We believe in making comfortable shoes accessible to everyone, which is exactly why our measurement and pattern making processes are so extensive. Regardless of whether you have different sized feet, a prosthetic, or anything else that makes you unique, we have you covered!
Some of our past accessibility stories have included:
- Fitting and making shoes for someone with paralysis in both legs. They had only been able to wear shower caps on their feet, as store-bought foot wear was too difficult for them or their family members to help get on their legs. Anika fit them with a modified process, significantly altering the normal margins to help the boots glide on easily. A test boot was made to make sure everything was adjusted properly before making his elaborate dragon boots.
- Making knee-high boots for an army veteran. He had permanent braces around both his legs, creating high stress points around metal brackets and severely decreasing his range of motion. He worked with our artists to create a design that would minimize the visual effects of creases in his boots, and his fitting was marked with extra notes to add extra volume and cushion to critical spots. As he worked with bomb sniffing dogs, he was also given leather samples to make sure none of the leather options he chose would be problematic (or tasty) to his companions.
- A young person with gigantism who constantly outgrew shoes. She felt like she couldn’t have something that was hers, as so much of her clothing was exchanged so quickly. We fit her, but adapted the pattern to add extra volume in the spots she grew the quickest and helped her choose design options that would be most easily repaired with toe caps and leather additions should she need more.
Other challenges we’ve taken on:
- Back injuries that affect the ease of putting on a boot
- Missing toes
- bunions
- prosthetics
- uneven hips or leg lengths
- collapsed arches
- wool allergies
- size 18 and up, and customers over 7 feet tall
