Warren Barthes

world’s largest restoration marketplace for luxury footwear and handbags, represent new ways of thinking— creating innovative, circular processes for the development of world-class restorations, and cleanings nationwide. With a commitment to sustainability, The Cobblers provides clients and brands such as Christian Louboutin, Louis Vuitton, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Nordstrom with the technical solutions to extend product life cycles and maximize the resale value of premium and luxury items. Prior to The Cobblers, Barthes was a serial entrepreneur delivering business results on an international scale for over two decades in the telecommunications industry and as SVP Global Head of E-commerce at Brightstar.

At the age of 16, he launched a retail chain called Vip Telecom Company based in southern France that allowed consumers to purchase mobile phones without a contract.

Barthes later launched another telecom company in 2005, PhoneAndPhone, the first website to specialize in eCommerce for mobile phones in France, and grew the business from 2 million euros to 55 million euros by 2011. PhoneAndPhone is best known for exclusively selling the iPhone in mid-2007 before its official release in France, by quickly importing it from the United States. Under Warren’s guidance, PhoneAndPhone held a 90% market share of all online purchases in France outside of industry carriers.

Next, Barthes founded The KASE Worldwide in 2012. This international chain focuses on smartphone and tablet accessories and has since scaled to 140 stores across the globe with thousands of talented designers. Barthes was instrumental in that expansion.

Barthes may have been immensely successful in the telecommunications sector, but he then decided to turn his attention toward revamping the way that people communicate through email. He launched Confidential CC in 2014 during a time when many technology companies were not focused on data privacy and encryption. Confidential CC gave users the option of sending encrypted and self-destructing messages to ensure privacy and security. It was a privacy-focused alternative to traditional email correspondence.

Later, Warren went on to found Next Wireless Group in 2017. This global technology was focused on online sales of both new and used devices to consumers, and it quickly grew to an organization with over 100 employees and offices in Canada, Miami, and Dublin. Incredibly, Next Wireless Group was acquired in June 2018 by Brightstar, a SoftBank company. Next Wireless Group then morphed into the B2C e-commerce channel for Brightstar. While some entrepreneurs might be satisfied with an acquisition, Barthes’ ambitions were different. In 2018, Warren became responsible for managing and growing all Brightstar E-commerce sales. Within ONE YEAR, Barthes was able to increase sales by 600%, reaching $300 million in annual revenue.

Ever the serial entrepreneur, Barthes isn’t done. He has gone on to create a new fashion technology marketplace venture that is meant to revolutionize the idea of online sartorial services. Barthes came up with the concept for The Cobblers in 2019 when he was buying and reselling some of his old shoes. He had discovered that there were many shoe repair stores that were not only struggling but closing. Warren knew that there was potential to revive the industry and create an innovative online shoe repair platform, and recruited master cobblers to help him understand the industry. An expert in refurbished goods, technological and otherwise, Mr. Barthes’ business objectives are to satisfy a now seemingly insatiable demand for traditional cobbler services while also catering to an explosive ‘sneakerhead' culture around the globe. His latest project, The Cobblers, hails quickly, exerting moves both powerful and pecuniary. As the world's largest restoration marketplace for premium and luxury footwear and handbags, The Cobblers connects artisans with customers and empowers all to extend the use and life of their treasured items. Here, consumer services intersect with retail goods, accessories, and apparel - sophisticated multi-pronged e-commerce, brick-mortar, B2B, and B2C venture. All this while turning ‘waste into wonderful’. The global footwear industry produces 23 Billion pairs of shoes per year. 95% of these end up littering landfills. Not to mention the production of just one pair of new shoes expends 495oz. of CO2 into the air that we breathe. And so, it goes without question that The Cobblers is leading the way in the development of new ideas, and better manners. Mr. Warren felt it was time for a greener approach to footwear. “Think clean. Think green,”.