Rick Blackshaw, Co-Founder of STOKE Shoes, a brand challenging the footwear industry by building sneakers for the millions of men long overlooked by traditional design joins Enterprise Radio.
Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Rick Blackshaw discuss the following:
- You’ve led some of the biggest footwear brands in the world. What moment made you realize the industry was missing something big enough to start STOKE?
- You often talk about the “everyday guy” or the “off-duty athlete.” Who exactly is that customer, and why has the footwear industry overlooked him for so long?
- Most shoes have been designed around narrow silhouettes for more than a century. When you started building STOKE, what did you rethink first about how shoes should actually fit and function?
- You’ve scaled billion-dollar brands and now you’re building a startup again. What lessons from those earlier successes are shaping how you’re growing STOKE today?
- If we’re sitting here five years from now and STOKE has succeeded beyond your expectations, what will men—and the footwear industry—say your brand changed?
In 2024, veteran footwear executive Rick Blackshaw founded STOKE Shoes, a performance-lifestyle brand engineered for the 65 million American men with wider feet overlooked by traditional athletic footwear. STOKE combines wider, anatomically accurate fits, high-rebound cushioning, and practical designs for real-world wear, translating decades of footwear leadership into sneakers built for comfort, simplicity, and everyday utility.
Blackshaw has transformed iconic brands and built category-defining businesses across the industry. Across senior leadership roles, he has driven growth, revitalized heritage brands, and led complex organizations through periods of scale and change. Most recently, he served as President of HEYDUDE, where he led the integration of Crocs’ largest acquisition and helped evolve Crocs from a single-brand company into a multi-brand organization. Earlier in his career, Rick grew Chuck Taylor All Star global wholesale revenue by 400%, revitalized Keds through the Brave Girl Movement and a landmark Taylor Swift collaboration, and led successful turnarounds at Sperry and CCM through product innovation and modernized marketing.
Website: https://stokeshoes.com
Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stoke-Shoes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stokeshoesbrand
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stoke-shoes
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