e-mail them and encourage them to order more from us. We would be more than happy to oblige. It is the retailers that worry that SOAP will not sell. Thank you again for your continued support and efforts. We are thrilled that we still have a solid Soap fan base. Please let us know your shipping address and we will send you some stickers and shirts to hand out and “spread the love” of SOAP. We wish you luck with all of your academic endeavors!
SOAP
Okay, so here's the mission, those of you who have soaps, try to impress people so they want a pair, get their name and why they would like a apir, what size, and after getting say 10 or so, show a retailer. They should send in a shipment request.