Our new friend Faye Rapoport Des Pres

Gosh I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but I just have so much fun meeting interesting people in so many random ways and how cool that I can now say I have had a published writer for The New York Times contribute to my site! (see bio below)   I came up with the Twitter Action idea only on Monday and just thought “why not?”….so I browsed through my feed and up kept popping Aetrex with funny/witty/interesting things to say. Once I reached out and then got on the phone with Faye, I knew I had made yet another shoebiz friend. We had a great time chatting about the industry, people and networking in general. I can see why Aetrex has kept her around and I don’t blame them…..plus she informed me that she is a a third degree black belt in martial arts, so maybe there is something there as well! I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with her!! Since Faye is a writer, I hope she will keep us in mind…she is obviously good at what she does! Thanks Faye!! -Julia

Aetrex and Twitter: It’s all about People

When I logged into Twitter recently and discovered that Aetrex had won ShoeBizness.com’s very first “Twitter Action” winner of the day award, I was a happy girl.  After all, I am the “masked voice” behind Aetrex’s Twitter account.  Getting noticed was nice for the company – it validated our CEO’s decision to take a risk and jump head first into social media marketing.  After all, Aetrex is an up-and-coming Comfort Footwear brand, long established (the company has been around for more than sixty years) but not yet one of the biggies, and we’re just starting to really get our name out there to consumers.  We’ll take an award when it comes our way – and I’ve already cleared a space on my wall for the plaque that I fully expect Julia, Shoebizness.com’s founder, to send.

Once I had enjoyed my moment and sent a joyous little email off to Larry and to Aetrex’s marketing director, Robert DeRosa, I thought about why it really hadn’t been difficult to build a following on Twitter for a brand like Aetrex.  Speaking to Julia brought home the main factor that makes Twitter work — in the end, business is about people.  It is about the quality of the product or service that a company provides to people, its customers, and it’s about the people behind that product or service and the connections they make both within a company and outside it.

Aetrex has always been about people.  In fact, the company was started as an effort to help people who had foot-related problems.   Originally named Apex Foot Health Industries, the company was founded in 1946 and originally known for the development of arch supports and medically-oriented footcare products, as well as innovations in the over-the-counter insole market – the kind of innovations that helped people with foot pain or diabetes, or other foot conditions.  For years people turned to Apex for comfortable footwear that alleviated foot problems, and for products that would help prevent or eliminate pain. 

Based on its foot health expertise, the company saw a need to bring more foot care solutions to the retail market.   A major rebranding effort in the new millennium has been accompanied by huge strides forward in product development. Now known as Aetrex Worldwide, the company has launched innovative new lines of fashion-forward high performance sports, dress and casual footwear for both men and women, has introduced the revolutionary iStep foot scanning system, and is making strong headway in the mainstream consumer market.  Still, every Aetrex product is manufactured with comfort in mind.  Aetrex employs more Certified Pedorthists than any other footwear company.  Every shoe is designed to help prevent injury and pain so that people of all ages, as our tag line says, can: “Live Life Your Way.”

Faye’s favorites – Voyage Hiker’s, Voyage Walker’s and Zoom Runner’s

I have worked with Aetrex in one capacity or another for more than ten years.  For the most part, I have not worked full-time with the company, (I’m a writer, and am currently finishing up my degree at the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing program at Pine Manor College in Newton, Massachusetts).  However, for more than a decade I have been a part of Aetrex’s communications and marketing efforts.  No matter where my life takes me (and it has taken me from New York to Colorado to Boston) I just can’t seem to get away from this company (which is located in New Jersey).  I run in Aetrex Zoom Runners, cross-train in the Voyage Athletic Walkers, do my light hiking in the Voyage Hikers and kick around in the Maggie (a very cool tan printed slip-on from the Women’s Essence Essential Living Collection that has caused at least one person on the street to ask me, “who pimped your shoes?”).  Aetrex really got me this year, though, when they launched the Sandalista collection.  Larry knows that I’m a nature girl and have spent half of my life in sandals (not that they developed this line just for me, of course).  Sandalistas are something special.  They have built-in Aetrex Lynco orthotic support and are made with IQ150 Memory Foam that conforms to your specific gait pattern.  They even have patented Mozaic Customization Technology built into the footbed so you can customize each sandal to your own foot.  I took one step in my Sandalistas and said, “ahhh.”  I figured I was going to be around Aetrex for a while longer.

 Faye’s favorites for “kickin it” – Sanalista and Essential Living Collection

So how did all of this land me on Twitter?  When Larry asked me if I would spearhead Aetrex’s new social media marketing efforts, I was already on Facebook.  My first question, though, was, “what’s with Twitter?”  I met with a friend who is a social media marketing expert and he showed me the ropes.  Then I sat down and started tweeting.  I thought about the types of things that would be interesting and fun for our customers to read about.  Some of our customers are runners and other athletes, some are baby boomers seeking to stay active, some are fashionistas, some are foot care professionals who help people with diabetes.  I’ve worked as a reporter and I’m a bit of a news hound, so it wasn’t hard to start mining the Web for footwear news and other tidbits that might be of interest to our followers.  I search for information on all of these topics so that I can share what’s out there. 

But Twitter, like business, is all about people.  People want to see something interesting, share a joke,  watch a beautiful blue whale on video moving through the sea.  So I send tweets about those things, too.  I’ve connected with people from Brazil, Israel, Australia, the U.K….all over the world…through Twitter.  I’m happy to introduce them to Aetrex and our products, and to share our company news, but also to show them that there are people behind Aetrex who are interested in the world, in communicating and saying hello.

From Left to Right: Matt Schwartz, Phil Simms (former NY Giants great and current Aetrex Spokesperson), Evan Schwartz, Larry Schwartz) at a recent Aetrex event showcasing the iStep Foot Scanning Technology, which took place at ESPN Zone in Times Square, New York City

Aetrex has been lucky enough to continue to grow, even during these tough economic times.  There are many reasons for this – Larry Schwartz and his brothers Evan (the company’s president) and Matt (the company’s executive sales director) work hard and make strong business decisions, and their father, Richard Schwartz, is still chairman of the board.  But when I think about what keeps me working for Aetrex, what keeps me talking about the company, and, well…twittering about the company, it comes back to the way Aetrex cares about people. 

My father is nearly 80 now, and he has had diabetes for fifty years.  Every year on my dad’s birthday, Larry and Robert DeRosa send him a free pair of Ambulator shoes specially designed for diabetic feet.  Often they throw in a few pairs of the company’s seam-free diabetic socks.  No one at Aetrex has ever asked me to pay a dime for these products, even though I am not a full-time employee.  Every year my father receives the package and opens the box, and his face lights up when he sees his new shoes.

Now that’s something to twitter about.

-Faye

www.twitter.com/aetrex

Author Bio: Faye Rapoport DesPres is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the Intermountain Jewish News, the Rockland Review, Trail & Timberline, International Gymnast Magazine and other publications.  She lives near Boston with her husband, Jean-Paul DesPres, and three cats.  Faye is currently completing her MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Pine Manor College in Newton, Massachusetts.