A new online marketplace featuring some of the hottest luxury footwear around is hoping to offer consumers another way to shop for shoes.
Called MereCatch, the venture, which launched late last year, aims to bridge the gap between luxury fashion and streetwear, offering a curated selection of shoes from brands like Rick Owens, Marni, Maison Margiela, and Golden Goose alongside lesser-known labels.
Led by founder and chief executive officer De’Juan Parker, MereCatch works with luxury brands and boutiques to curate its selection while also offering end-to-end support for independent retailers—from marketing and fulfillment to visual storytelling.
“We work with three boutiques right now,” Parker told FN in an interview. “We just signed A Ma Maniere in Atlanta, and we also work with Tons out of Pittsburgh and AcroEra, which is an online retailer based in Italy.”
Parker noted that he sees MereCatch as another “conduit” for his retail partners to reach more customers, especially when it comes to back inventory that they might have on-hand they want to sell.
“We’re also adding accessories from shops in Italy and Spain that will be available soon,” Parker said. “We may also add apparel at some point, but we are focusing on shoes and accessories for now.”
As for how MereCatch makes money, the company uses a nominal sales commission structure, asking for a commission percentage on only products sold through MereCatch for retail partners and brand partners.
Some of the shoes available on MereCatch.
Courtesy of MereCatch
“Some of the boutiques we work with are hyper-local, and really only known in their immediate metropolitan area,” the founder added. “So, by working with us, they can easily expand their reach and hopefully increase their customer acquisition.”
As for what he’s learned so far while building MereCatch, Parker admitted he wasn’t prepared to scale so quickly. “We are actually moving the website to a new platform that can handle scaling,” Parker said. “I think that’s one lesson that we learned really quickly when we started seeing more and more interest in our business.”
Looking ahead, Parker added that he is looking to continue to grow. “In the median term, we are planning to grow inventory, sign more boutiques and continue to grow our relationships in the industry,” the founder said. “I think from a roadmap perspective, we will be staying true to the footwear space and perhaps adding some collaborations to our roster as well.”
The introduction of a new online marketplace comes at a turbulent time for digital retail. This can be seen by the 2024 acquisition of Farfetch, which found that its complicated business model was contributing to lagging sales, by Korean retailer Coupang. And earlier this year, Mytheresa scooped up Yoox Net-a-Porter Group.