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Elias Stahl is CEO and co-founder of HILOS, a zero-waste footwear manufacturer.
How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? Twenty-four billion shoes are made every year; 1 in 5 go straight to the landfill. Because a brand never knows exactly what size or style will be bought when, they massively overproduce, and that waste is built into the price, quality, and waste we live with at the end of the day. My job is to try and bring that model to an end. As the CEO and co-founder of HILOS, I began a company with a mission to reinvent how and where shoes are made so they can be made locally, only after a customer purchase, without waste. The key to that is new technology like 3D printing and computational design, allowing us to make incredible shoes with a fraction of the time and labor.
One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Every now and again, my role requires me operating heavy machinery.
What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? Our first concept line, the Georgia, will always have a foundational place in my heart. It was where we proved our concept—that you could invent new methods of make specifically for 3D printing that delivered a compelling, comfortable shoe (in this case, a heeled clog) [in] 72 hours click-to-ship and completely circular.
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Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about right now, and why? The past 50 years could be described as a world where retail led manufacturing, and we’re now headed into the opposite. Novel manufacturing technologies that allow for new kinds of product, new forms of design and collaboration, customization, and personalization, and fluidity between digital and physical will enable completely new retail models.
What’s your go-to coffee order? Double espresso.
Worst piece of advice you’ve received? The kind of advice I asked for.
What was your favorite retail product when you were 15, and what’s your favorite retail product now? I went and got a 1983 Honda Shadow when I was 15 that I thought was the coolest thing ever. Now I’m much more boring—the most exciting purchases I make are books. I particularly love the old cloth-bound Everyman’s library editions of the classics.