From product idea to production reality.
Senior footwear capability for footwear brands facing persistent or complex challenges in product development, sourcing and manufacturing.
Goleta, California · Serving footwear brands between product development and Asian manufacturing
The samples don't look like the design. The cost doesn't match the target. The factory says "can do" — and the third round still isn't right.
You're growing — adding models, adding markets — and development is becoming the bottleneck. You don't need more sourcing agents. You need someone who understands both the product and the factory, on the ground, in the language of each.
One path: Diagnose → Build → Lead
Product Development Audit
A focused 2–4 week diagnosis of what's actually going wrong — across product, development, cost, supplier and risk.
You get root causes and a 90-day action plan, not a pretty report. The fastest way to know if we should work together.
2–4 weeks · fixed feeProduct Development Partner
Managed development from brief to production-ready: construction and material strategy, supplier matching, sample development and review, cost engineering, production readiness.
We lead, coordinate, evaluate and decide. You keep ownership of the product.
typically 3–9 months · milestone-basedFractional Head of Footwear
Senior product-development and supply-chain leadership, embedded part-time.
For brands that need experienced judgment every week — product reviews, supplier decisions, cost discussions — without a full-time hire.
monthly engagementOn-Demand Expert Support
per question · fixed scopeA specific problem, answered fast: a factory decision, a sample review, a material that misbehaves, a cost that won't close, a supplier dispute.
Fixed scope, rapid response — senior eyes within days, and a clear steer toward the right next step (often an Audit).
A translator, not a middleman
- 30 years inside footwear — development and manufacturing — brands, product teams and factories, mostly across Asia.
- Three languages, one person — we speak brand language, development language and factory language. Most people speak one.
- Supplier intelligence, not supplier lists — the right factory matched to the product and the stage — not the cheapest price list.
- Innovation access — new materials and manufacturing technologies, translated into what they mean for your product.
- No factory performance guarantees, no vague consulting — we evaluate, recommend, monitor and manage. Clear scope, clear deliverables, senior accountability.
Diagnose → Build → Lead
Most partnerships start with an audit; some start with a conversation. Every engagement is a step toward the same thing — a product you can scale without losing what made it work.
Diagnose
Find what's actually wrong, in weeks, not months.
Build
Develop to production-ready with the right partners.
Lead
Embed senior judgment as you scale.
Brands at the product-to-scale transition
The first conversation is about your product — not our services.
Tell us what you're developing and where it's stuck.
ken.shao@kalchemy.com