Custom Shoes in ‘My Week with Marilyn’
When it comes to historical accuracy, the shoes worn by Kenneth Branagh to play Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn couldn’t get any more spot on. In the film, which focuses on the making of the 1957 movie The Prince and the Showgirl starring Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, Branagh wears the same brand of shoes — English bespoke maker George Cleverley — originally loved by the legendary actor. And they are Branagh’s own pair of shoes which coincidentally he’d had made years earlier and never worn, waiting until the right moment.
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Proper Cloth
Since Skerritt was still in business school when he thought up the idea for Proper Cloth, he had the luxury of spending two months researching his business plan. He used his “I’m just a student” status to get potential competitors to open up to him about their numbers and where they sourced their materials. “I called all kinds of suppliers and found out who was the best. Then, I ended up working with some of those people when I launched,” he says.
Skerritt was also able to identify the weaknesses in the market. One glaring problem for customers was getting the right fit when ordering online. Skerritt decided to tackle that issue by developing a proprietary algorithm to help customers determine their sizes by responding to a series of questions about body type, among other things.
Today, Proper Cloth’s revenues are about $500,000, but its run rate by year end will be close to $1 mm. The company has been growing rapidly and its margins are a healthy 30 percent to 50 percent. With just three employees and no debt to speak of, Proper Cloth is at a turning point in its development. Will it stay or will it grow?
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