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Sole Sisters
11/01/2007 - By Richard Fireman
Pamela Karp, Erika Whitman, Deanna Kipnes
Pursuing the American dream…one step at a time
New Jersey winters can be cold. Wisconsin winters can be ridiculous. Having gone to college in that state, three sisters
(Pamela Karp, Erika Whitman, Deanna Kipnes) from Marlboro were even more inspired to find a solution to that age-old problem that's vexed philosophers throughout the ages: how's a girl going to get a pedicure without freezing her tootsies off?!
From Socrates, Spinoza, or Sartre, history has left us no answers. Einstein was asked and refused to deal with this dilemma, replying "What's a pedicure?" It was left to our three heroines to come up with the miraculous answer – a specially designed, high-end, fashionable, yet affordable boot with a special flap that enables the wearer to insert her feet, get her pedicure, and leave the salon without having to wait for the polish to dry (and without having to resort to wearing flip-flops in winter) – Bootie Pies®!
The world hasn't been the same since.
Seriously, for women – and a number of men – it's been a significant change. In less than a year not only the idea, but the product as well, has revolutionized the industry (they figured out the basic concept about 3 years ago, but it took a couple of years of testing and development to get it just right; they finally "pre-launched" the actual product line in the winter of 2007). Within a few months, Bootie Pies® were being sported by such celebrities as Scarlett Johansson, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson, the Pussycat Dolls, and The Black Eyed Pea; the rapper Common even picked up a pair for his daughter. They were part of last year's Grammy Awards’ gift basket, going to such stars as Beyonce, Christina Aguillera, and Carrie Underwood. And when one of the sisters was discussing them at Bloomingdale’s in New York last year, famed makeup artist Trish McEvoy overheard and loved the idea, and bought them for her entire staff for Christmas!
In its way, the journey of these young women is a prototype of the American dream: starting with an idea, they took a chance, reached out to the marketplace, and were answered with a resounding and welcoming "Yes!" The rest is history.
LIM sat down with "the sole sisters" to find out more about their phenomenal success story. [Note: P = Pamela; E = Erika; D = Deanna]
LIM: Which one of you first came up with the idea?
D: It was me…since I'd been working for my dad [a patent attorney], my brain was always working that way; and I said this is something that we can do, and if we don't do it, someone else is going to, so we might as well! We did the research and had the help of my father…it was something that we always talked about with him…the process of inventing and what could happen. We didn’t want to be the people who said, "You know what? We thought about this a long time ago and did nothing about it."
P: It was an interesting process. We tried all kinds of things: we tried snaps, we tried flaps, we sewed zippers on, we glued things together… anything you could think of to bring the concept to life.
E: Exactly.
P: We went through about 15 to 20 or so samples in order to get to the boot we currently sell. One really interesting thing is that our boot is patent-pending – highly unusual for a shoe!
LIM: Do the three of you take on different aspects of the work, or do you work together on everything?
P: Deanna does most of the work dealing with the manufacturing and production, dealing with the numbers and stuff; I do most of the PR and the marketing; and Erika does a little bit of everything and most of the administrative work.
LIM: Have you incorporated?
D: Yes.
LIM: How hard was it to get the product "off the page"?
P: I think the hardest part was getting the first good samples that we wanted to move forward with to the market because we had high standards for them; and also finding a manufacturer that we clicked with and worked well with… It was really tough to find a good shoe manufacturer. There are practically none in the United States…they are very hard to come by. We actually ended up working with a manufacturer in Canada (who makes winter boots for LL Bean), who makes good quality products, and they really were fascinated by it! We sent drawings and everything, and they just took such interest in it. They were so helpful and offered a zillion suggestions…
LIM: Did it cause any complications because it was international, or because it was Canada was it less of a problem?
P: It was very easy. They were just so helpful and so nice. We've developed a wonderful working relationship with them. In fact, the Canadian shoe manufacturer was so impressed with Bootie Pies’ press coverage – which we did all on our own – that they asked us if we'd be interested in doing PR for a brand of hiking boots!
LIM: I imagine it must've been a "big gulp": you know, when you finally said okay, we're really going to do this…!
D: All hands in… (laughs)
LIM: All for one, one for all?
E: You have to understand, too, that as this is all going on, Pamela and I were both very pregnant!
LIM: Wow.
E: So we worked through most of the summer, but then we had to ask Deanna to handle things for the next few weeks!
D: It was okay, though, because they could do a lot of it from home. The internet is unbelievable in terms of what you can accomplish from anywhere.
LIM: Cool…so when you first started out, I guess there were startup costs, etc.? As you know, the majority of small businesses fail within a short time.
D: Right, we know; that's why we tried to do as much as we could ourselves – PR, marketing, packaging…
E: One of the main things is that we're very fortunate that our father's a patent attorney; most people don't have that advantage. He jokes that we're his worst clients: we don't pay him and we're the most demanding!
LIM: Do you have other jobs besides this?
P: Not any more!
LIM: But before this?
P: I was in product marketing and development.
D: I've been working for my father…but I'd done some work in the fashion industry before that.
E: I've been working for my father for the last 10 years.
LIM: I imagine your folks are quite proud of you!
D: I think so. And they've been very helpful.
LIM: Have you considered presenting your product on the Donnie Deutsch show The Big Idea, where he interviews people who've come up with new ideas and successfully marketed them? I'd think it'd be perfect for this sort of thing.
P: Yes; "There has to be a better way…"; They’ve actually ap-proached us several times but they generally wait until you've made a certain amount of money with it. So we're hoping this year…!?
LIM: How about your husbands, your friends? What has their reaction been like?
P: They’ve all been so supportive. My husband's an attorney…he has Bootie Pies® in his office! They attract attention, and people ask him about them, and he gives them the pitch… actually, right now he and my father are carrying boxes of Bootie Pies® from the garage to our basement.
LIM: I can imagine him interviewing a client and putting his feet up on the desk, and they're in Bootie Pies®…! (laughter all around)
E: My husband's a CPA. He and my father have been the “delivery men” for some of our larger orders.
D: My boyfriend's very supportive…he knows more about pedicures now than he’d like to!
LIM: That’s great. Any particularly positive or negative experiences, like selling the idea/marketing/advertising?
P: One of the first really cool things that happened was when we showed Bootie Pies® to a salon in Colts Neck and one in Manalapan. They were both so embracing and interested in trying to help us to get started. They said, “Put the boots here, put your business cards out, put a display up, we'll take orders for you,” without asking for anything in return; we thought that was super cool! We were so impressed that they would help us like that.
LIM: Were these salons you had previously patronized?
P: Yes, but not too often. I’d just gone to the one in Colts Neck for a pedicure; they saw the boots and they flipped, and the woman at the front desk said, "You have to call the owner." And I called and she said "I started out once too…I’d love to help you."
LIM: That's great…and it wasn't like you'd been going there for years?
P: No, nothing like that. Oh, and on the other end of the spectrum, one of the things I thought was so neat was…I don't know if you're familiar with Essie?
LIM: No.
P: She's like the queen of nail polish…well, at least, one of the major brands for nail care products…we sent her an e-mail at a certain point and she responded, "Call me on my cell phone…," and we said "Oh my God!" We spent about 45 minutes talking…it was so remarkable.
D: But then maybe the most exciting thing that happened was that I was in Bloomingdale's to get my makeup done, and Trish McEvoy, who has her whole line of cosmetics…
E: She's a beauty icon.
D: …she was there, and I was wearing Bootie Pies®, and one of the salespeople saw them and said, "Oh my God, these are fabulous. You have to show Trish." So I did, and she said, "I want these for my entire staff!" Then she said, "Here's my cell phone number." I was sitting there with my mouth open… [laughs]
LIM: Does she have a central salon in New York?
D: She has her own brand, and she occasionally makes personal appearances; she happened to be there that day, and she was so nice.
LIM: So it's not as if you targeted her in particular.
D: No, I was just there buying makeup. She said, “I started out at about your age…I love them.” She placed an order, and a week later she placed another large order, and we couldn't have been happier…and then she started ordering them for friends as gifts…she's so fashion-forward.
LIM: So you were just casually talking with the salespeople…
D: They saw me wearing the boots after my pedicure, and they asked, "What's that?!" When I told them they said, "Wow…!"
LIM: So you didn't even have to push them.
D: No, everyone just thought they were really cool.
LIM: Talk about serendipity!
D: So then I ended up buying way too much makeup. [laughs]
E: Which she's still paying off! [laughs]
LIM: So do you live in New York?
D: Yes.
LIM: And you [Pamela and Erika] both live here in Marlboro?
P: Right.
LIM: Did you all grow up in Marlboro and go to Marlboro High School?
E: Yes.
P: Right…and we all went to the University of Wisconsin. We [Erika and I] overlapped one year.
LIM: And you all majored in business?
P: I was a psychology and English/creative writing major, minoring in women's studies.
E: Deanna and I both majored in economics.
LIM: Who first came up with the name?
P: I came up with the name…but we went through so many different options. We needed something that we could trademark. We actually came up with several names before that but we couldn't use them [because they were already taken]. We wanted something catchy; they're called Bootie Pies® because the product is, well, boots, and Bootie Pies® rhymes with cutie pies, and we thought it was a memorable name…it set us apart from everyone else. The colors of the boots are named after pies (Pecan, Blackberry, Coconut Creme, etc). In fact, we're in "W" magazine this month and they even say that Bootie Pies® are "sweetly named!"
E: We were rhyming words, trying to figure out every possibility…
LIM: What would you recommend to others who have ideas they want to sell?
P: One of the things I think you have to do to launch a product is to create an identity for it; you know, we gave it a catchy name, a tagline, a positioning statement – something that people could understand. Then we created our website – www.bootiepies.com – that was helpful in terms of communicating to people more specifically about the product. Then we reached out to everyone! Since we launched too late in the season for any long-lead press, we reached out to websites and blogs and the daily papers; people started talking, and one thing led to another…
D: That was actually how we were selected for the Grammy gift basket – someone saw a mention of Bootie Pies® on a blog somewhere. We tried to connect with everyone we coulD: beauty editors, trade magazines, owners of spas and salons…even “pedicurists to the stars!” The response there has been wonderful! Like "Send us business cards; all of our clients are going to want these.”
LIM: Do you sell directly through the website?
D: Yes, we do.
LIM: How has life changed for all of you since you got the idea off the ground?
E: We're constantly talking about Bootie Pies®…like with our kids…it's such a part of their lives now. They know that mommy has meetings on Tuesday nights, or whatever, and they're so good! They come over and they help unload the trucks.
LIM: How old are your kids?
E: I have an 8-year-old, a 6-year-old, and a 15-month-old, and Pamela’s daughter is 15 months, too; and they want to help…
D: And the delivery man…he comes in and here are these three girls and these kids, and he says, "But we have to unload the truck," and we say "Yeah, we're ready!" [laughs]
P: Yeah…we're all really focused on the business and we're all constantly looking at things with new eyes. Once you have a product like this…you’re working constantly. Personally, I'm always looking at packaging, marketing. I'm always looking for new ideas. Then whenever we see something on television – the name of a beauty editor or a style contributor or something like that – we say we need to contact them! You're always looking for how to get the word out. I was in a children's store the other day, and I had a copy of "W" magazine in my hand. I went up to the counter where all these women were and I said, "Hey, we're in this magazine!" You're always looking for an opportunity to talk about it; you never know who knows somebody…
LIM: It seems like it's all been a really positive experience. Was there anything negative?
E: Sometimes you're waiting and waiting for people to get back to you.
LIM: But that's kind of the way the world works, right?
P: Right. Or you're calling
all these beauty editors and pitching your product, and
the website suddenly goes down…things like that happen, and you have to roll with the punches and keep going.
LIM: Any problems having to do with the fact that you're all young women? Like prejudice from guys in the corporate world, trying to take advantage of you?
E: Not really, mainly because a lot of the people in this industry are women.
LIM: Do you sometimes have to remind yourself that this is all really happening? Do you sometimes feel it's "unreal"?
P: Yes. Once was when we were watching the Today show, our product was going to be featured on the show. The beauty editor was talking about some other products first, and we could see the Bootie Pies® in the corner…we said, "Oh, my God, it's coming! It's coming!"
LIM: Like a baby being born!
P: Exactly…and even crazier, I think, was when we filmed this segment for Rachael Ray, and when we saw it we said, "What are we doing on her show?!" And there she was talking about Bootie Pies® and saying something like "This is the greatest idea, this is ginormous," or something like that…
LIM: Now, if you were on Emeril, you might have to get him an extra-large! [laughs]
P: Once I was in a restaurant and had some business cards out and the waitress said, "Oh my God, I saw those on Good Morning America!" But we hadn't been on Good Morning America. Or someone will say, "Doesn't Paris Hilton wear those?!" Then we'll say, "Well, we're not really sure, but if you want to tell people that, go ahead.”
LIM: I'll bet she will, if you give it time… If you get more ideas, would you go about marketing them the same way? Have you learned from this experience about what to do and what not to do?
P: Well, we feel we've been pretty efficient…our goal was to spend as little as possible but have as much impact as possible, so we weigh every opportunity very carefully; it's really got to be worth it. We don't really believe in advertising, because we don't feel you get much "bang for your buck"; we concentrate on public relations efforts.
D: But we’ll also do promotions – like we'll do an event with Marie Claire or someone.
LIM: But you didn't hire any PR firms?
D: No, we've done it all on our own.
LIM: Before you know it your first-year anniversary will be coming up.
P, E, & D: We know…!
LIM: Any plans for a big party to celebrate?
P: We'll probably be working so hard we won't have time for a party!
Favorite restaurant:
P – Mike & Nellie's
E – Luchento's
D – Pino's
Favorite musician:
P – Dylan
E – Bon Jovi
D – Springsteen
Favorite movie:
P – Annie Hall
E – Fifth Element
D – Almost Famous
Biggest pet peeve:
P – poor grammar
E – drivers using a cell phone
D – spitting on the street
Three people who I would like to dine with:
P – both grandfathers (now deceased) and Joni Mitchell
E – Oprah, Bono, and Jillian McKeith (holistic nutritionist)
D – Angelina Jolie, Diane Sawyer, and Coco Chanel
Photo Gallery
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