Warm welcome to Low Heels! My name is Joanna and I am the owner.
It has taken a year and a bit for the business idea to develop and take this great shape but we finally launched! So how did it start?
I have been a full-time mum and a housewife for nearly 10 years. I love my family and I enjoy looking after my home, but I felt like I was ready to do something else. And since I love shoes it seemed like a brilliant idea.
All women love shoes but being 6ft tall with size 9 feet complicates shoe shopping a little bit. At the age of 14 I was walking to school wearing a pair of men’s shoes and I will never forget dreading entering the school site. I don’t think anybody noticed because I don’t remember any comments being passed about my new footwear (unless I was so traumatised about it I wiped it out from my memory) but I will never forget how horrible it felt. I remember this pair of shoes very well. They were coloured suede brogues and today they would have looked great with a pair of ankle grazing jeans (back then ankle grazing length was not exactly in either). A year later I passed the shoes onto my Dad because….my feet have grown a size!
There are endless stories about buying shoes too small, too tight, shoes in which my toes were squeezed to the point that I could hardly walk. There is one particular shopping expedition and my older sister (shoe size 6) telling me that it was worth suffering a bit (???) to look great. Result? A pair of black leather boots with pointy toes one size too small. I don’t think I looked great wearing them because the suffering must have been clearly seen on my face. I used to buy any shoes in my size only to keep them in a box because they wouldn’t go with any outfit.
On top of that I never felt confident enough to wear high heels and that made finding the right pair even harder.
I am now 41, happy with who I am and my height is not an issue any more but I still don’t wear heels more than 2 inches high. I have always struggled to find a nice pair of shoes that would complement my outfit (especially when going out) rather than ruining it.
So in May 2018 I decided I would be selling beautiful shoes in larger sizes on low heels – ta dah!!!!
Last 12 months have been a learning process: setting up a business, creating website, getting into social media, learning a LOT about how shoes are made, why certain styles can go up to size 8 but they wouldn’t work for bigger feet, why bigger feet need better support, have different gravity center etc. I was very lucky to find and establish a great relationship with the fantastic team who are experienced and passionate about making shoes for larger feet. We work very closely designing and making shoes that will not only follow the latest fashion trends but also flatter large feet, accommodate wide feet, bunions, high instep or bigger calves/thighs.
OK…this is my first ever blog post so before it gets too long and too boring, I just would like to say thank you popping in. I hope you find something you like. We are adding new styles all the time and are already preparing some new autumn/winter styles (slouchy pull on boots and cowboy boots too yeeha!).
Please let me know what you think whether it’s positive or not and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes
Joanna