We Are Onto Something

When we set out to launch our footwear company, people asked us, how will your company be different? We told them, we plan to end the debate between the shoes you love and the shoes you wear, because in our opinion no brand had done this yet!

Like so many women, Isabel and I enjoy walking. Honestly I have become obsessed with looking down while walking the streets of Boston, for two reasons: one to look at what shoes women are wearing and two for safety -- we have a lot of cobblestones and brick sidewalks, charming but hazardous!

Most recently while exiting the TD Bank North Center, home of our beloved Boston Celtics, I found myself in a herd of women looking down for those same reasons. A group of young women at the intersection were talking about the shoes they were wearing or regretted not wearing. One was wearing a pair of beautiful, sturdy leather riding boots. I overheard her volunteer to her friends how her grandmother frequently reminded her and her sisters that their feet were important. She told them to be smart and invest wisely in good quality shoes and a great mattress because your feet are either in a shoe or in bed. Brilliantly said!  

Women instantly grasp our mission about ending this ongoing debate about shoes we wear versus the shoes we love, and our conversations tend to shift to a shoe-centric dialogue about the pros and cons, as well as unsolicited reviews of one’s favorite brands or design features. The conversations could be endless, and we see them in entertainment and in the media, too::

• Joan Juliet Buck was quoted in last April's Harper's Bazaar as saying, "When you find shoes you can stand in through an entire cocktail party, you must buy them in every color and multiples of black because the more perfect the shoe, the faster it will be discontinued."
  

• In the December 2014 issue of Vanity Fair, Cheryl Strayed, the author of the best seller Wild, about her solo 1100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, says, “I honestly think the real liberation of women is profoundly connected to the shoes we wear. Until we as a gender refuse to wear any shoe that would be uncomfortable to walk a mile in, we’re perfectly screwed.” 

• In the 2015 movie release of Cinderella, Cinderella looks down at her glass slippers and her fairy godmother played by Helena Bonham Carter advises, ‘and you will find they are really comfortable.'

• The Wellesley Townsman, a local newspaper recently included an article, “Wellesley Cotillion Arrives This Week.” It covered logistics and suggestions for the upcoming event for local 11th and 12th graders. Among the guidelines shared was “Female guests are encouraged to label their shoes, especially if they plan to take them off for dancing.” In aspiring to look our best, why do we choose shoes that we’ll kick off so we can dance?

We  are not alone. Even Cinderella values comfortable shoes! We are a community and we are on to something, inspired one walk, one dialogue, one piece of advice at a time! We are listening, so let's keep sharing!

Caroline and Isabel