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From real estate to fashion: How a broken shoelace launched a young entrepreneur into a boldly colorful new business.
By Amanda Lecky
Sometimes, the smallest, most mundane event can spark the biggest idea. Case in point: Four years ago, then 27-year-old real estate developer Ben Hertz’s shoelace broke in a Roman piazza. Today, Hertz is running a thriving shoelace company, Benjos Shoelaces, selling his colorful designs in high-end menswear shops around the country, partnering with Brooks Brothers and expanding fast. Hertz tells STIR what it’s like to start from scratch in the fashion industry and how each lace finds it color.
STIR: How did you start Benjo’s?Ben Hertz: I was in Rome, visiting my sister, when my shoelace broke. I happened to be in a square that had a shoe repair shop on every corner, and I noticed that each one carried laces in three colors: black, brown and red. I was feeling adventurous, so I bought the red ones. Then I kept getting comments and compliments on them. So as I traveled for work, I’d stop into menswear stores to see if they had shoelaces in other colors, without any luck — nobody sold bright, waxed-cotton laces for mens dress shoes. Finally I found a place online that made red ones — but you had to order 10,000 pairs. So that’s how the business started: I placed the order, had them shipped to my parents’ house, called every store I’d visited looking for colored laces and told them I’d found a source, and managed to sell more than 12,000 pairs before the shipment even arrived.
STIR: So what was it like jumping into the fashion business as an industry novice?
BH: At first it was pretty funny. As soon as I started getting orders, I had to learn a whole new vocabulary — I had no idea what a “line sheet” was, for example — but my mom had worked as a retail buyer about 25 years ago, and so she could walk me through those basics. I was able to enlist the help of some friends on things like public relations. And I’ve definitely had to figure a lot of things out as I’ve gone along.
STIR: Benjo’s laces are all about color. How do you pick those colors?BH: I look at upcoming colors in mens fashion and at trend forecasting, but sometimes I just pick colors I really like. Our blue “Paul’s Loft” laces are the color of the walls a friend painted his apartment, and our top seller, “Cousin Tracy” is named after the color purple one of my cousins always wears. When we finally broke down and added black, brown and tan, our sales soared.
STIR: Have you ever run into a color challenge in your work?BH: We used to produce our laces in India, and there was often a communication gap when we specified colors. I’d ask for oxblood and get fuchsia. Now all our products are made in the U.S., so that part has gotten a lot easier.
STIR: What colors do you wear most often?BH: I wear a lot of khaki, white and gray. And right now my big color is navy. I love a really inky navy. Also, salmon in soft chambray fabric.
STIR: Do you think men are becoming more comfortable with big color? Is it evolving with the generations?BH: I think men are becoming comfortable with taking a more personalized approach to fashion in general. We're definitely seeing bold color in menswear, but a strong color statement isn't for everyone, and that's where a small detail like a pair of our shoelaces comes in: it lets you express your taste and personality without being too out-there. My grandfather was one of my biggest fashion inspirations — he was always extremely particular about his clothing, and he always looked great — and we're seeing some of that attention to detail coming back, which I love.
