For Shoe Designer Sarah Flint, Ditching Department Stores for DTC Yields Triple-Digit Growth

Nearly two years after pivoting her shoe business to a direct-to-consumer model with the help of actual model and investor, Cindy Crawford, Sarah Flint is on a roll. In addition to having a direct relationship with customers, fewer markdowns and more control, her company is enjoying triple digit growth for the second year. She has also opened her first pop-up shop in New York’s SoHo. “I wanted to create an experience for my customers where they didn’t feel the pressure to shop,” she said at the forum, where she detailed her journey from department store to DTC brand. “We have board games, cookies and tea, a shoe-fie moment. People are encouraged to try on as many shoes as they can, we put together a basket for them with what they tried on, and a code to order online so we can track that those customers came from the store.” Open until Dec. 15, the pop-up has already yielded results, she said. “We have a lot of Canadian customers who have literally flown in to shop the pop-up and fly home. We’ve seen huge success and we will open four more pop ups next year.” To promote the pop-up, she’s done press, used Instagram ads,

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