Hooray for Innovation!!!!!

Well I was personally delighted to find out that Nomis had won the 'Most Outrageous Boot of the Year' award from footy-boots.com with our NexGen boot which utilises cutting edge customisation technology.

This was real innovation that went on with this development in that it was a brand new invention that was commercialised to produce a solution to customer desires, being customisation. It is a very complex procedure, but the results are magnificent! This particular design is internally codenamed the 'sunset waffle', much to the amusement of some, and we have more designs coming...... all are VERY cool. They will be utilised in our Nomis Spark football boot product, and I'm sure it wont be long before other brands in non-compete market areas start to look to use this technology.

I saw another copycat the other week, where the brand Azuma has clearly ripped off our upper design from our Instinct boot, and blended it with a copy of a Nike outsole. This is starting to get annoying, as it clearly shows that they are just copiers and not innovators. And poor copiers at that as well. Grrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still they will get found out soon enough once the consumer becomes unhappy with their purchase because of inferior materials being used, as they can't even get close to our materials since they are patented.

So continuing on the innovation theme, I've been looking out for new stuff that the competition is doing with regards to leather. Seems as though not a lot is out there at present, with most companies just regurgitating colours and making adjustments through designs as opposed to genuine material upgrades. We have a new waterproof technology coming which is VERY cool..... and will be used to good effect in 4 new products we are developing. It ibased on a completely new chemistry, so stay tuned for that one.

Well better sign off for now.

Rgds,

Dr Leather

Pricing Strategies........how much are you really paying????

Well this blog is not really specifically leather related, but more about products in general with regards to price.

Over the past few months there are more instances coming to light and public attention where the true cost of the product is being questioned. There is so much mark up within the supply chain, and it is the poor old consumer who has to pay. Now I totally understand this from the old traditional 'bricks and mortar' point of view, but now with direct sales being so much easier to carry out, surely the price benefits and greater supply chain economy should be at least offered to the customer/consumer.

Another thing that really annoys me is just how much these sports stars get paid through endorsements, which ultimately you and I as consumers/customers end up paying for. Last night was a prime example when Usain Bolt (that rather quick sprinter!!!) was being interviewed on BBC's Top Gear. It was stated on the programme from Bolt himself, that when he won Gold at the Olmypics last year that Puma asked him what gift he would like. And so he said a super expensive BMw M3, and hey presto he got one!!!!!! (only to write it off in an accident some time later). But who paid for that M3???? That's right!!!!! Us the consumer/customer!!!!!! Do you really think that is a brand that is acting in the interest of it's consumers/customers...... I certainly don't. This is the tip of the iceberg, and simply adds cost to the final pricing of the product. I mean really what is the big deal with professional endorsements these days....... do they really mean what they say or is it just greed and all lies behind the scenes...... I'll let you be the judge.

Well anyway, here at Nomis we have decided to take the stance and do things differently where we can. Hence the pulling out of retail and offering our product through a direct marketing approach rewards not only us but also our customers, and here in Australasia you will be rewarded by up to 35% off of the original RRP's if you order through our website www.shopnomis-au.com or call us on 1300 1 NOMIS or via skype ID Nomis.Australasia

We call this the Nomis-2-Consumer (N2C) pricing and we hope it will help people out in these tough and uncertain economic times. In addition, we'll be offering a limited 30-day money back guarantee as well and real fast shipping options. That way we think it addresses the needs of the consumer pretty well. Couple this with our Mobile Wear Test Centres that are cruising around, and where you can try our footwear out without obligation, and we think we have a great strategy in place. We'll be letting people know by Twitter and our monthly e-mail newsletters about the planned Wear Trial dates and locations going forwards.

But the one thing I am interested in is does the customer/consumer understand why the price has been reduced or is it better to say up to 35% off RRP and show a discount all of the time ??? What appeals to the consumer more??? A bargain, or transparency of costs involved??? Frankly I'm still researching that one, as we need to ensure that the consumer/customer still fully understands that the prices can be reduced through direct marketing due to the retailers profit margin being removed, and not the notion that the product has been engineered more cheaply. But I would love to hear your thoughts on this as the jury is most certainly still out with good arguments for both approaches.

Well signing off for now. And remember.... each time you purchase something, just think what amount you have contributed to that new toy for the professional that is endorsing it ;-)

Cheers,

Dr Leather

Copycat products...... grrrrr!

Well a few weeks ago I found a copycat product for out Nomis wet control leather rugby gloves. It's from a supposed 'leading' rugby supplier brand in Australia, so I decided to get a pair to see for myself.

Frankly they are a VERY cheap copy, and the marketing is a direct rip off of ours. So how does this make us feel??? Well imitation is the supposed greatest form of flattery, but in this case it is evidently not that as the brand in question is using all the efforts of Nomis, whom are trying tocreate a good product, but then this other brand is actually trying to cheat the consumer with something that looks near the same and reads the same with their packaging. In testing it comes nowhere near our product!!!!!

We had this earlier this year when the Nomis Instinct football boot was blatantly copied by another inferior Australian footwear brand, and confused the consumer so much that we even had returns from confused consumers/customers who thought they were buying our genuine Nomis product, but it wasn't!!!!! I just wish other brands had the real innovation horsepower to actually come up with something new and beneficial to the consumer.

So what to do???? Well we have a new DNA type technology that we are looking at installing to prove you have genuine product.

Well there's my rant for the Sunday afternoon. Just remember people..... imitation never leads to innovation!!!!

Cheers,

Dr Leather

Patents and a Bit of Fun!!!!!!

Just to start on the lighter side of things for the weekend, I recommend a visit to www.xtranormal.com to make some fun movies. Very easy to use and publish!!!!!

It's interesting that still the simple things in life are great...... even if that means in this day and age that someone else has done all the hard work behind the scenes.

I'm off to Europe for a few weeks now to organise 12 new innovations for Nomis. But I was yet again amazed today to read some new patents, allied with the footwear and leather industry, that have just been passed which to me are truly a representation of what rubbish you can get away with. There is still the two criteria for patents, well there are in my book, in that a patent should be awarded to a novel solution to a problem or issue, and that it is 'non-obvious'. This last aspect is commonly forgotten, and the one that can be argued upon best of all. What may be obvious to me may not be obvious to someone else, but surely there has to be some sense of reality in that!!!!!! Then there is the whole saga of 'first to invent' and 'first to file' aspects which have differing priorities in different countries. No wonder legal lawyers are so rich these days!!!!!

Regards,

Dr Leather

Smelly boots!!!!!!!!

More and more these days I hear of very negative comments relating to athletic footwear and soccer boots that quickly get an issue with becoming very smelly. This is most likely caused by an issue relating to micro-organisms that have decided to set up home in your shoe or boot, and consequently a rather unsavory odour is generated. And smell is only one aspect of this..... foot health relating to possible infection with micro-organisms, bacteria, fungus, etc is also a possibility.

In my experience the synthetic shoes and boots tend to be far worse for this issue than leather footwear, primarily linked to the synthetics having significantly reduced breathability characteristics. Leather typically has a better fibre structure that can breathe and 'wick away' the moisture/sweat. But it is also strongly related to the other components in the footwear and how they handle moisture and potential microbial growth. And in honesty there is a great deal that can be done to alleviate these problems, but are often overlooked due to the additional cost.

So the question for today is just how much does smelly footwear annoy you guys, the consumers/users. Is it a 'nice to have' or a 'necessity' to have footwear that does not become smelly???

Looking forwards to your answers. Best wishes,

Dr Leather

For the punters - Soccer Boots

I've had the privilege to work with the top sporting brands for well over a decade now. In my current role at Packer Leather, we have supplied some of the most innovative soccer boot leathers in recent times, especially the dual control leathers for Nomis. Currently in existence there are a number of different skin or hide types used as a basis for the vamps in soccer boots, each with certain benefits. Obviously K-Leather (which is an alternative branding name for kangaroo) holds the premier position due to it being incredibly light weight and super strong. The bovine (cow hide) type leathers are generally 40 - 50% thicker to gain enough strength to be robust enough to be used in the boots, and there have also been attempts with goatskin, sharkskin and others. On these base leathers we can build in many technologies to enhance the players performance, and one of the greatest benefits of all that I see in the future is that leather is ultimately a renewable resource, which is extremely pertinent in this day and age of a world that is chewing through non-renewable resources at a staggering rate. Synthetic leathers on the other hand are very 'hungry' of oil based products in their manufacture, and also struggle to mimic many aspects from genuine leather.

So I'd like to start out a session reviewing what it is that the 'punters' out there like about synthetics, and try to understand what it is that you would like to see in a football boot leather.

Looking forwards to your comments. Regards,

Dr Leather

Well here we go..............

I've read countless blogs over the last few years, and decided that it's time to have a play myself.

So, I hear you asking, what the hell is Dr Leather. Well actually it was the name of a software company I co-owned a few years back, but I figured it was time to resuscitate it. I've worked in the technical leather industry for 18 years now, and was trained by the best at Pittards in the UK, where I became the Innovations Manager in the gloving leather division. You might know some of the leathers they sell, which are featured in numerous big brand products from people like Titleist-Footjoy, Franklin, Nike, etc, and include Armortan, Microspike, Firebloc, Parados, and many more........ so the next time you put on your Footjoy sta-sof golf glove, or your Franklin baseball batting glove then spare a thought that some technology is in there most likely developed by me.

In 2002 I left and became Technical Director at Packer Leather in Australia, making athletic footwear leathers (mainly soccer boot leathers) for Nomis, adidas, Umbro, Nike, Puma, Mizuno, Asics and many more using the wonderful skin structure of the kangaroo. Oh.......I hear a lot of you say. KANGAROO's !!!!!!!! Well yes it is the source of many emotive responses, but over the coming weeks I hope I can try to educate a little bit more on this topic before anyone jumps in with some uninformed information.

In my time in the leather industry, I've managed to write a number of patents regarding use of technology in leather, become a Fellow of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists and hold numerous tertiary leather qualifications. In fact I've just finished my MBA in Leather Management, and am awaiting my final mark any day now.

Somehow I'd like to try to develop this blog into two sections - one for true leather professionals and associated trade professionals, and the other section to try to bring easy explanation to the 'punters' out there.

So, I'll sign off for now, but will be back soon.

Cheers,

Dr Leather