Entrepreneur Has Hit in ‘Sneaker Pack,’ a Backpack Shaped Like a Shoe : Marketing: Three months after introducing novelty items, sales are looking good. ‘I’ve always dreamed of making it big,’ inventor says. ‘I’m right at the threshold.’

Robin Winters stood by a cart at the Everett Mall, fingering one of his creations, a backpack modeled after Converse sneakers, when an elderly couple walked by.

“Oh, look at that,” said the woman to the man. “Isn’t that cute?”

Once their excited chatter died down, Winters laughed and said that his Sneaker Packs, as he has dubbed them, evoke that kind of response continuously from people who see them for the first time.

They are also generating big sales for the 36-year-old entrepreneur who hopes his children’s backpacks will let him sneak up on financial success.

Just three months after he started marketing the colorful novelties from kiosks in 11 shopping malls in five Western states, Winters has sold some 8,000 Sneaker Packs and hopes to sell another 7,000 soon. That will wrap up the test-marketing phase for his company, Sneaker Packs Inc.

If he sells 15,000 Sneaker Packs, he figures to gross about $300,000 in sales and make $45,000 in profits. But he sees far more money down the road if the product is marketed correctly.

This month, Winters plans to sit back with his wife, Denise, and evaluate the eight U.S. and Canadian companies that have expressed interest in licensing the production of Sneaker Packs for sale throughout North America. Other companies in Europe, Australia and the Middle East also are sniffing around, he said.

In a year or two, Sneaker Packs, which come in two sizes, nine colors and six variations, could be on the backs of small children, teen-agers and college students around the globe, Winters hopes.

One marketing company Winters showed his product to told him he could sell 80 million Sneaker Packs worldwide during the next five years. The sales estimate brought a big smile to his face.

“I’ve always dreamed of making it big,” he said. “I’m right at the threshold.”

Should the Sneaker Packs sell big, Winters said that he has a smaller “fanny” pack, also shaped like a tennis shoe, waiting in the wings. A fanny pack wraps around a person’s waist and sits just above the buttocks. He also is developing a backpack with the National Football League and a third undisclosed product.

But before he becomes the king of novelty backpacks, Winters said, he needs to cut a deal with some heavy hitters that can spend the money it will take to advertise and distribute his product nearly everywhere.

“We want to license the rights to a company with the ability to market it worldwide,” he said. “It’s inevitable that if we don’t release the rights to interested companies, they’ll take us out. We’re very small.

“If I don’t get substantial interest from major companies, then I have some investors who can step in.”

Winters plans to keep a lucrative niche of the market all to himself.

“I want to control the exclusive part of the business,” he said. “I want to sell to the special interests.”

He said he has been talking to ski resorts and amusement parks about buying Sneaker Packs in wholesale quantities and then stamping their logos on the side to sell as gift-shop novelty items.

He also wants to develop the high school and college markets by selling Sneaker Packs in school colors affixed with the school mascot and name.

On a larger scale, Winters is targeting his product to be sold through shoe stores and sporting-goods outlets. An important part of his marketing plan, he says, is to make sure they are not considered just another backpack.

One of his biggest fears is that the license to Sneaker Packs will be bought by a company that uses low-cost labor to churn out his product quickly by the tens of millions. If the world market is suddenly flooded with Sneaker Packs, Winters fears, the product’s life cycle will be decreased sharply, and his profits with it.

Should he successfully implement his marketing plan, and avoid major pitfalls, he said he can see Sneaker Packs selling well for three to five years. Maybe longer.

Sneaker Packs began this year on a shoestring budget. Winters borrowed $25,000 from the bank, using his personal property as collateral, to develop and show the first prototypes.

The Sneaker Pack concept itself was sort of a fluke. Fifteen months ago, his children came home from school with a list of items they needed. One of the items was a backpack.

Winters, who had worked as a car upholsterer off and on for the past 17 years, decided to make his own. He added some straps and zippers to four vinyl diaper bags he had made earlier, all fashioned in the shape of one of his boyhood images, Converse tennis shoes.

When his children wore the shoe-shaped backpacks to class at school, they were mobbed by other kids who wanted them. The proverbial light bulb flashed above his head and his marketing instincts, honed as a manager of a convenience store, took over.

He got a Redmond, Wash.-based company to cut and sew the backpacks out of washable nylon. The larger backpack measures 11 by 22 inches, enough room for a binder and several books.

Getting into marketing in a big way has whetted Winters’ appetite. He also has plans to start another company, which he would call Pro-Mark, to test-market new consumer merchandise for other entrepreneurs.