When most people think about the fashion choices of young children, they think: Chaos! Yet, like most adults, children have their own sense of style and giving them that freedom of expression gives them joy. No company understands that better than kid’s sneaker company JoyJoy.
In our second ‘episode’ of Founder Focus, we interview the co-founder of JoyJoy Jade Kriel. Jade spent the beginning of her career working and building the Sorbet Group. During that time she learnt a lot of lessons in business and building a successful company.
In 2018 when the Sorbet Group was sold, Jade was left with capital and the determination to start her own business instead of investing in existing businesses.
“I made some money from the sale, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I wanted to start my own business, and I was very clear on that,” she says.
With capital in hand and a desire to build her own empire, Jade spoke to her school friend Dani Silberman, and they discussed the world of creativity, branding, marketing and children’s sneakers. Putting their creative strengths together, the friends developed the concept of JoyJoy.
A Joyous Road for the Founders
“She (Dani) has two children, and I have three and we thought how amazing it would be if our young ones could have one sneaker that you can change every single day and for every single occasion like birthday parties or just the playground. Basically, we wanted to give our little ones creative control and independence,” Jade explains.
Liking the idea of a kids’ sneaker, Jade and Dani did what any good entrepreneur would do and began to conduct their own market research. During the research, they found that there were so many existing sneakers made just for children. Although there were so many sneakers, nothing really fit the mould of what they wanted.
“We couldn’t find exactly what we were looking for anywhere. There were similar things like Crocs with their interchangeable jibbitz but it wasn’t an everyday interchangeable shoe like what we wanted to do. We wanted the sneaker to look entirely different from day to day,” she says.
The pair realised that the best thing to do would be to go to where the shoes are made, China. After finding a factory in China, they were able to find the right design and specifications for their interchangeable sneaker. The excitement between the co-founders was palpable on the flight back home, however, disaster struck, and the world stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID-19 came and all of a sudden, the world was upside down. We were doubting if it was the right time to even start a business amidst all the worrying about family and friends during the pandemic. But we decided to go ahead because we had gone too far and we wanted to use the time down from the pandemic to really refine our brand,” Jade says.
From the downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic, the friends worked tirelessly and eventually, in 2022, JoyJoy saw the light. The friends envisioned that the sneaker brand would do as its name and bring joy to not only children but also to their parents.
The name of the company (JoyJoy) was born when the friends received their fast sample box from China. Their children who had witnessed them build the brand from scratch were excited to see the first sample and Jade says the joy on their faces was the inspiration behind the name.
“Our children had watched us build this brand for three years at our dining room table. Once that first sample arrived, they came rushing down the stairs and were so excited to see them. When we opened the box, the joy on their faces was amazing and as their parents we felt so much joy seeing them excited. From then on, we decided to call the company JoyJoy.”
Footwear Focussed on Customisation
JoyJoy offers parents and crucially children the option of having one sneaker that grows with them and changes with them as they do.
The JoyJoy interchangeable sneakers are white and come with interchangeable Velcro snaps. The snaps allow children to ‘design’ a new sneaker every day. They can change it from glittery stars, gaming consoles and recently Christmas decorations.
“The whole idea is to give children some sort of independence and fashion sense and win the war in the ‘dress myself’ department. So giving them sneakers they can change everyday according to their style is really what we wanted. We wanted to give them that joy [of finding their style],” Jade explains.
Looking to the future, Jade says the possibilities are endless for JoyJoy. The company has recently struck a deal with Disney and is looking to introduce a black sneaker with interchangeable straps.
Lastly, the company is looking into interchangeable bag straps, interchangeable caps and interchangeable belts. But even with all these new deals and possible innovations, Jade wants to keep the core of the business.
Her advice for up-and-coming entrepreneurs is to always stick to the core of your business. According to Jade, entrepreneurs should not get distracted by the pressures of building a business and start making decisions that could be detrimental to the core of the business.
“Stick to the core of your business. And if you feel like you’re losing your way, just come back to that spark of why you started in the first place. Don’t hold on to the highs or the lows because there’s going to be a lot of them, but remember why you started and you’ll be okay,” she concludes.
When most people think about the fashion choices of young children, they think: Chaos! Yet, like most adults, children have their own sense of style and giving them that freedom Read More
