Our Story

Like many of us, I discovered barefoot running from Tim Ferriss's blog and Christopher McDougall's book Born to Run. It made sense. It felt right. Six months later, I completed the LA Marathon, bare soles to the road for twenty-six miles.

From then on, there was no turning back. But I still had to spend five days a week in a business environment. One casual Friday, I took "casual" too literally, and wore my Vibram FiveFingers into the office. My colleagues freaked out. One of them even screamed(!) when she saw what she thought were my bare feet. 

After that, I put up with my regular work shoe. Until one day, I came home so frustrated with the thick heels, I tried to trim them down with a hand saw. It didn't work as I imagined. The shoes were destroyed.

It was in this moment of desperation that inspiration struck. I decided we needed a shoe that has the barefoot feel we love and the classic look people expect. Something professional and undetectable.

After somewhat successful crowdfunding (not enough to reach the goal, but enough to prove some demand), I left corporate accounting and went all in on making barefoot dress shoes. We launched what is now the Classic Collection, offering arguably the best looking barefoot dress shoes.

Then the pandemic hit. With nobody allowed in offices, revenue fell a staggering 96%. We nearly didn't survive. With an honest email to our supporters about our dire situation, you all showed up and saved us.

Years later, with a lot more dress shoe knowledge, we launched the Aurelius Collection, and a women's dress shoe. Since then, I started designing footwear to include workplaces beyond office settings. Safety boots became a core part of our offerings, and we have more exciting products in the works.

We're still a very small business working hard to meet the rising demand, which is a great problem to have. We appreciate your patience as we bring new designs, iterations, and sizes to market.