Jeneba Barrie Nude Collection

She used Kickstarter to fund her fashion idea and you won’t believe what happened next!

Idea:

Attorney Jeneba Barrie had the idea back in 2011 when she noticed her sister had the same “beige” pumps that the market called “nude” but did not match their skin tone. She started thinking about why there were no nude pumps for women of color and wanted to create a solution

How it started:

In 2018, before the Kickstarter Campaign, advertising, prototypes, and business costs were funded by Jeneba and her husband. One of the biggest challenges was finding an Italian manufacturer who would work with them in creating the prototypes, as they needed to fulfill the MOQ (minimum order quantity).

How it’s going:

They eventually found a manufacturer that will fulfill the prototypes for the campaign. In 2019, they started with a Kickstarter goal of $15,000 and ended up raising a little over $23,000! Since launching her line of 13 true skin-tone shades, Barrie has received praise from fashion industry insiders and customers alike. Her shoes have been featured in major fashion publications like Vogue, and she has collaborated with other fashion brands like Rebecca Minkoff.

3 Marketing Strategies

here are three potential strategies that she may have employed:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Barrie likely invested in optimizing her website for search engines to improve her website’s ranking in search results when potential customers searched for terms related to her shoe brand, such as “nude shoes for women of color”. This may have included identifying and using relevant keywords throughout her website, optimizing her site’s structure and content for search engines, and building high-quality backlinks to her site from other relevant websites.

Influencer Marketing: Barrie may have partnered with influencers and bloggers who had a strong following and whose audiences aligned with her target market. She may have provided them with free shoes in exchange for reviews, features, or mentions on their blogs or social media channels, which could have helped her reach new audiences and build brand awareness.

Email Marketing: Barrie may have used email marketing to build relationships with her existing customers and keep them engaged with her brand. This may have included sending regular newsletters with updates about new product releases, special promotions, and other news and information that would be of interest to her subscribers. She may have also used email to offer exclusive discounts or other incentives to encourage repeat purchases and foster loyalty among her customers.

Jeneba Barrie, a Sierra Leonean-American lawyer and entrepreneur, created her luxury nude shoe line in response to her own frustrations with finding a nude shoe that matched her skin tone. She realized that most nude shoes on the market were only available in shades of beige that did not match the skin tones of women of color, and she decided to do something about it.

Barrie launched her eponymous shoe line, Jeneba Barrie, in 2018. Her shoes are made in Italy with high-quality leather and come in seven different shades to match a range of skin tones. Barrie’s goal was to create a shoe that would make women feel confident and empowered, no matter what their skin tone.

In addition to offering a variety of nude shades, Barrie’s shoes are also designed with comfort in mind. The heels are made with a special foam padding that helps to distribute weight evenly, and the shoes are crafted to fit the foot like a glove.

Since launching her line, Barrie has received praise from fashion industry insiders and customers alike. Her shoes have been featured in major fashion publications like Vogue, and she has collaborated with other fashion brands like Rebecca Minkoff.

Barrie’s success has inspired other entrepreneurs to create nude shoe lines that cater to women of all skin tones. She has also used her platform to advocate for greater inclusivity in the fashion industry, encouraging other designers to consider the needs of all women when creating their products.

Overall, Jeneba Barrie’s story is a testament to the power of entrepreneurship and the importance of representation in the fashion industry. By creating a product that filled a gap in the market and made women feel seen and valued, she has made a lasting impact on the industry and on the women who wear her shoes.