We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mike Lopriore a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mike thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

”Scaling up” can actually mean different things to different brands. For us, it’s never been about simply expanding the company. We remain family-owned to maintain the integrity of what we create so everything we attempt is in service of that ideal.
Ever since I joined the company, my dream was to bring my father’s name Michele Lopriore to the US. And not just because it offers a larger consumer base but because having a foothold there represents another step in cementing our position in the luxury market.

In the beginning there were certainly several strategies I could have taken to make this happen but it was equally important to do it the right way. It was in 2014 during a trip to Miami that the opportunity to open a flagship store at Brickell City Centre presented itself. While there were expectations regarding foot traffic and sales conversions, the complex was still under construction and one never knows how something will be received by the public. Confronted by all these huge numbers being presented to me, it was a bit overwhelming to a young man with just a dream. Still, the location itself, the existing market, and the vibe of the city represented everything we wanted for the brand.

When I returned to Italy, I’m still not sure how I did it, but I believe it was my passion that convinced him to go along with my plan to open in Miami. After we launched in 2016, it wasn’t long when everyone realized we made the right choice. We were finally showing the American market the dedication to craftsmanship and quality that we offer. Soon, we were receiving many offers to open in other regions. After carefully reviewing our options and staying true to my dream and what the brand represents, within two years we had three successful stores in South Florida.

By that point, it seemed easy to sit back and just remain comfortable with our success. But I will always be grateful to my girlfriend Silvana who reminded me: “You did not come to America to stay in Miami. You need to get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself because your mission is way bigger than you think.” Later of course she regretted telling me that because now she complains that I travel too much, still she says she’s happy for what I had accomplished. And I will always treasure that advice.

This drove me to spend the following days and weeks doing hours of research and phone calls and traveling across six states to check out potential new locations until finally I brought home two exciting new potential store locations: New York City and another one in Chicago. Two months after that I discovered another excellent location in Dallas.

When the pandemic hit, there was a lot of uncertainty and concern that we may end up closing the stores. But we held on. And my father kept encouraging me to remain strong. So instead of closing, we took the risk of opening a second store in Chicago. Some may think this was foolish, but I believe in our brand and I believe just as strongly in our customers who have come to recognize and appreciate the quality of our collections. My mission is not over. Last month we opened in Boston. And at this very moment I am on a plane flying from Los Angeles to Houston, Texas to check out other locations. And each step is a reminder not to be afraid of my dreams any more.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

There are people who believe in the power of the universe, the law of attraction, things that are meant to be. I am one of those people because that’s the story of our brand. My father Michele founded Michele Lopriore in 1986. From the start, he believed in crafting the finest quality Italian shoes that could still be affordable. It all started on the streets of Milan where, every day at 5am, he would load a van with shoes, go to Piazzale Luigi Cadorna and outside our famous train terminal he would mount his stand as part of the Mercato. Hundreds of ladies on their way to and from the station would stop by to try on a pair of shoes – and they all ended up loving them. In a few months, my father was able to earn enough to open his first store there.

I was born shortly after that and so now comes the law of attraction. They wanted to call me Michele as well but there was a law in Italy that didn’t permit that. My parents ended up calling me Mike instead but even then our special connection was already there. And I genuinely believe the universe gave me this mission of exactly what I am doing now.

When I was growing up, my father worked hard to build the company in Milan. By 2005, he already had ten stores and the brand was gaining recognition. He tried to open a branch in the US but he couldn’t find someone he could trust to run an overseas operation.

Even then I was already hoping to one day help my father in creating shoes. I finally joined the company when I was twenty years old, starting from the bottom, working the market, learning from the artisans how to design and craft shoes. I traveled all over Italy meeting with everyone from different aspects of the business to learn the entire process and finding out first hand that nothing worth having comes easy.

My father and I do have separate roles in the company. He’s in Italy and in charge of logistics and production, overseeing our artisans and collections. I’m in Miami in charge of the wholesale, retail, marketing and PR as well as our expansion into different markets. But ours is a special relationship in that it seems we are linked on a deeper level. If we’re not in the same place, we still manage to speak at least twice a day on the phone, organizing and planning step-by-step all the company operations.

Today, Michele Lopriore is a brand built over forty years of passion and caring and supported by the belief and trust people have in us. To me, every single customer is a gem. More than that, many of them have become friends of mine. I will always pursue the dream of providing quality over quantity, and always aim for the dream, and bring passion and love to anything and everything I do in life.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

Right now, we do not sell on other platforms for many reasons including our need to have control over our inventory and maintaining a consistent brand image. Honestly, it wasn’t until this year that I finally realized that our website
www.michelelopriore.com receives tens of thousands of views every month. But the challenge is converting all those views into actual sales.

Selling online isn’t easy. It’s a full-time job. Whoever wants to start from there, good luck! If you do not have a big budget on marketing, it’s very difficult to make it work. Then there are always the technical mishaps and Google algorithms that change. You can be at the top of the search results one day and then the next you’re not. The advantage of being online is that you are open to the world 24/7 but to get the right traffic that is actually going to purchase you need to have a strategy.

The major disadvantage is having to deal with the returns. Every industry has their own average percentage of returns and shoes are probably the highest percentage by product. The main challenge is that shoes have to be tried on – to see how they fit, how they feel when you walk on them. That can be accomplished in a physical store but online the chances are higher that they may not feel exactly what they think when they first buy a pair.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

For us, the best strategy of growing our business online is to keep doing things the right way the first time: provide amazing footwear, excellent customer service, and consistent high quality. From there, you will be surprised how far you can go with just the power of word-of-mouth endorsement by truly satisfied customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://michelelopriore.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micheleloprioreus/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/micheleloprioremiami/