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After coming into the shoe trade with no expertise in the sphere, Jeremy and Lila Stewart’s footwear model can now be discovered in 1,000 retailers throughout the nation.
DALLAS — Texas is open for enterprise! Whether an organization is native to the Lone Star State or just received right here as quick because it might, we need to know: What makes these companies tick? Why are so a lot of them calling Texas residence? And how do they plan to proceed to develop in the years to return? This is Trending in Texas.
Many say that life is best in flip-flops. Hari Mari co-founders Jeremy and Lila Stewart undoubtedly agree.
To hear them inform it, the flip-flop enterprise isn’t just for kicks. Rather, it is a big and rising trade.
“Most people don’t know that,” Jeremy Stewart says. “It’s a $26 billion a year industry. About $16 billion of that is here in the U.S., and a large, large portion of that is in Texas and in the southeastern states.”
Seeing a chance to carve out a distinct segment in the flip-flop trade, the Stewarts co-founded Hari Mari in their hometown of Dallas, Texas.
Theirs is a footwear model that focuses on coloration and luxury — one thing the Stewarts had bother finding themselves whereas purchasing for flip-flops upon returning to Dallas after a while spent dwelling in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“We moved back from living abroad, and we’d worn out those pairs [of flip-flops] we owned, and went shopping for new flip-flops and noticed that — literally — the same pairs that were hanging there [in stores] in 2007 were the exact same pairs hanging there in 2010,” says Lila Stewart. “Jeremy was looking for something elevated [with] a pop of color — [it] didn’t exist. I was looking for a leather sandal that didn’t destroy your feet and [have] the break in period process — that also didn’t exist.”
They additionally observed that the businesses producing these flip-flops weren’t Texas-based manufacturers.
“Every brand on that wall was a surf brand,” Lila says. “That didn’t resonate with us. We’re not surfers.”
In that second, the Stewarts noticed a chance — regardless of having no prior coaching in the footwear trade.
“We just kind of jumped both feet in to figuring out how to do it,” Jeremy says. “It was a challenge. It was educational, but ultimately, we wanted something to do together.”
A decade into their operations, Hari Mari lately added it is 1,000th retailer. It credit the competitors throughout the trade for permitting them to develop.
“We were swimming hard against the current when it started, but now I think the other brands in existence in the marketplace actually allowed our brand to grow,” Jeremy says. “We have a lot of brands that are below us in price point, and we have a few that are above. I think, specifically, for those few that are above, they really allowed Hari Mari to draft in behind them.”
Hari Mari began with a multi-use area for its warehouse, firm workplaces and storefront. Over time, although, they’d so many individuals visiting their centralized location that they selected to develop and open their first retail retailer throughout the metropolis they name residence.
“We had so many customers from the Dallas area come out and shop with us,” says Hannah Sumers, Hari Mari’s Director of Operations. “That’s why we built our retail location here on Knox Street to give our customers that easy access to shop in-store for our products.”
Adds Sumer: “We’re definitely bursting at the seams, for sure. Now we’re in the stages of relocating our warehouse right now.”
As Hari Mari has grown, its product choices have expanded to incorporate totally different strains of shoes, sneakers, slippers, hats, sweatshirts and extra.
With a big selection of merchandise to ship all through the nation, Hari Mari sees many advantages to being based mostly in North Texas.
“Dallas is a great city for business, a great city for small businesses,” Jeremy says. “We’re centralized in the United States. We can ship to both coasts. It’s just a really business friendly city and state to work from. We’re super proud to be based here. We’re super proud to have founded the company here. And we hope that, in some small way, Hari Mari can play a part in the larger story of increasing Dallas’ viability as an entrepreneurial hub.”
Whether an organization began in DFW or relocated right here in some unspecified time in the future alongside their journey, if you understand of a enterprise headquartered in the North Texas area that you just imagine is Trending in Texas, we might love to listen to from you! Please e-mail us at trending@wfaa.com for protection consideration.
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