By the Numbers:

Tropicfeel’s Journey to Global Growth

The Tropicfeel team spent one and a half years developing their first prototype and even sold 3,000 pairs to friends and family for feedback before coming out with Mansoon. Learn how their cautious start led the team to a global crowdfunding business.

Company Name

Tropicfeel

Headquarters

Barcelona, Spain

Industry

Lifestyle

Shipping & Fulfillment

What do Tropicfeel and Indiegogo have in common? They both strive to inspire! Tropicfeel was built by travelers. Their goal was to create smart, versatile footwear that minimized the environmental impact of frequent travelers - their “footprint,” as they call it - and encouraged them to focus on sustainability. They launched their 4-in-1 “ultimate travel shoe” in 2017 with a crowdfunding campaign that succeeded beyond their wildest imaginings and has allowed them to keep creating products that make a difference. With an innovative product - and a boost from Indiegogo’s marketing and campaign strategy - Tropicfeel raised over $5 million in its first campaign and launched a successful second campaign.

Campaign Stats

$5M+

Raised with Crowdfunding

25,000+

Backers

154

Backer Countries

20%

Saved in Shipping Expenses with Easyship

45

Shipping Solutions Used

The Trip That Led To a Shoe With a Minimal Footprint

It was July 2016 with Tropicfeel founders Lucas de Gispert and Alberto Espinos ruined their shoes while on a 25-day trip through Thailand. After hiking for over 100 hours, they discovered their shoes had fallen apart.

Those dilapidated shoes led to a “eureka” moment. They realized there was a market for travel shoes that could actually withstand life on the road and decided to set up Tropicfeel. It took a year and a half for the pair to design a versatile shoe that was a sneaker, a water shoe, a hiking boot, and a flip-flop in one attractive package. Knowing the impact of travel on the environment, sustainability was a key factor in the development of the shoe and brand.

When it came to turning their innovative design into reality, they realized they needed a little help. That’s where Javier Turull came in. The now Chief Operating Officer helped develop a clever crowdfunding campaign that exceeded all expectations.

A Global Campaign

One of the great things about crowdfunding is that campaigns can reach people around the world, and that’s exactly what happened with Tropicfeel. Their campaign wasn’t just a runaway success – it was hugely popular across the globe. Only 3% of their over 25,000 backers were in the company’s home base of Spain. The rest came from 142 other countries, including more remote regions like Papua New Guinea.

The reason for their worldwide domination? Careful planning. They figured out that during the pre-campaign period, they needed to have strong marketing and develop a good logistics and purchasing strategy in order to easily fulfill their campaign when it was over.

Environmental Considerations

Sustainability has been at the core of Tropicfeel since its beginning. The founders believe it’s important to help people understand that traveling leaves an environmental footprint and that they need to find a way to reduce this. As part of the brand’s commitment to sustainability, they donate 1% of their revenues to conserving national parks.

But, in an interesting return to crowdfunding, Tropicfeel also embarks on a yearly project to help tackle environmental and sustainability issues around the world. Each year, the brand runs a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a documentary – this year, it’s about the avocado crisis that’s resulting from the deforestation in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Finding Fulfillment Success

During their first campaign, Tropicfeel managed to reach 25,000 backers in 138 different countries. This was done with a logistics partner in Hong Kong; they realized later that the overhead of fulfillment for this campaign could’ve been far less.

So, for their next campaign, they chose to work with Easyship, the exclusive shipping partner of Indiegogo. Using the platform, they were able to choose the best courier service for each backer, taking lead time, cost, and service type into account. This helped them reach a larger number of backers in over 185 countries – including more remote places like Papua New Guinea – note, only 3% of their backers were in their home base of Spain.

Since Tropicfeel produces their shoes in China, rising tariffs – a result of the US-China trade war – was a concern. With Easyship’s direct injection method, they were able to access consolidated bulk solutions that reduced taxes for their American customers by bypassing local warehouses and delivering from air to last mile courier, directly. Overall, the company was able to cut shipping expenses by 20%.

They were also able to develop a truely omni-channel commerce brand, by connecting their Indiegogo campaign & their Shopify store all through the Easyship dashboard. The key differentiator here (from crowdfunding) was to be able to shift to a faster fulfillment process – eCommerce customers expect to wait only 3-7 days for their orders – while still maintaining affordability. This was easily done by integrating Easyship and leveraging shipping rules across their different accounts.

The best part, though? Being able to offer a better customer experience throughout the process. Tropicfeel has been able to use Easyship’s extensive data provisions to identify product adoption, average delivery timelines for proactive customer support, and holistic analysis to forecast costs. The result has been an 15% increase in their customers’ satisfaction.

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