SHOE NEWS: Catalyst Colors(!), Shoe Store Tour Dates, and International Shipping

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]This is going to be the last video that we shoot in this gym. So, this is going to be one of our last workouts in our beloved gym here in Phoenix, Barnyard. They are closing next week. A massive shout-out to the owners, Rebecca and Colin, for being so accommodating to us the whole time we've been training here. You have likely seen a lot of videos in this gym. We love it because generally when we come at this time of day, it is relatively dead. If not, it's just us usually here. Um but, all that to say, talk about divine timing because we actually just canceled our lease here in Phoenix, and I haven't really announced it formally yet, but we are officially going all-in on the mobile shoe store idea, and we are hitting the road mid-June to start our journey across the United States pulling the trailer with the Catalyst to bring shoes to y'all. So, very excited about that because while this is the last workout in this gym, we're going to be working out in a lot of gyms and meeting a lot of people over the next few months. And I have a lot of updates to tell you about with the shoe store, with the Catalyst. There are so many things going on. I'm very excited. So, while this video is going to be a very much catch-up video, prepare yourself because there are a lot of things going on. All right. So, as we talk through the updates, we will be training. Right now, we are finishing up the warm-up, but today's workout is a 20-minute EMOM with 40 seconds dumbbell snatch, 40 seconds of single unders, 40 seconds of weighted sit-ups, and then 40 seconds of fan bike.

[00:01:29]And so, it is going to absolutely, I feel like, wreck towards the back half of this.

[00:01:34]Then we have some accessories which we'll cover. But yeah, wrapping up the warm-up now, and we're going to get into it, and I'm going to share the updates.

[00:01:41]>> If you may have remembered, I ran a pop-up shoe store in St. Louis, and that went really well. It was inside of a gym, and the concept with it was you come in and demo shoes.

[00:01:52]Feedback I got from that was everybody loved it, and it worked really well. The issue though and another bit of feedback was that you know, when you're in a gym serving the gym community and having folks try on shoes that they can't normally get in store there's an issue with they're only, you know, buying one or two shoes a year.

[00:02:14]So the idea is to mold the two things which is travel to gyms and then bring shoes that you can't try on anywhere to try on. And work out in. So we're going to have demo shoes with us and have stock that you can try on the shoes. We'll also have giveaways and swag to bring with us as well, which will be really cool. Then we plan to partner with various folks in the community, whether it be coaches, trainers, or other small businesses in different towns and cities.

[00:02:43]So that is going to be the idea.

[00:02:46]And we already kind of have the map for the summer planned. We're going to go into Denver for mid to late June.

[00:02:53]St. Louis for early July.

[00:02:56]Michigan, all of Michigan through mid-July, probably through early August.

[00:03:01]And then after that, it's kind of an open book. So if you go to a gym anywhere around there, or honestly, anywhere. If you go to any gym let us know where we should come.

[00:03:12]Essentially we are trying to make this as low of a lift as possible for gym owners. So it's not like gym owners have to add more to their plate. It's more so like, "Hey we'll pull up and we can be as interactive with an event as you want. Or, you know as low-key as you like. We can just post up in the parking lot like a normal pop-up shop mind our own business and just interact with the community. But the big thing is getting in front of folks. And truly, I think building community. Cuz right now we're seeing a lot of people talk about community, our brands talk about community but then they never actually interact with said community. They just say that as they sell you stuff. So the idea is to really get in front of folks and educate people on the shoe, talk about it, get feedback real time. And it's kind of like this love for, you know, the shoe store that we already tried with the Phil Knight approach from Shoe Dog, how he used to drive around and get in front of folks to talk about his shoes and shoes in general. So, blending all these loves together to just really send it and kind of really take a big gamble on ourselves this summer. And when I say Phil Knight, I know y'all probably already know this, but the CEO and founder, well, I guess not the CEO anymore, but the founder of Nike. Shoe Dog is one of my favorite books, as you could probably guess, and hearing his story and how he started Nike, so cool. So, kind of like we're going full circle in 2026 in the day and age of, you know, everybody pumping into meta ads and the internet and ads on Google and whatnot, we're going full-on organic.

[00:04:41]I'm going to drive to every one of y'all's houses and bring shoes to you.

[00:04:46]Your mother, your father, your sister, your daughter, your brother, your uncle, your aunt.

[00:04:50]Y'all going to put on the Catalyst and give it a try, whether you like it or not. I'm getting your feedback, dang it.

[00:04:58]And I know I mentioned partnerships earlier with these events, and what I mean by that is if you're a gym member or gym owner watching this, is I really want to make sure when we come through cities and partner with gyms, like everybody is gaining something from it. So, for example, in Denver, we're going to be partnering up with my buddy Tyler Kalles, he's a doctor of physical therapy.

[00:05:20]He coaches kettlebell courses, and we're going to be essentially having him bring folks through a kettlebell crash course on a lot of the movements that his gym programs. And then on top of that, I'm going to talk about footwear selection and how footwear can influence your body and foot health, because, you know, outside of this just being a new shoe on the market, it's also a shoe that I I is filling a gap that is severely lacking in the market, which is a training shoe that can also passively help you build your feet and give you some cushion and protection. So, I think there's a huge lacking educational component right now in the footwear space in general. And so, being able to come in and talk about not only the Catalyst, but also barefoot shoes, weightlifting shoes, traditional training shoes, when to use each, what construction features actually matter for certain foot anatomies and types of workouts. I think there's a there's a world in play where we can not only prop up the coaches and local business owners that we partner with when we're doing these events, but also educate people with footwear. So, it's one of those things where it's like we're going to be documenting it all, too, and hopefully just bringing eyeballs to everybody because in my mind, like a true community event is like a rising tide and it lifts all the ships involved. People getting to come, hopefully they get to take away some knowledge nuggets, some gear, some swag, and then also just get to better know the coaches of the gyms or other businesses, and they get to know the shoe because obviously that is important because if y'all don't get to know the shoe, then I will end up in a ditch somewhere and have nothing to do with my life. So, >> And we're homeless.

[00:06:57]>> And I'm homeless. Well, we're homeless.

[00:06:59]We're homeless. Me and my girlfriend and the dogs will be homeless living in the trailer probably panning for money. But, all that to say, this really is hopefully going to become not only just like a shoe event, but a potential to build like a nice ecosystem for the gyms we collab with when it comes to all of the awesome brains that are usually involved in those settings and in those local markets. And so, when it comes to Catalyst updates, let's talk about a couple of things because we pretty much caught you up on much of the shoe store stuff. I'll share more obviously as it gets closer and as we start really finalizing details, events, and everything else. But, with the Catalyst, it has been such a learning journey. I would be really curious to hear other founders of shoe companies' thoughts when it comes to I, in my opinion, think building a shoe is probably one of the toughest things to build when it comes to something going out to the masses. Like it is very very difficult. And so, we're going to do like a whole crash course of like real in-depth Catalyst lessons learned later on in a different video, but I want to talk about a couple of topical things that have kind of just been like living in my brain rent-free over the last couple of weeks. So, with this first launch that pretty much sold out in a matter of less than 2 weeks to be honest. Thank you for that. You all are freaking awesome.

[00:08:16]I was trying to be very crystal clear on dates for the pre-order.

[00:08:22]And that was a lesson I needed to learn with logistics is that there is a lot that is out of your control when it comes to ocean freight, customs, all of that because, you know, you get ETAs.

[00:08:40]And if you run off the ETA, lesson learned on my end, you're a fool. And you're only going to get folks asking, "Where are shoes? Where are shoes?" when in reality things get slowed down.

[00:08:52]So, for example, fuel prices right now.

[00:08:55]That is slowing down a bunch of freight because they're consolidating freight to go out less often and whatnot. Customs.

[00:09:02]That can be a very hit or miss process.

[00:09:04]You can get cut randomly flagged and have your stuff inspected. That can take an extra couple days to a week.

[00:09:10]Truck freight also takes a while now that fuel prices are up. And also being a small company, you don't really get priority. So, lesson learned here on the first pre-order is provide loose timelines, not concise timelines.

[00:09:24]Try to be open and communicative, but at the same time don't promise certain timelines and whatnot because it was funny. Like I mentioned this to a couple folks via DMs, but it's like the The for example, the week they were supposed to arrive, were supposed to come on Monday. That's when the shoes were physically in Phoenix. But, they ended up coming on Tuesday because the driver got busy. And that's like a very micro example of just how timelines can shift. And so, when, you know, me and Katie are fulfilling this first batch of nearly 700 shoes by ourselves, that one day can make a big difference, especially when we're doing 12-hour days packing and fulfilling here. So, that was a lesson learned, which is for moving moving forward for all orders and pre-orders, just be a little bit more loose and try to make and help folks understand like there's a lot of stuff at play here that is kind of out of my control. Another lesson learned is that with this launch, I had some folks reach out internationally who support the brand, which I love and I thank you for.

[00:10:22]But, they asked if they could do like one-offs for shipping. And you know, I'm a people-pleaser and I try to be generally, you know, over-the-top for most folks who reach out.

[00:10:30]Said, "Yeah, I can see if I can make that work." But, the problem is is that the shoe sold out in the states. I actually oversold a couple sizes. And then, to set up international shipping for one-offs, it's just not reasonable right now for the brand in my time. And it's very difficult to do. Like, you have to set up all the custom stuff, you have to set up all the shipping zones.

[00:10:50]And if you open it up on Shopify for one order, then it pretty much opens up the shipping zone for other international orders. So, international orders will come, but a lesson that I learned was one, I don't have unlimited time. And two, not to over-promise and try to Oh, no.

[00:11:09]And try to try to do everything for everybody all the time cuz it's just a little bit tough at times. So, to the folks out there who were understanding in that situation, I really appreciate it.

[00:11:21]And to the folks who kind of got mad about it, I'm sorry. I really don't feel like it was fair to get mad at me for that when I was trying and I told you up front and try to get ahead of that, but we're not going to dive into that right now. Some folks are really cool and understanding with it, and then some folks honestly got legitimately mad and said they were done supporting the brand, which stinks to hear, but at the same time it's like all right, sound to it sound all right, that's fine. But, all that to say, lesson learned on my end with logistics, especially as a small business, new brand, try not to give concrete timelines because things get pushed all of the time. And also, speaking of that, I learned, and this is the thing I didn't even know, there are services that if you buy from different countries, you can get shipped to your country. Like, I think I had like six to eight orders going to like Singapore, Bangkok, a bunch of different places. So, if you are somebody who's international, who doesn't want to wait for me to set up international shipping, because I know I've had a lot of people ask, and I'm waiting to see kind of where our fulfillment builds and gets to over the next couple of months, there are services that will do that. And I had no idea, to be honest. So, that's just some food for thought there.

[00:12:33]If you are very wanting to get these shoes sooner than later. And so, the last Cattle as update I want to cover in this video, I just want to cover those two main these two main things. The current two colorways that I have, so the white black gum, and then also the Maui, those are getting replaced by a black gum and a full white gum. Those will be foundational colors for the brand. So, if you are a shoe collector, or a training shoe lover, or you just want to support the brand, like this will be your last chance with this next restock to get the white and black gum and the Maui. Those are not going to come back.

[00:13:06]Those colorways are going to get discontinued. We're going to have foundational colors, and then from there the goal is to get into other colors and do smaller batch releases. With Forged in Tested, I've really gone back and forth in my head of like how I want to structure it and how I want to roll out colors and future models, etc. And I want to do more small batch releases. I don't want to just produce to produce and take on way too much inventory and then be sitting on said inventory that just kind of you know, takes up space and it's not great for the environment.

[00:13:35]I think a lot of these companies are doing that and I don't want to go down that road. So, for future colors and whatnot, it's going to be more small batch and it's first come, first serve.

[00:13:44]So, if you are ever interested in a color, just putting it out there now, I'm not trying to say you like you need to get that color right now, but I am trying to be very mindful of how much I'm creating because that does take a strain on the planet and everything else around us. So, I want to be very conscious of that as I build out this brand and whatnot, but the goal is to always have foundational colors and then do limited release colorways as we go, similar to the Maui, the white black gum. So, I'm super stoked, y'all. I The feedback has been unreal. Like I've been so so so happy with how these have performed. Like this is, fun fact, the last prototype I got before the actual initial launch and this shoe is now 5 months old and it's held up great. So, I'm very excited to continue to get feedback on this shoe. I'm excited to keep exploring little tiny updates to make it even better because this is going to be the product of continual evolution based on, you know, how we're wearing it and your feedback, but so far, the feedback has been awesome. I think this shoe is going to grow and fill a void in the market that has been desperately needed to be filled for quite some time on the spectrum of barefoot shoes, training shoes, and living somewhere in between. But, I will see you guys in the next one. Appreciate y'all for being here.

[00:14:53]A lot of other types of videos coming that are going to be really exciting, I think, with the the events, the shoe store, and then also just the Catalyst and getting more colors in. We have a black gum coming. We have a full white gum pull up coming. More colors are coming for midsummer, late summer, so keep your eyes peeled for those. But, I appreciate you guys. As always, drop like on the video, drop subscribe to the channel. I'll see you guys in the next one. And if you bought a Catalyst or if you plan to buy a Catalyst, thank you so much for supporting. Sincerely, >> Mhm.