Me with the ARCH Casual shoe the Allen
I appreciate you stopping by the site. I am not the type of person who is pretending to be bigger than I actually am. ARCH is primarily a one man show. I am the designer, shipping and receiving department, website developer, point of contact for customer service, and obviously the owner. The only thing I don’t do is manufacture the shoe. Right now the manufacturing is done off shore. I’d love to do this in the US and I’m working on it, but the cost is steep.
ARCH is a very small sneaker company with deep roots in the athletic and sneaker community. I’ve put in a lot of work behind the scenes and with the help of one dedicated artist and designer (Ian Matic Gale) on a few of the last projects which have not launched, I’ve accomplished what some have tried by myself. I’m not ashamed to say that what I have done is very difficult. I’m not ashamed to say that it should be respected especially considering the ups and downs I’ve encountered. I created everything on my own and while it is very hard to sell one shoe in a climate that is dominated by Nike. I will not lie down and stop trying this without giving a truly dedicated effort.
Your visit to the site is truly appreciated. It’s not a risk to be different and wear something new. I remember rocking Le Coq Sportif, Diadora, Ellesse, Brooks, Avia and Adidas. I grew up in a time where being an individual was prided above all and if your sneakers were rare you were fly. It wasn’t embarrassing to try new things. Maybe you will think like an individual and give a pair of my shoes a try.
Leave a comment or if you want to rap hit me at cburns at arch-usa.com (replace the at with @)
Chris B.
History
I began ARCH in 2009. After helping to launch another brand, I decided that my efforts and talents should go to South Beach… Actually, after learning more about business I decided to implement my ideas into something that I could believe in and that could become a venture that would grow.
ARCH is basically an extension of what I started with Center Court Basketball.com. I initially launched CCB as a way to help underrecruited players attain college basketball scholarships. CCB helped to send over 100 players to college from 2005 to 2010. The active time for the site was from 05 to 08. While I was operating the camps and website, I was also branding CCB with a small footwear and apparel company. At the time I had 9 colleges wearing the companies uniforms and a professional basketball league as well as streetball leagues also wearing the shoes and uniforms. In 2008, the apparel company that I helped to create was purchased and sold which caused me to be in a serious financial bind. In all honesty once the company was sold I needed to recreate CCB. In going through the process of redesigning the website, I learned a lot about the sneaker biz by researching companies like Nike and Adidas. I realized that I needed to take a break and I began working on a business plan. After a year and a half of research (yep it took that long), I launched ARCH by CCB. The story is a lot more detailed, and if you want to know every detail leave a question and I will respond below, but know this my primary cause in starting ARCH is to create shoes that I like that are cost effective and can perform. As much as I love the other brands, I just felt that I had something to bring to the table. If it works cool, if it doesn’t I can look my children in the eyes and tell them I followed my dreams.
I released a limited edition shoe, The Status in 2009 and in late 2009 I released a casual shoe: The Tori (peep the video commercial shot by some of my students I taught). In 2010 I released the CG 097 running shoe which is the most successful shoe I’ve made so far. The CG was a sneaker based on my two favorite running shoes the Nike Air Max 90 and the classic New Balance silhouette. I created an outsole that used a technology called P-Grip and people liked the shoe. One of the colorways was designed by Nike Future Sole winner Christopher Dixon. I have since redesigned the shoe and utilized colorways and materials suggested by Ian Matic Gale an incredible designer who has really streamlined the CG097 II.
Contact me by e-mail: cburns@arch-usa.com, phone: 901-605-5456, or simply leave a message below and I will respond as soon as possible.
