David from Atheist shoes (previously) sez, “We’ve just been successful in raising money for the first Atheist Shoes Missionary Mobile Shoe Shop, which will criss-cross the USA, selling handmade shoes and spreading our European message of godless comfort and joy. The fund-raising is ongoing, as we aim to get a whole fleet of buses on the road. The first US tour begins in September 2016, and will take in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas.”
I own a pair of Atheists and they are not only amazingly comfortable, they’re also super-cool looking and leave the best prints behind me in mud, sand, wet ground, etc.
The rewards are cool: at €150, part of your money is used to send you a pair of shoes (&euro175; for boots); €1300 gets you a special visit from the Missionary Bus, while €1500 from any one town will also guarantee a visit.
It’s kinda like Street Food… well, Street Shoes… and it makes sense for a whole bunch of reasons:– The traditional way to crack the USA is to get your shoes into stores. But we want to sell direct to our customers, which allows us keep prices down and continue using the best materials. We couldn’t do that if we had to split our profits with retailers. And a mobile shoe shop gives us a real alternative.
– Pop-ups work well in big cities like SF and NYC, but the frontline battle against religious intolerance and crappy footwear is in the small towns dotted across the US, and a bus gives us the flexibility to reach them. We want to show the friendly, comfy face of atheism where it’s needed most… in Alabama, Texas, Utah, Tennessee, Georgia, etc.
– We sell most of our shoes over the internet; it works really well and our return rates are super low, in part due to our wonderful size guide. But our web shop will never compare to feeling our shoes in your hands, smelling them and trying their sumptuous comfort in the flesh. It’s a joy seeing people trying our shoes for the first time, and a mobile shoe shop let’s us see that all the time!
ATHEIST Shoes Mobile Shop across the USA [David Bonney/Kickstarter]