Track record · 2019–2022 · Co-founder & CEO
The world's first plastic-free footwear company
Product, brand and go-to-market built from the ground up. 200% funded Kickstarter, SAS Plastic-Free Design Innovation award — and the most expensive education available.
WAES Footwear — full-width hero image
add: public/images/work/waes-hero.jpg
The context
Every pair of trainers on earth contains plastic. WAES set out to make the first that didn't — which meant inventing the product, the supply chain and the category at the same time, starting just before Brexit made everything harder.
The build
Ed co-founded WAES and ran it as CEO from 2019 to 2022: designed the product, developed a circular construction model with PFOA-free waterproofing, led web, social, marketing, PR and the retail roadmap, directed every launch — including being featured by Kia and Esquire for the EV6 launch — and built the team, suppliers and partnerships behind it.
The outcome
A 200% funded Kickstarter. The SAS Plastic-Free Design Innovation award. A genuinely world-first product. And — told straight — a company that won awards and never made money. Awards are not revenue. A standing ovation is not a purchase order.
What you're hiring: someone who has carried product, brand and go-to-market on his own shoulders, knows what kills companies, and will ask the unglamorous question early — 'will this make money, and how, and when?'
Put it to workWant this experience on your side?
Book a free 30-minute call. You'll talk to Ed — not an account manager — and you'll leave with something useful either way.