Rachel Bilson. Photo by Jeff Lipsky for ShoeMint.com.
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Here’s a business success story to head us into the weekend on a high note: When actress Rachel Bilson, Hollywood stylist Nicole Chavez, and shoe maven Steve Madden teamed up with BeachMint to launch online shoe store ShoeMint over the holiday season, the site far surpassed expectations—ShoeMint sold out of everything it had by the end of Cyber Monday, in fact.
“We sold thousands of shoes, and honestly, we underestimated the demand a bit,” BeachMint’s chief executive, Josh Berman, told The Los Angeles Times. “The one mistake we made is we didn’t order enough shoes, and it’ll take about a week to get more shoes made and delivered to us, but it’s a good problem to have.”
All of the photography for the site, apart from the product images, was shot by Jeff Lipsky, who previously photographed Bilson for the October 2011 cover story of Women’s Health. (Scroll to the end for a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot, which took place at the Paramour in Silver Lake.) “Rachel suggested Jeff Lipsky for our ShoeMint launch campaign, and we felt it was a perfect fit,” says Christina O’Rourke, content producer for BeachMint. “Jeff and his crew were such a pleasure to work with on set. We had a blast shooting with them and hope to collaborate again in the future.”
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Nicole Chavez and Rachel Bilson. Photo by Jeff Lipsky for ShoeMint.com.
Rachel Bilson. Photo by Jeff Lipsky for ShoeMint.com.
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ShoeMint is the latest celebrity-endorsed e-commerce site introduced by BeachMint, which also operates JewelMint.com (a partnership between actress Kate Bosworth and her stylist Cher Coulter), StyleMint.com (T-shirts by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen), and BeautyMint.com (skin-care products created by Jessica Simpson and Nerida Joy). ShoeMint is also the fastest-growing of BeachMint’s e-commerce sites. “More than 10,000 people are on waiting lists to buy shoes, and about 80,000 consumers registered to buy goods over a four-day period before the site’s official launch,” according to The Los Angeles Times.
Perhaps Jeff will be back for a second round of photography as the site expands. “At BeachMint we look for people who are authentically passionate about what they do, are incredibly creative, and great to work with,” notes Ara Katz, head of content for BeachMint. “Jeff embodies all these things.”
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