Neobuto: Opening up a new world of children’s footwear

It's not until you become a parent that you may realise why it's so important for children to wear properly fitting footwear. Driven by the demand of a growing segment of conscious customers, the range of available children’s shoes has developed rapidly over the past years to include healthy, natural, and barefoot-like options. To bring this choice of products closer to the clientele in Brno (Czech Republic), Lucie Prokešová obtained an EU-supported loan through Komerční banka, an EIF financial intermediary under the COSME Loan Guarantee Facility. Her shop, Neobuto, was opened in early 2016.

The attentive and professional advice in helping young customers find their perfectly fitting footwear has made Neobuto famous even outside the city. Customers sometimes travel from as far as 200 km – and from different countries, including neighboring Slovakia and Austria – to visit the shop and explore new brands of children’s shoes that were previously not well known in the Czech market.

Most recently, Neobuto started cooperating with a children’s physiotherapist to expand its range of shoes and effectively address specific needs such as flatfoot. This partnership aims to offer even better solutions for children's foot health, ensuring that every child finds the right fit.

Following Neobuto’s success in the Brno region, the plan is to open a new branch next year in Prague, the capital city. The COSME loan agreement that helped Lucie Prokešová establish the business benefited from the backing of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) managed by EIF.