The partnerships are the latest in many deals with iconic brands including the NBA and Nickelodeon. Neiman Marcus, LIDS, Urban Outfitters and Fanatics are the big names. Even on my worst day at ISlide, I never regretted leaving.Boston-based custom footwear designer ISlide has announced four new deals with key players in online retailing. “It was tough to leave corporate America, which pays well and has great benefits,” said the dad of two young girls. Kittredge said the company was on its way to success before he went on “Shark Tank,” but since appearing on the season premiere, “It’s been absolutely incredible.” “They can put them on their website, sell the product and we can even ship it directly to the customers.” “By partnering with us, these entertainers and athletes get a more creative way to sell branded footwear without having to hold a lot of inventory,” he explained.
Since then, the company’s secured a licensing deal with the NBA and has designed custom slides for major brands, including the WWE, Def Jam Records, ROC Nation and just recently, New Kids on the Block, who created a line of NKOTB ISlides they’ll peddle on their upcoming fan cruise. “Companies like Reebok pay millions of dollars to get celebrities to wear their brand and this all happened organically for us,” Kittredge said. Kittredge teamed up with DJ Khaled early on via a mutual friend and the record producer has given customized ISlides to his boldface pals, including Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Madonna, Ellen DeGeneres, Chelsea Handler and more. Not to mention the pack of celebrity endorsements the sandals have racked up. No matter, Kittredge said he has already gotten investors to pick up the slide slack and his company has hired a half-dozen new employees. I even offered him 10 percent, but he didn’t want to negotiate so it wasn’t the right type of deal for us.” “We went in looking for $500,000 for 5 percent of the company,” Kittredge said. But only Herjavec was interested in partnering with him. The 39-year-old former Reebok exec showed up at the ABC show with Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown in tow to pump up his Norwood-based company, which creates customized one-strap athletic sandals for individuals, organizations, teams and companies all over the world. “But he put a lower value on the company than it was worth and there was no way I could take it.” “ Robert (Herjavec) put the offer in,” Kittredge told the Track.
It takes a pretty confident entrepreneur to turn down a half-million-dollar investment on “Shark Tank,” but that’s just what ISlide founder Justin Kittredge did because he believed his footwear company was ready to sprint to the top of the customized sandal market.
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