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How Kola Tytler Plans to Disrupt the Sneaker Industry

According to recent studies, there are over 4,300 footwear companies in the Italian footwear industry. Operating in this sector as a leading figure is dropout, a business which specializes in the sale of limited edition sneakers, as well as streetwear, founded in 2018 by Kola Tytler, an interesting individual with a varied range of interests and talents. This article explores his plans to secure a legacy in the sneakers industry. 

Who is Kola Tytler?

Kola Tytler is a medical doctor as well as an entrepreneur. The 27 year old currently works for the NHS and is busy completing an MBA at University of Birmingham.  dropout, was established in 2018 and has launched him to become a prominent figure in the Italian, and European, fashion-streetwear and sneakers scene. dropout has a store in the centre of Milan, Italy as well as an online store which ships worldwide. The company promises that their sneakers and streetwear are 100% authentic. Kola claims that the business’ revenue has exceeded seven digits, with the store in Milan welcoming over 50,000 people and the website dropoutmilano.com recording over a million visitors in 2020 and 2021. 

Kola plans to secure the legacy of dropout in the sneaker industry in two ways, namely using an equity crowdfunding campaign and by using the HypeAnalyzer program.

dropout’s equity crowdfunding campaign

The launch of a campaign on Mamacrowd, an Italian crowdfunding platform, is set to involve customers and supporters of dropout in the business. Equity crowdfunding is a method startups or early stage businesses may use in order to gain more capital. This method sees businesses sell the company’s securities to prospective investors. For dropout, their capital target is between €300k and €500k at a pre-money valuation of €1.5M. The campaign launched on the 7th of October 2021 and these funds are projected to be used in expanding the point of sale, in improving the online store and on dropout® brand products. 

These funds will also be used in exploring other avenues of business. Kola has shown interest in starting pop-up shops, but also in sustainability. According to the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, the fashion industry is the second largest consumer of water and is also responsible for 8% to 10% of global carbon emissions. These emissions total to more than those of international flights and maritime shipping combined. To work against these statistics, Kola is interested in the second-hand market to decrease the fashion industry’s carbon footprint. 

The HypeAnalyzer program

dropout uses a technical analysis software tool developed by the dropout team, named the HypeAnalzyer program (patented in Italy with SIAE registration). This tool is used for the evaluation of the secondary market of sneakers. dropout makes use of the tool (the interface of which is free to use on website and iOS app) to track and manage activities, such as sneakers accepted on consignment, the prices, discounts as well as shop windows’ item positioning. The tool’s ultimate use is to track and compare sneakers in order to determine which have the best potential for resale in the future. According to Stefano Zeppieri, co-founder and CTO of dropout, consignment is an important part of the business. Zepperi says, “it increases consumer loyalty and allows us to obtain rare products without the need for an investment of resources”.

The tool also provides insight so that the products chosen to be put on sale, or on display, are of interest to the public. Additionally, dropout’s consignment system is automated and digital. This allows customers to be able to keep track of what products are on sale as well their pending payments. Customers are also provided the ease of being able to directly communicate with dropout staff from the website and from the iOS app. 

The takeaway

The sneaker industry, in Italy and worldwide, is extremely competitive with little space to establish a business set for success. To propel a business into success, innovation and originality is vital. dropout has these characteristics, which makes it attractive to potential investors. 

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