Passion Play
The trio behind Culture of Brave on how the luxury brand lives up to its name in mind, body and sneakers. By Greg Dutter
CULTURE OF BRAVE is a catchy name. The luxury sneaker label’s “wings” logo is equally attentiongrabbing. Since launching in 2020, the Italian- and Portuguese-made brand has gained decent traction, despite hurdles brought on by the pandemic and being a newbie in a market of established behemoths. Just how is that possible? It starts with the divide-andconquer capabilities of the three founding partners, Jaco Buitendag, Custodian; Michelle Wray, Chief Evangelist; and Lead Designer Roberta Grillo. “We bring together all the skills needed to grow a business, to produce great designs with impeccable and consistent production, and to manage the supply chain to meet our customer’s needs,” Wray says. “We listen to our retailers on what works and what the pain points are, and we listen to our customers about any design and comfort improvements.” Then there’s the added key ingredient: being nice. “People like to do business with nice people, and we are super nice to work with,” Wray offers. “If something’s wrong, we want to know and fix it. We invest and nurture our relationships because we’re just nice like that, and it’s the right way to do business.” Buitendag, an engineer by trade, hails from the mining industry, where he created a global OEM brand. He left to chase his “ultimate passions” of fashion and sneakers. “Using my skills as an engineer, I bring a unique perspective to our product design, merging function and beauty,” he says. “Being the Custodian of the brand means the buck stops with me. I’m always up for that challenge. Culture of Brave reflects the individual courage, bravery and resilience I’ve shown throughout my personal journey to get to where I am today.” Wray, a multi-skilled entrepreneur and seasoned marketing professional, is a lover of sneakers. “And I love brands that stand for something,” she says. “Culture of Brave feels like my life story, stepping in courage at every turn, living with my whole-heart and knowing that, no matter what, everything will be ok. Success and failure are only separated by how many times you are prepared to risk.” Wray feels lucky to have a job that breathes life into a brand that she believes belongs to everyone. “We all have a story to share, and courage is our human attribute tying our collective stories together in Culture of Brave,” she says. Grillo is a self-taught designer and shoemaker who has refined her skills over the past 25 years. She has designed performance and luxury lifestyle sneakers, working with small artisans and huge factories. “I remain fascinated
by the artisan creation process and how, through hours of hard work, you can transform your idea into a shoe,” she says. “I’m in love with hybrids, which I believe are a celebration of evolution. Nature keeps combining complex concepts with clear and clean lines, which offer little resistance to change.” Grillo’s designs crossbreed ancient artisan techniques with modern lines and volumes to create a product that has “roots in traditions but looks to the future.” In what ways is COB unique? Wray: We focus on classic silhouettes and quality leathers to create a timeless sneaker. We’re well-priced for our quality. (SRP: $285-$325; $695 for the 280 pairs only Individual Courage collection.) Whilst there’s a huge market for fast fashion at a lower-price point, we don’t want to be a part of that downside of being less durable and trending out quickly.
Jaco Buitendag, Michelle Wray and Roberta Grillo are team Culture of Brave.
What are some of COB’s signature design elements? Wray: All our sneakers have Culture of Brave wings on the upper. Their shape is designed to mirror your feet on the ground. Wings are a metaphor of freedom, and when you step in courage, you create your freedom and conquer your fears. Our sneaker collections are named Courage, Resilient, Prepared to Risk, Free Soul and Individual Courage, which is silkscreened on the respective inner tongues. Literally, you’re reminded what attribute to embrace in your steps for the day.
How has the pandemic impacted the launch? Wray: Actually, it’s been relatively good for us. We brought stock into the U.S. and were able to offer retailers open sizing and no minimums. It was a lot easier to grow relationships with stores by being able to immediately ship orders, and a lot of customers appreciated that we had stock and were willing to take small orders to allow them to explore our sneakers and see how their customers responded. Every customer that tried us, has placed repeat orders. They love our quality, brand, pricing and design. We also invested in our systems. Our B2B customers can access a digital portal, view what stock we have, track orders and pre-order for replacement shipments and new releases. We want our retail customers to have better certainty in managing stock. Another upside of the pandemic is our DTC channel took off. But we will never, ever
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