For this “Secrets of the Biz” article we sat down with Andrew Moore, Founder & Designer for Felony Case. Felony Case is luxury protective gear exclusively for iPhones. From their iconic studded case to newer, more exotic covers made with materials like python and lizard, no case ever goes unnoticed.
Tell us about Felony Case:
Felony Case set out to bridge the gap between fashionable and functional iPhone cases.
There has always been a “spark” when entrepreneurs decide to move forward with an idea, how-what-where-when did this go down and why?
It all started from a Tweet back in 2012 from Casie Stewart asking where she can find this crazy spiked iPhone case. At the time spikes and studs were on trend in high fashion so when I saw the spiked case I knew they’d be popular. I went on Amazon and ordered 50 black silicone cases for iPhone 4 and some metal screw-in punk studs. I tweeted Casie back and told her I’ll have something for her in a few weeks. When the cases and studs arrived a few days later I used a leather belt punch to make the holes in the cases and I hand screwed in all of the studs.
Any Notable celebrities that love their new Felony Case?
There’s been a ton! Deadmau5 was a huge fan of our original spiked cases. More recent designs have been spotted in the hands of Tash Oakley, Devin Brugman, Hannah Bronfman, and Hailey Baldwin. We also did a collaboration case with The Weeknd.
What’s your secret to attracting new customers to purchase your product?
There’s no secret really! If you make a product that looks good people will buy it. The trick is keeping customers coming back for more after they make that initial purchase. This is why I’m always working to perfect production methods and materials so we can continue selling the highest quality cases out there.
“If you build it, they will come” – How have you built a community around Felony Case?
We’ve always used Instagram as our main channel to preview new styles, show photos of our customers from around the world, and share updates. This has really helped build the Felony Case community because we incorporate customer feedback in our decision making all the time. People really feel like they are involved in the process because they’ve seen products evolve from initials sampling to when they’re put up for sale. We also rely heavily on word of mouth. Our cases are so eye-catching that customers tell us they get stopped in the streets all the time by people asking “where can I get that case?!”
Are you planning to roll out anything for the newly announced iPhone X?
Absolutely! I’ve been working with our suppliers and product development team for about 3 months leading up to the iPhone X announcement so we have product for release day. It’s a combination of art, luck, and who you know to ensure you’re gathering all the right pre-release intel. We had all of the specs bang on this time around.
Tell us about the team behind Felony Case, we’ve heard it’s quite unique.
It is quite unique. I’m actually still the only full time employee. In addition to me I have a team of freelancers around the world who help with product photography, editorial shoots, graphic design, and product development. Then we have people doing product development and production on the ground overseas to ensure everything is made and packaged correctly before shipping it out to our customers.
Everyone know’s you make your cases exclusively for Apple products, why is that?
I get emails everyday from people asking if we have or ever plan to make Cases for the various android phones. The issue is there are so many Android device manufacturers I feel like there’s a new android out every month or so. It’d be too expensive to keep up.I think our target demographic has iPhones for the most part.
Craziest biz story, GO!
It happened a few months after starting Felony Case. I was still working a part time job before making the leap to working full time on Felony Case. I was doing maintenance work at a gallery building. Anyways, I got an email from Jenna Jameson (ya, that Jenna Jameson) saying how much she loved the cases and asking if we could send her some. A few hours later I got an email from the head retail buyer at Apple floating a potential retail opportunity and requesting samples to review.
Tell us a secret. Don’t worry we won’t tell…
We have a Charging Lounge set up at this year’s Notable Awards. If you’re there make sure to come by, say hey, re-up your iPhone battery. We’ll be gifting cases as well!