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How to Create a New Children's Shoe Brand
17 Plays13 days ago
In this episode of The Independent Minds Michael Millward meets Stuart Davis, joint founder of the comfortable and super sustainable children’s shoe brand Dubs Universe.
During lockdown Stuart became a stay-at-home Dad to his young daughter. He was struck by how rapidly she was growing both mentally and physically. Like every parent he also saw how quickly she grew out of clothes and shoes.
Stuart explains to Michael the steep learning curve he faced when he was inspired to create a new children’s shoe company. Everything from manufacturing techniques to biology!
Now Dubs Universe is operating successfully, so Stuart explains his plans for the future and the level of investment that will be required to achieve his goal.
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Transcript
00:00:05
Speaker
Made on Zencaster.
Introduction to 'The Independent Minds'
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello and welcome to The Independent Minds, a series of conversations between anteceder and people who think outside the box about how work works with the aim of creating better workplace experiences for everyone. I am your host, Michael Millward.
Guest Intro: Stuart Davis and Sponsor Highlight
00:00:24
Speaker
Today, I am talking to Stuart Davis about children's shoes.
00:00:29
Speaker
As the jingle at the start of this podcast says, the independent minds is made on Zencaster. Zencaster is the all-in-one podcasting platform on which you can make your podcast in one place and then distribute it to all of the major platforms like Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and YouTube Music. Zencaster really does make making content so easy.
00:00:53
Speaker
If you would like to try podcasting using Zencaster, visit zencaster dot.com forward slash pricing and use my offer code ABICEDA. All the details are in the description. Now that I have told you how wonderful Zencaster is for making podcasts, we should make one. One that will be well worth listening to, liking, downloading, and subscribing to. As with every episode of The Independent Minds, we won't be telling you what to think, but we are hoping to make you think.
Dubs Universe: A Sustainable Footwear Brand
00:01:24
Speaker
Today, my guest independent mind is Stuart Davis from Dubs Universe. Dubs Universe is a sustainable footwear brand, making trainers from planet friendly materials for kids. The Dubs Universe ethos is very much about getting kids outside, having fun and going on adventures.
00:01:46
Speaker
Hello, Stuart. Hey there, Michael. How are you? Well, as you can tell from my voice, I'm just getting over a bit of a cold, but otherwise I am brilliant in every way. How about yourself? Very well, thank you. Although the sudden drop in temperature is making me a bit chilly. But I'm good. Thank you very well. Good. I should explain that. We're making this episode of The Independent Minds in November 2024, where the temperature, as Stuart says, has dropped and we are expecting another named storm. But you know what they say, Stuart? You know, there's no such thing as bad weather. No. It's just inappropriate clothing. Very good. Indeed. Which is probably part of the Dubs Universe story as well. But please, can we start with just an introduction of who Stuart Davis is, please?
Inspiration and Origin Story
00:02:27
Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you. Well, the best way, well,
00:02:30
Speaker
my name is shira davis and i'm i'm half croydon half burmese i guess my my mother's from croydon to my dad from i'm just a normal 45 year old dad now i guess and about three four years ago i set up dubs before that my my career is um mostly in advertising and marketing i was a a creative producer So, as I said, ah my background isn't in footwear at all, or it's a sustainable company, so not even in the sustainable space or the circular space. And i basically, I lost my job in in the first lockdown, and there luckily my wife is still working, so that it left it to me and my daughter, who was two and a half at the time.
00:03:09
Speaker
just basically locked in a room hanging out and trying to keep each other entertained. And it's sort of the idea that we've always been quite a mindful family in the sense that I enjoy, I've always mended things before I threw them away. So that's what I meant by a mindful. i'd i'd be I'd get that to my dad. He was an engineer and an electrician and we've always mending and fixing things.
00:03:29
Speaker
but also i like trainers i've climbed to my sneakers and whatnot and so when my daughter rocked up i thought oh great i can you know put you into all these cool trainers and we can look cool together against the pub and all that a little mini me but you know yeah little many so you wear this but kids' feet grow so quickly i'd buy up pair trainers and she'd wear them twice three times and her feet were It's always amazes me how many parents seem surprised at how fast children grow out of the clothes that they buy. It's ridiculous like this because you in a weird way you don't actually
00:04:02
Speaker
see it happening um until you're in a room with her because normally you're out and about and you don't notice say till a month later on you're like wow you really have a growth spurt but when you're stuck in a room with her during lockdown you actually see it happening in front of your eyes. It starts getting heavier and you've got a gym workout at the same so time paintinging and her sassiness was levels were getting more and more complex and more and more constructive in her arguments. I was like how is this happening?
00:04:27
Speaker
So i we would i would, her feet would grow real quick and we had nowhere to go at all.
The Immortal Sneaker Concept
00:04:33
Speaker
So I was surrounded by these shoes and to actually keep her entertained I started turning them into flower pots. I'd put like a drill little wheel to them, put like ah little holes in them, put wheels on them, Lego wheels on them and turn them into little cars for her dollies and that was good fun but it was at a time when she's still napping, having lunchtime naps so I'd i'd like to use that 37 minutes to um keep my brain ticking over because as I said I was in advertising so and I'm um a big kid anyway so I'm quite happy in that space of coming up creative solutions and my co-founder Gary he's a graphic designer and we used to hang out on zoom every lunchtime just to keep our brains ticking over and
00:05:12
Speaker
um I'd moan about Leila and her feet and everything. And he was sort of, he lost his job also, but he was a graphic designer in the fashion industry. He was like, yeah, like sustainability is definitely a big thing at the moment, waste is out of control. So he and I would be like, okay, so we should do something about this. Why don't we design like baby grows? So that's a bit boring. Okay, how about disposable nappies? No, that's disgusting. And we sort of eventually went, I know,
00:05:37
Speaker
Trainers sneakers and because we're a bit geeky was like yes I know let's make the immortal sneaker and that as soon as Gary said that I was like wowzers that's that's such a great working title of a North Star to aim towards.
00:05:51
Speaker
That was actually like the
Sustainability Journey and Kickstarter Launch
00:05:53
Speaker
beginnings of it. And so I just threw myself into learning everything I possibly could about sustainability. And I found out crazy fact that I think sort of like two million shoes have thrown into landfill in the UK alone and kids fee contribute hugely to that issue because they grow so quickly. And then I was just looking at people and trying to find people I can learn from talk to anyone that chat to me. And eventually,
00:06:19
Speaker
You know, I got to a space where I'd find like a, um, a cool little sort of indie brands who say their social, I'd use my experience, their social feed or their digital strategy wasn't quite, wasn't very strong. So I'd call them and say, look, I can help you in that space.
00:06:34
Speaker
Can you teach me how to, how do I make a shoe? How do I, what's your context? What's the process? And we do a Skillshare, you know, and that's how I sort of, cause we're self-funded. So we haven't, it's all me and Gary doing this with the limited funds we have. And so we're just looking at ways of grafting and trying to get freebies and just learning as we grew, you know, before too long.
00:06:54
Speaker
I sort of discovered recent but you could you could turn plastic bottles into a very fancy yarn which can be used to leave to make things out of like clothing or shoes and sugar cane which our shoes are made from is an awesome alternative to chemical-based rubber for soles. We used to make our shoes out of those and I was lucky enough to win a grant. I put forward almost like a dissertation explain what we're trying to do, the issues about kids footwear and so on, and put forward a very compelling case that Innovate UK thought it was strong enough to grant me some money to be able to do some tests, like build a prototype.
00:07:33
Speaker
managed to do that and then the one thing I did know how to do is how to run um advertising campaigns so I launched on a crowdfunding platform called Kickstarter which is basically where you pull together a creative idea and you ask the public to back it the with money and we managed to raise enough to buy our first stock I guess and that was That's how we started. To be honest, it's still very surreal. and it's um That's the beginnings of it. When you tell somebody else about it, it can almost be like, yeah, we've done it. It is a bit surreal. Did I really do it? Yeah, I like it. Has it really happened? Absolutely. I haven't. I don't really allow myself to have many moments here because in my mind, it's still not a thing. you know it It is a thing. It's a brand that you can go and buy and kids love them. but
00:08:22
Speaker
um I'm not allowing myself to have them at a moment apart from when I, um there's two moments where um I hit start on the Kickstarter campaign and I thought, oh, okay, I've got this file. This is amazing from not knowing anything. And then when we completed it, I did a LinkedIn post saying, I've got my own brand. I'm a brand owner from scratch. That was a very proud moment. Yes. And it's very, as I said, it's very, just we're even now, like, it's very strange to say I'm a brand owner of my own brands.
00:08:50
Speaker
I literally have created from zero. Crazy.
Changing Perceptions on Secondhand Shoes
00:08:53
Speaker
I don't know what the word dubs means and then what does it mean and then why dubs universe and what's the whole sort of ethos of the brand? The main thing is is creating a shoe that is is the immortal sneaker so it's keeping keep keep keeping trainers on kids feet and out of landfill for longer and giving them the permission to go out and explore and have multiple adventures wearing one pair of shoes so what we want to do is shift the perception that kids have off the things that they own
00:09:24
Speaker
So rather than being super excited by a new product, it doesn't have to mean that new product is from a factory. It can be a secondhand pair of shoes. So I want pete i want kids to dubs said i want i want you to grab a pair of doves and go, we can tell these branded storytelling stories by saying,
00:09:43
Speaker
These shoes have climbed 10 trees. They've been to four festivals. They've been to two countries. What are you going to do? What adventures are you going to take these dubs on? and want We want to change the perception. I want kids to get excited by going, oh, wow, that's amazing. I'm going to get these pair of trainers up to 15 trees.
00:09:59
Speaker
I'm only getting at the top of this hill that's in my in my local town. I'm going to go to the Isle of Wight and really start heroing the fact that these shoes have had multiple adventures and they're little capsules of time. They're little capsules of adventures that kids can really sort of talk about and share with their mates and make it a badge of honor by wearing something you know that's had multiple things, multiple stories
Quality and Storytelling in Children's Products
00:10:22
Speaker
it can tell. If if this shoe could talk sort of thing and that's why that's what dub sort of stands for is about getting out and giving the shoes more adventures and exploring in my in my weird sort of world i'd say it's almost like a tamagotchi which
00:10:37
Speaker
only people of a certain age will understand but it's like a little thing that you nurture and you teach and you and you take on a adventures with it's like a pet. So like a electronic toy wasn't it that if you didn't ah look after it then it would it would start to cry ah yeah but you gave it all sorts of presents and toys and treated it exactly it would have nurtured it into this and the way we that we've designed the trainers they're like They've got a really big fat, chunky sole, which not only does it look cool in my, maybe I'm a hunter, but it sort of protects the upper from wear and tear. And the sugar cane sole is really, really durable and it's really flexible. So they don't get bashed up that easily. And you can machine wash them or hand wash them really easy to bring them back to almost new. And so like everything we've done is to make, is to create the immortal sneaker and materials we use are a hell of a lot more planet friendly than a traditional sneaker. And we've just launched a retail platform too, which, you know,
00:11:33
Speaker
is a really good sort like of like a thing of vintage but for dubs it allows and parents to continue the dubs journey. So in many ways I am this reminds me of my own childhood because I'm not the eldest child in my family it was almost like you'd look at your elder brother and see what he was wearing and know that in 12 months time you'd be wearing it yeah but I always thought I'm gonna look better in it than you do.
00:11:55
Speaker
Oh, really? Oh, that's, that's interesting. That's really cool. Because I think of yesteryear, you know, like, previously, I thought would be oh, I get my, my, my my brothers and my sisters hand me that. And but I think, you know, that's what I want to be a part of. of I think buying second-hand stuff as a consumer now has shifted to being almost cool in itself, you know, like brands like vintage, eBay have helped that that shift from buying new to buying used really, really well. It's made it a little bit more it' was laid more acceptable. And I want to take that into the kids' space, you know, and
00:12:33
Speaker
create a brand that heroes things through creative play, creative storytelling and little characters that we've designed that can tell
Historical Value and Collectibility of Shoes
00:12:40
Speaker
these great stories. I mean, i I want a cartoon on CB leads, you know, that'd be awesome. But telling the stories of dubs through the characters and making it cool is something I think could be really powerful.
00:12:52
Speaker
Very much so. It's interesting that when you talk about people are happier now buying secondhand clothes. I can remember back in the, well, it would be the late eighties, early nineties, working in an HR department where one of my female colleagues was saying that she was having a clear out of her wardrobe. And I said, Oh, so, uh, you know, which charity shops are you going to send it to? And she said, I'll just put it in the dustbin.
00:13:16
Speaker
Oh, it's all going to landfill. And there was this, I don't want my clothes to go to a charity shop. I don't want to buy things in a charity shop. I have to have it new. That's exactly it. There has been a definite shift now that people are thinking, yeah, okay, I will go and buy something from a charity shop. One of the charity shops in my local town advertises itself, we only have designer labels. I think for a certain age group it's still sort of like well it's secondhand. I think so, I think the younger parents coming through now they're not so tarnished with that brush and I think they're the guys and are quite happy to find an awesome piece of clothing, discount it and be really really happy about that and brag about it but the thing that will scupper those is if the product is not made very well and made cheaply.
00:14:08
Speaker
because that's it's almost you buy well wear once mentality sort of thing. One of the major influences on dubs is when I would stuff my daughter into her trainers. I'd have her feet measured for school shoes and that's fine and I just assume that's her size but I actually Should I say this? Her little toe got slightly damaged because I was stuffing her into trainers and didn't really notice. And her age at the time, their kids' toes or kids' feet don't really have the nerve endings for them to tell you what's going on down there. Their feet are still developing. So she didn't know either. But then that made me think, blimey, I really need to make be aware of the type of shoe my kids wear and it's fitted and designed for kids' feet.
00:14:54
Speaker
and that's super important and that's one of the main pillars of doves as well so that if you do first of all if you do buy in a new pair of doves they're going to be graded and fitted for kids feet and when you do buy a second pair of dubs they're graded and fitted for kids feet because we've done all that work up front. Not only have you had to learn how to make shoes but you've also had to do all of the research into how children's feet are different to adults feet. Yes, yeah. And how children's feet develop as well so that the shoe is designed not just to be on the foot but is actually designed to accommodate how children's feet develop as well.
00:15:31
Speaker
Exactly, exactly. So you have like a wider toe box, for example, so kids feet get totes and splay out a little bit and they're not crushed or they're not gripping onto the onto the feet if they're too big, you know, so buying a size up for kids feet actually, whilst it might seem like a good idea for them to go into, it's probably not a good idea because their toes are probably gripping into the shoe, which will will then lead on to longer term sort of foot and foot. Well, back problems actually. But to yeah, it's it's super important.
00:15:58
Speaker
basic essence of dubs universe is that a high quality shoe that a parent would buy for their child when the child outgrows it it could go to a younger sibling but it could also go back into the dubs universe and and it goes back into the dubs universe with the story of what has happened to that shoe exactly yeah so it's not so much a Like, oh, it's a secondhand shoe. It's a shoe with a history. And it's a shoe that then the next person to wear it adds to that history.
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. bit Like, um like the service history of a classic car. Precisely. There's so many things where we attribute value to something because, not because it's new, but because of the number of people that have actually used it or worn it. So a celebrity has worn this watch or this dress or this, it has value because it's collectible. What you're saying, I suppose, with a dub's universe shoe is that what you're collecting with the shoe is the history of it, the adventures that it's had and how are you going to add to the history of that
Brand Storytelling and Adventure
00:17:10
Speaker
shoe? Yeah and you're contribution exactly you're contributing to it. they This might sound a bit bonkers but during lockdown when we was actually allowed to go out I used to take Leila geocaching and if you don't know what that is it's um basically little capsules that scatter it everywhere and you get an app or a map and you try and find them. I mean they're like little
00:17:30
Speaker
old-school film pots and then when you open it up there's a ledger of all the people that have come before you that have actually found this bit this treasure it's a trinket or something and you sign your name to it but it's awesome looking back of how many people have done this going back into I found one recently that went back I think it was in the 90s I was like probably 20 years old just It's a history, it's a connection. yes and with its of quiet so Even though you don't meet the actual person that's that's done that, the fact that you are doing something that has been done by someone else before creates a connection between you and that other person. Exactly. got to be I've got to be mindful that they' they're kids, and some kids, agreed that's just whatever. of whatever did mu I just want my trainers. But as a parent,
00:18:15
Speaker
who's the primary buyer for the children at this age, are still buying their kids things rather than the kid dictating what brand they want. I think that's important for the parent, you know, and then they can sort of help, giving them the tools to educate their kids on mindful consumption and so on. and And I can just, it's just an easy way to be sustainable. I wanted to be, being I hate that word, but I wanted to be being sustainable, made easy. Parents have no time anyway. They're very, very time poor, but they want, more often than not, they want to do the right thing.
00:18:45
Speaker
I agree with you. I think there's an awful lot of positives that come out of this. When you think about it on one level, you just want to clothe your child. You want to put them in something that is either going to keep them dry, keep them warm, keep them covered. The biggest pressure, I suppose, on many parents is when, well, everybody else's school is wearing
Counteracting Social Pressure with Story
00:19:05
Speaker
this brand. Why can't I have this brand? You know, what that brand costs this amount of money, but everybody else has got it blah, blah. It goes on and on and on.
00:19:13
Speaker
If you are buying something that just because you know it's cheaper, then that can create the impact that somehow there's something less about you because you are wearing something that is cheaper. The fact that you have been able to do other things with your money might actually get lost because the clothing is very visible to a people who've got more expensive clothing and that can create all sorts of various different pressures within ah a community type group like a school or class or playground.
00:19:42
Speaker
What you're doing, I think, is making the price and the brand less important in the purchasing process and creating a story around the product that means that the contribution that the purchaser and their child makes to the story of the product is what is important about it, not the price or the brand. Yeah, exactly. That's a very well way of putting it.
00:20:10
Speaker
And then what you've also got I think is this, that you have this pair of shoes that has a history and there is almost, responsibility might be too strong a word to use, but when you know the history of a product, when you know how it's made, you care about it more. You understand it, you care about it more. You're more likely to also then want to add to the story of the trainers of the shoe, whatever it is that you bought.
00:20:38
Speaker
And that then also means, I suppose, that there is a reason to get outside. There is a reason to exactly go to on that adventure. you They can plan something around adding to the history of this product, which you can then pass on to somebody else.
Community and Narrative Sharing
00:20:56
Speaker
How do people record?
00:20:58
Speaker
the history, the experiences that they have with the Dubs universe trainers. what's What's the system? This is where it gets difficult for me because it requires a decent amount of investment. From my side, I can collect the data of the purchaser of the location and so on. so i can i can make like I can build a picture of where that shoe's being. As a parent right now, it's it's more so just through we've got quite a vocal community and it's sharing the stories with us directly and then on our social media channels of of the adventures you're taking or about to take your dubs on that is the beginnings of of the adventure community i guess which moving forward as we grow bigger that's only become more rich and there's got to i'm on the it's an investment that i need to make in terms of
00:21:54
Speaker
making sure I've got the infrastructure in place that every time you buy a pair of dubs, especially on the pre love side, that there's almost a certificate of certificate of where you've been and what you've done like a log.
Expansion Plans for Dubs Universe
00:22:05
Speaker
Okay, I saw some really nice some jackets that have had like a label stitched inside that says this jacket belongs to Layla say my daughter and then beneath that it has space for other names. Yeah, so it can be pressed on Yeah, and how I'm how that actually comes out is is that the really exciting part to explore and to and to work out so Brainstorming this then could put GPS trackers into trainers could as a parent. That might be a bit you'd always know where they were
00:22:35
Speaker
it's true That is true. Just the fact that it has that sort of technology available doesn't mean to say that everybody needs to be able to access it. yeah There's all sorts of different things that can happen I suppose in terms of the profile and or the the reference number or the name that that's given to the pair of shoes gives the the profile on the social media platform that you could have and then people can record and add their photographs and things.
00:23:01
Speaker
Yeah, I'd love to build a back end as like a site or an app. And that when you when you go to sell the shoes, there's like predetermined questions that you can answer. Where did you, you know, and you can, you can fill those in. we've We got a shoe charity and that we work very closely with sales shoes who are awesome. And when they send a pair of shoes out to their their network or all sorry when a family sends a pair of shoes into some shoes they often leave a lovely little note um from the child who's who's donating the shoes to the charity which is really lovely and it could be something similar to that where with with as you upload the shoe to the pre-loved site or to the dubs vented site thing you could add in a load of
00:23:44
Speaker
what you've done with the shoes and the shoe has a predetermined reference number if you like and that's all logged and when that goes off to somewhere else it's tagged with all these other details and you can historically look back at where it's been and then as a brand owner what I could do is tap into that back end and go oh brilliant these shoes are actually one tree away one tree climb away from 50 and then we can start using that to talk about you know we can start doing little mini camp not campaigns as such but mini stories about that and really sort of hit it so this train is only one tree climb away from hitting 50 tree climbs let's get it let's make it happen you know and just really start being playful with messaging
00:24:24
Speaker
Yes. But what you're saying, I suppose, is that the organization Dubs Universe is still very much in its early days.
Investment Needs for Green Branding
00:24:32
Speaker
Yes. yeah You have a great concept. You've proven that the concept works. People are buying the shoes. They are. And you've had shoes coming back as well and but going out on the resale as well.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. It's not just that the materials that you've decided to make the shoes out of, the trainers out of, that that all works, that the production process works, the distribution process works, everything from that perspective works. People are buying them, people are buying into the idea and the ethos and everything about Dubs Universe. And then the shoes are not going to landfill. They're coming back in and then going into the pre-loved marketplace as well.
00:25:14
Speaker
So everything about your organization, everything about your idea, everything about the original concept, all of the work that's been put in, you can demonstrate that this actually works. Every part of it actually works. when you say yeah but Yeah. Yeah. You say like that. That's quite, um, okay.
00:25:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's amazing. Don't sound surprised. You've been working on it. I know. All I'm doing is is saying, all I'm doing though, Stuart, is saying back to you what it is that you've said to me, which is like, you've explained how these things work. I've just condensed it into like fewer sentences probably, but it's like you say, when, when you have an idea for a business, you set the business up and then somebody else tells you that it works or you, you're telling somebody how it all works and you realize, yeah, actually it does. Yeah. yeah It does actually work.
00:26:04
Speaker
So what we're actually then saying is like, the next stage is getting the technology so that everything can be a lot smoother. Smoother for my, my end, smoother and more automated and, uh, more thorough and creative. So I can, so I can actually leverage the data that we collect and make really cool stories about them. And which in turn will help spread the name and the word. And, you know, I need.
00:26:34
Speaker
and in more styles, we need to launch new styles. But from a consumer's point of view, making it a seamless, easy journey. So making being, as I said, making being sustainable, easy, making buying stylish, but very comfortable fitted shoes, easy, be that from at home or, you know, well, actually from home. So it's like a really robust, easy to measure kids feet from home system. And then i so I'd love to launch a subscription model, too. you know like If you think that kids' feet grow every three to four or five months, I could say that that actually follows the seasons, particularly in the UK. So imagine I had a shoe for every season or a style for every season. It could be a very automated way of removing a stressful shopping ah trip.
00:27:28
Speaker
yeah Get your kids feet measured and you know, that's quite I've done it before I'm sure parents listening would agree that it's not a fun experience getting your kids foot measured and It's not and then I can like I can see a space where an app a push notification pops up and goes, oh I suppose ladies feet. Have you grown a size here? We're about to enter summer How about some sliders and then you simply measure the kids foot and you go yes, please think size 13 and and where we done um yeah return the old pair back to me back to dubs and then go back and or or sell it back to dubs but we'll buy it back off you you can use the money that you've just collected from us buying it back off you against your next purchase in it goes um you may well decide to buy a used pair of sliders which would be great there's a story
00:28:17
Speaker
Off it goes again. And you know, it's this whole circular fashion that I've managed, ecosystem that I've managed to build. Yes. Wrapped up in sustainability and storytelling and education. And then you sort of look at dubs. Well, the reason that actually is a question you asked ages ago, three is like cool that the the dubs universe.
00:28:36
Speaker
is because I can see a world where um or a brand where it's not just trainers, it could be kids apparel, it could be kids tech, the education, kids travel adventure, and it lives under the umbrella of dubs universe. I mean, for talking about dubs in the future and stuff is it's wide open is as long as it sits to our core values, if it's um about teaching kids about making better choices with the thing and changing the perception of the things that they own getting them outdoors and not necessarily outdoors actually kids a adventure you know enjoying yourself as a kid and and getting as much fun and mileage out of the products you own as possible and if it's clothing and apparel as comfortable as possible yes you're a man with a mission and what's the one thing that would really help you to to fulfill your mission but what's the one thing you really need more than anything else
00:29:29
Speaker
It sounds really crass and a bit pants, but it's investment or money. I know it sounds mad, but I'm sure everyone says that, but being a sustainable brand is really expensive.
Call to Investors for Supporting Sustainability
00:29:42
Speaker
And, you know, like we're self-funded, as I said, and I sort of feel like right now I've taken the brand as far as I can.
00:29:51
Speaker
Today as far as I can without any I think I'd I think my next big milestone is to go for investment and and That's what's gonna hopefully alleviate qantas quite a lot of the blockers that are in front of me to continue on. okay I'll get there, I'm sure, but that will take years and years and years and years. I'm an old man really.
00:30:16
Speaker
I can say you are a man on a mission. I have no doubt that you will be successful, but so it would be quicker if you got some investment. So All of the big millionaires, billionaires in the UK and around the world listen to the independent minds. I have it on great authority that they're all i du listening now. yeah That's true. That's true. So if one of them is listening and they've got children and they're sort noticing how quickly their growth grow out of their shoes, where is the place that they could contact you and so I offer you some investment? What's the website address? subsverse dot com
00:30:49
Speaker
dubsuniverse.com is the place to go. That's the place to go. To buy. Yes, definitely. To get involved with Dubs Universe, to look at the trainers, look at the range, buy things for your children, use the pre-loved market as well. If you've got some money and you want to invest in a sustainable brand, then that is the place to make contact with Stuart as well. That's the one. Brilliant. You know, Stuart, it's really very interesting. We have talked for longer than we normally talk on our independent minds. Oh, sorry. Told you I'd talk.
00:31:16
Speaker
It has been so very interesting to understand how if you are an ordinary bloke with an idea, you can make it happen if you're prepared to put the effort in and it's, it's working. All you need now is some investment. And I hope that we are able to contribute towards helping you find that investment. But it's hope certainly been very interesting. and Thank you very much for your time today. Thank you so much for it. It's been great. Thank you.
00:31:40
Speaker
I am Michael Millward, the managing director of Abecedah, and I have been having a conversation with the independent mind, Stuart Davis from Dubs Universe. You can find out more about both of us at abecedah.co.uk. There is a link in the description.
00:31:56
Speaker
If you are listening to the independent minds on your smartphone, you may like to know that 3 has the UK's fastest 5G network with unlimited data. So listening on 3 means you can wave goodbye to buffering. There is a link in the description that will take you to more information about business and personal telecom solutions from 3 and the special offers available when you quote my referral code.
00:32:21
Speaker
The description also includes links to all of the websites that have been mentioned in this episode of The Independent Minds. So, that description is well worth reading. If you've liked this episode of The Independent Minds, please give it a like and download it so that you can listen anytime, anywhere. To make sure you don't miss out on future episodes, please subscribe. Remember, the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abisida is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think.
00:32:50
Speaker
All that remains for me to say again to Stuart is thank you very much for a very interesting conversation and to you until the next episode of the Independent Minds, thank you for listening and goodbye.