At that moment, when I was at a crossroads and considering closing the company, I made a decision. 
“Let’s close the loss-making department store locations and try crowdfunding instead.” 

Facing pressure due to a lack of production funds, Blue Peach chose a wadiz funding campaign over opening a department store location. Thanks to that decision, Blue Peach was able to raise approximately 100 million won in just over 10 days after the project launched. We heard the story of Blue Peach’s journey from an unknown brand to one loved by over 1,000 supporters.

[Blue Pitch’s Irresistible Sneakers] Project

• 6 Successful Funding Campaigns in the Fashion & Accessories Category
• Successfully raised a total of 700 million won in funding

※ These funding results were achieved through the above project and do not apply to all projects

Wadiz: Hello. First, could you please introduce yourself as the maker?

Blue Pitch: Hello. I’m Kang Hye-in, CEO of Blue Pitch. I started Blue Pitch because I wanted to provide many people with shoes that are both stylish and comfortable at an affordable price. 

Wadiz: I heard that Blue Peach was founded in 2016. I’m curious about your journey to starting the company.Blue Peach: I’m a shoe designer with 15 years of experience. While working at my last company, I became physically and mentally exhausted, so I eventually decided to resign. After taking a short break, when I tried to return to work, I realized that the passionate, tireless drive I once had—running around day and night—had disappeared, and I felt afraid to take on a new challenge. When I shared these concerns with friends and acquaintances, they encouraged me to start my own business. 

Every designer probably dreams of launching their own brand. I was no exception. I started looking around for startup funding, and just as I was doing so, an investor showed interest, so I explained what kind of brand I wanted to create. Fortunately, they decided to invest right then and there. That’s how I ended up starting Blue Peach on my own.

wadiz: So you started out as a shoe designer and have now become an entrepreneur.

Blue Pitch: I actually ended up becoming a shoe designer even though I majored in shoe engineering, not design. Since I needed to understand shoes better than other designers, I took on any shoe-related task that came my way—from design to development, planning, and even launching new brands. At the time, juggling so many responsibilities was tough, but looking back, the experience of actively tackling areas that designers don’t typically get to explore proved to be a huge help after I started my own business.

Wadiz: I heard that when you first started Blue Peach, you spent a lot of time looking for offline retail partners.

Blue Pitch: The first thing that came to mind when I started the business was to eliminate the price markup on shoes. That’s why I initially began by selling exclusively online. However, since no one knew about our new brand or was seeking it out, sales were sluggish. So, I took the shoes from the warehouse and started running around to promote them. Whether it was local events or department store pop-ups, we went to every place we could. It felt so rewarding every time someone tried them on and gave us positive feedback.

Thanks to going out to meet customers in person like that, I was able to gather valuable feedback. I had assumed that sneakers were only for young people, but to my surprise, people in older age groups liked them too. To create sneakers that even people with weak knees could wear comfortably, I developed our current Soft Double Cushion sole. By meeting customers face-to-face, I was able to further enhance the strengths and address the weaknesses, which allowed me to launch the product on wadiz with confidence.

Wadiz: So, it was the maker’s passion that made it possible to create such great shoes. Since you had to source the best raw materials, manufacture domestically, and even set up your own logistics warehouse and base, the operating costs must have been substantial. Yet, the price is still lower than that of regular sneakers. How is that possible?

Blue Peach: Because I gained diverse experience—from design to planning, development, production, and sales—while working at a company, I was able to run the business with a small team. On top of that, by cutting out middlemen, we were able to set a reasonable price.

wadiz: I heard you faced some difficulties with production costs along the way. 

Blue Peach: Since we started the business without substantial capital or a detailed plan, we didn’t fully understand how much funding would be required at first. With help from friends and family and by securing youth startup funding, we produced our first shoes and began selling them. Then, an opportunity arose to get our products into a department store. 

However, the shoes we’d already produced weren’t enough to meet the demand, so we had to quickly manufacture a large quantity of new shoes. Especially with sneakers, since we had to place bulk orders, store them in a warehouse, and then sell them, we were in a situation where we had to cover department store commissions, labor costs, and production expenses. 

Just as I was at a crossroads, facing the possibility of having to shut down the company, I learned about funding. I realized that by running a funding campaign, I could receive production costs upfront through pre-orders and manufacture the shoes on a stable footing. So I made a decision: “Let’s pull out of the loss-making department store locations and try funding instead.” With the resolve that this would be my last chance, I launched the campaign.

wadiz: Since you started with the mindset that this would be your last chance, I imagine you prepared very thoroughly.

Blue Peach: Yes, that’s right. I thought it was the best option for our current situation—it allowed us to raise production funds, reduce inventory burdens, and promote our brand. I looked into several funding sites, and I found that campaigns on wadiz were performing the best. Together with my staff, we attended both training sessions offered by wadiz and began our preparations in earnest. 

wadiz: So you even took the training courses. Thanks to that, you surpassed 1,000% of your funding goal within just three hours of launching.

※ These funding results were achieved through the above project and do not apply to all projects.

Blue Peach: Looking at other shoe projects launched on wadiz, I noticed most received between 10 million and 20 million won in funding. So we started out expecting to receive around that amount. Since many people signed up for notifications during the phase leading up to the launch, I thought we might receive a bit more, but I really had no idea it would be this much. 

The fact that we were able to prepare for this funding campaign more thoroughly while managing the notifications related to launching soon made a huge difference. Determined to present something even better than our Story that was to be launched soon, we stayed up several nights creating videos and kept refining the Story right up until the moment we went live. 

Just as I thought, “I’ll go to sleep as soon as it goes live,” the amount shot up in an instant. All thoughts of sleep vanished. I spent that entire day in a daze, barely able to keep my head above water. I’d poured every ounce of energy into it, thinking this would be the last time, but the realization that this might not actually be the end filled my heart with overwhelming emotion. 

As the funding amount rose, I received many messages from people wanting to invest. Thanks to that, I was able to regain the strength to keep going.

Wadiz: Hearing you speak, maker, makes me feel overwhelmed too. You’ve gathered over a thousand supporters in just 10 days since the launch. Your supporter base is steadily growing—does Blue Peach have a unique approach to promotion?

※ These funding results were achieved by the project mentioned above and do not apply to all projects.

Blue Peach: Thanks to those who signed up for launch notifications and backed the project immediately after it went live, the Super Early Bird quantities sold out quickly. After that, the pace at which the funding amount was rising began to slow down. Since it was impossible to increase the Super Early Bird quantities, we came up with our own event. 

It was an event where we gave away gifts—which we had originally prepared for an encore campaign in case we fell short of our funding goal—to the first supporters to back the project on a first-come, first-served basis. As a result, the funding amount began to rise again. I believe it’s important to have events in place that continuously capture supporters’ interest until the campaign ends. 

Another thing I realized was the importance of our sincerity. Since we don’t have the resources to promote through external channels, we’ve been making an effort to convey our appreciation to the supporters who found our project on their own through events and comments. I think the supporters who recognized that continued to trust us and participate in the funding.

wadiz: You really understand the essence of funding. Did the “Launching Soon” feature on wadiz help you a lot?

Blue Peach: I learned about the “launching soon” service when I attended a training session at wadiz. They explained that if you gather a large number of people to sign up for notifications early on, those individuals will provide significant momentum during the initial stages of the campaign, increasing the chances of success. That turned out to be spot on. Thanks to that, we were able to reach our funding goal quickly.

Wadiz: Blue Peach also operates its own online store. What’s the difference between running an online store and a wadiz funding campaign?BluePitch: For me, the difference is that with an online store, you make the product first, then promote and sell it, whereas with wadiz funding, you promote the product first, raise funds, and then produce and ship it. That’s why I highly recommend it to entrepreneurs like BluePitch who are starting a business with excellent product technology but lack brand recognition.

Wadiz: It seems like online store customers and wadiz supporters are a bit different as well.Blue Pitch: Online store customers tend to be a bit more price-sensitive than concerned about the product’s quality. The wadiz supporters I encountered during this funding campaign, however, prioritized the product’s quality above all else. They didn’t hesitate to give generous praise to products they liked. It seems they participate because they believe that if the product is good, this amount is a natural investment—which makes them the most reliable support system for anyone committed to consistently creating great products. 

Wadiz: It warms my heart to hear you call it your most reliable support. What would you say is the most valuable thing Blue Peach has gained from its wadiz funding campaign? 

Blue Peach: I went through a lot of uncertainty after starting the business. I struggled with internal conflicts over product development costs, the profit margin to set aside when selecting materials, and product quality. Ultimately, I decided to make the best possible product so I could be true to myself, and I’m grateful that so many supporters recognized and appreciated that decision through the wadiz funding campaign. 

The most valuable thing I gained from this experience was the opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to continue developing even better products and sharing them with as many people as possible, as a way to repay our Blue Peach customers. 

Wadiz: Hearing your commitment, it seems Blue Peach is poised for even greater success in the future. Finally, could you share a few words with those who dream of becoming makers like Blue Peach?

Blue Peach: I launched my funding campaign as a way to break through during the toughest period after starting my business. I imagine there are many people in a similar situation. I believe that all results stem from the products you create. If you’ve made an honest product—and if you’re proud of it yourself—I’m confident you’ll achieve great results through funding. 

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