An Interview with the Chief Happiness Officer at EasyKicks - Westport Moms

We recently spoke with Dominique Shortell, Chief Happiness Officer for EasyKicks, Nike’s kids sneaker club. Here is what she had to say!

We love your title!  Tell us what it means to be the Chief Happiness Officer for EasyKicks. What does your role entail?
It is a pretty great title, I smile every time I get to tell people what I do.  As the Chief Happiness Officer, I focus on how we can make the best service for both parent and child. In my role, I lead the strategy around how to best support our members needs and add value to our service. One of the best parts, is getting the opportunity to visit and talk with our members about what they want out of EasyKicks
How did EasyKicks get started?
EasyKicks was truly started for parents by parents to alleviate the pain points of kid shoe shopping. We would regularly hear and talk with other parents about the struggles of having to drag our little ones to the mall, try on a number of shoes hoping to find one that is in stock in their size and then just to either have them grow out of them or wear through them shortly after. There just had to be a better way!
Explain how the EasyKicks Sneaker Club works?
We have plans starting at $20 a month, where you get access to new Nike and Converse sneakers and when your kiddo is ready for a change, swap them for a new size or style – it’s as easy as that! Each package is delivered in a personalized box filled with cool shoes and fun surprises.  We also include a pre-paid return bag to send back those old worn out shoes to be donated or recycled. It’s fun and easy!
Our mission at The Local Moms Network is “giving moms the gift of time”, how does EasyKicks make mom’s lives easier?
As a working mom I can relate to wanting the gift of time. EasyKicks takes one more ‘thing’ off a mom’s endless to do list.  You no longer have to worry about wasting time driving to the mall, spending hours shopping when you would rather be out doing something fun together as a family.  EasyKicks is all about that – less time shopping, more time to adventure together.
What are the best selling styles for back to school sneakers?
1. The Flex Contact has been our top performer this back to school season. We hear from our members that it seems to provide the best sort of flexibly for their kids feet – one of the reasons we think this is always such a top performer for us.
2.  Hustle D’s have that street style look to them, which makes them so popular with our kids.  Functionally, they offer great support for running, playing, and adventuring (which we love all of our kiddos to do).
3.  The Ashin Modern is a sleek, more refined take on the traditional running silhouette- I think the girls in our service are particularly drawn to this style particularly because of the atomic pink color way that really pops for back to school.
4.  Downshifter 8 is one of the handful of styles we carry that runs wide – I think our member is particularly drawn to fit with this style.
5.  The Roshe One in pink is also super lightweight and if you zoom in close on the material for this one, it has this soft, velvety-like overlay.
Any new trends that you are seeing with children’s sneakers?
Lightweight, and easy to put on and off (think pull tabs!) are always trending for us in terms of newness, we’re seeing a lot of unicorn-obsessed materials — a bigger play on glitter! Also, in terms of newness, fun characters on our kids sneakers are getting more attention – which we love to see!  Look forward to some Converse dinosaur prints coming out on EasyKicks soon!
When the sneakers are worn out or outgrown, they are sent back to EasyKicks and then replaced with a new pair. Tell us what you do with the used sneakers?
Every sneaker that is sent back to EasyKicks has a second life. If they are completely worn they are recycled through the Nike Grind program and if they are just lightly used they are donated to one of our local non-profit partners that work with foster families.
Are there any other innovations coming out of Nike in the children’s category that you can share with us?
There are some really cool things coming, but we will just to wait and see! 🙂

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