In 1907, Paul T. Angelos arrived on Ellis Island from Greece with little more to his name than a dream of something bigger. He shined shoes in pursuit of this dream, eventually earning enough money to make it to Los Angeles and pay for his brothers and wife from back home to join him. The entrepreneurial young family were soon running their own shoe shine stand, and not long after that, they began producing their own shoe polish, which marked the beginnings of what would become Angelus Brand.
Now in its fifth generation of family-ownership, Angelus Brand has transformed over the decades into a global leader in shoe customization and care products. Through their ecommerce division, Angelus Direct, the company sells to customers worldwide. And with Shopify, the brand is powered by a single, unified commerce platform that connects every aspect of their operation, from manufacturing to retail to ecommerce.
The company’s unified commerce approach has delivered impressive results. After consolidating their fragmented systems into Shopify's single, unified platform to manage retail, direct-to-consumer, and B2B sales channels and operations, Angelus Brand has:
- Achieved 10X increase in worldwide sales within five years of unifying operations on Shopify
- Boosted profit margins by 2-3X by shifting from wholesale-only to direct-to-consumer channels
- Launched retail operation with Shopify POS that quickly grew to represent 20% of overall revenue
- Eliminated manual inventory counts and enabled six-month production forecasting through real-time product visibility
The Challenge: Modernizing a century-old family business
Like many family businesses, Angelus Brand faced a pivotal moment of transition between generations. Tyler Angelos, representing the fifth generation of the family and now the company’s CEO, came aboard at a crucial juncture in 2013. Although the company had excellent products and deep industry expertise, they needed to modernize.
Angelus was almost entirely dependent on wholesale distribution networks, making them vulnerable to market shifts. "If we lost a major account, it was a huge blow," Tyler recalls. Additionally, most of their business was white label or private label, leaving them with little brand recognition despite their superior products. Their operational challenges were equally daunting. "We had the best products in the market, but we weren’t marketing them effectively or managing the business in a unified way," says Tyler. Their inventory management situation was particularly challenging. "We were filling shelves without understanding what a proper supply should look like because we had no real system in place.”
Almost all of their struggles could be traced back to a simple fact: Angelus was trying to operate a complex, global operation with disconnected business systems—using QuickBooks for wholesale, separate channels for ecommerce, and manual processes for inventory tracking. "It was messy," says Tyler. “Our website was outdated and half the links didn’t work. There was no marketing strategy in place, no brand focus, and no direct relationship with our end customers.” This fragmentation not only limited growth but also made it difficult to maintain the quality of service that had defined Angelus for generations.
“I decided it was time to bet on ourselves,” says Tyler, emphasizing how Angelus needed more than just a technology upgrade—they needed a complete transformation in their operations, marketing, and customer relationships. The solution lied in unified commerce—a single platform approach that could reconnect all the pieces of Angelus' operation while positioning the brand for future growth. They found it in Shopify.
The Solution: One platform, complete control
Recognizing that true unification can only occur when product, order, and customer data flowed from a single source of truth, Angelus began to replace their existing systems with Shopify. This transition allowed them to eliminate the patchwork of disconnected systems that had been holding them back. "With Shopify, we can manage everything under one umbrella," says Tyler. “That’s what makes it super easy.”
The transformation began online. Tyler used Shopify's ecommerce solutions to rebuild the brand’s website and establish a strong online presence. "I was able to learn about SEO best practices, and now we're number one for almost every search term regarding our products," he says. This digital foundation enabled Angelus to start fostering direct relationships with customers through social media, content marketing, and their own ecommerce channel.
For their wholesale business, Angelus deployed B2B on Shopify, a suite of features that allow brands to sell business-to-business through the online store without requiring the use of third-party apps or workarounds. The solution immediately eliminated order errors and improved labor efficiency. "Order entry used to be this manual process of people writing things down on a scratch pad or writing out orders that came through fax or email, and there were constant errors," Tyler recalls. "Now we channel wholesale partners to our B2B portal on Shopify, so there's no discussion or intermediate area where someone might make a mistake.”
The retail side of the business saw similar improvements. What started as customers wandering through their warehouse evolved into a professional retail space powered by Shopify POS. "We built out a little nook with wood flooring and displays, put in Shopify POS, and to my surprise, we were doing six figures almost immediately," says Tyler. And because Shopify POS performs real-time inventory syncing across channels, the team can maintain optimal stock levels without the guesswork.
We know exactly what we need based on real sales data, so we’re not tying up cash in excess inventory or missing sales due to stockouts.
The Results: A well-polished (and unified) operation
Within five years of unifying their sales channels, data, and back-end systems on Shopify, Angelus multiplied their total sales worldwide by ten times. Their revenue mix shifted dramatically as well. "We went from 100% wholesale distribution to a much healthier balance," says Tyler. "Now about half comes through our Shopify store directly, 30-40% through third-party marketplaces, and 20% through our retail store." This diversification, particularly the shift to direct-to-consumer sales, has “doubled if not tripled our profit margins,” adds Tyler, emphasizing the impact of no longer being solely dependent on wholesale pricing.
Much of the company’s growth can also be attributed to improved operational efficiency. By eliminating manual processes and connecting all aspects of their business through a single platform, Angelus has dramatically reduced order errors while enabling more accurate inventory forecasting. "Because everything is connected, our production manager can now project months ahead of time with confidence," says Tyler. "We're not doing redundant production runs anymore because we have real-time visibility into exactly what we need."
Shopify has enabled Angelus to deliver better customer experiences while continuing to innovate. Their retail store, which quickly became a six-figure revenue stream, now serves as both a sales channel and brand experience center. They offer convenient capabilities such as buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) to their customers. "We have really happy fans," Tyler says. "People stop by here before going to Disneyland. We even had a customer from Japan visit us yesterday. It's crazy how worldwide we've become."
Looking ahead, Angelus is expanding their educational offerings with a classroom space for hands-on workshops. "Because we have so many people that love our brand, they want more experiences, they want to be able to do things with us," Tyler explains. The new space will offer classes in shoe customization and care, similar to a "sip and paint" experience but focused on sneaker artistry. The classroom will be integrated with their existing Shopify POS system, allowing them to seamlessly manage class registrations, retail sales, and inventory in one place.
From humble beginnings over a century ago to teaching and inspiring a new generation of artists today, Angelus Direct continues to write new chapters in their family’s story of gritty entrepreneurship and undaunted innovation.
