Robyn Shreiber on launching Beautiisoles

If you ever thought you had to suffer to wear heels, Robyn Shreiber is here to tell you think again. In 2018, Schreiber, a longtime food executive who has always had a passion for fashion, launched Beautiisoles with the help of Daniella Clark, the founder of women’s denim brand Frankie B. Shreiber’s journey to creating her shoe line was a deeply personal one.

Shreiber began the company after she had a foot surgery that rendered it impossible for her to wear her heels without being in pain. Her podiatrist was constantly yelling at her about her shoes leading to various foot issues. While she was recovering in the hospital, she said that no woman should have to go through this, and she set out on a quest to design beautiful shoes that wouldn’t lead women to future foot surgeries.

She did all the legal proceedings to form a company and then began working on samples and designs. In 2019, she began showing the collection at tradeshows to buyers. Her focus became getting the samples exactly right, which finally happened at the beginning of 2020. Of course, while Shreiber was trying to make progress with her newly born fashion line, COVID-19 struck the globe and retail was taking a massive hit, but she didn’t let that deter her from still trying to find ways to keep the brand afloat and make small growth.

“We didn’t go crazy with the first order of shoes,” Shreiber said. “We kept each style to a limited number of pairs, we did some gifting, and now we actually are out of a few SKUs. Some of our inventory is also in consignment at stores across the United States. In a way, it’s good to walk before we run. We’ve been able to get our sea legs under us even though growth has been in small increments.”

While buyers are being more conservative about what they are putting in their retail stores and brick-and-mortar a bit up in the air with COVID-19 restrictions, Shreiber is putting focus on e-commerce for 2021. She’s also selectively targeting retailers in key markets where she knows there’s still a lady who loves a good heel.

“We’re putting a lot of emphasis on Instagram and Facebook, because I think it is going to be another six months before people are really out shopping,” Shreiber said. “People in Dallas are shopping. People in Houston are shopping. People in Miami are shopping. There’s a bit of a total opposite going on around the country. Someone even told me, if I were to go down to Orange County, I’d see women in heels all day long. This year, I plan on targeting those locations as key markets. There were both pros and cons to launching during a pandemic.”

Currently, Beautiisoles is in the process of making their site shoppable. Shreiber’s big hope for the brand this year is to get more shoppers via Instagram and Facebook’s shopping platforms, and in the second half of 2021, she would like to get the shoes in more brick-and-mortar retail stores. Shreiber takes a non-seasonal approach to her collections, adding a few different styles and colors for every season, but treating each collection as an extension of the previous one rather than being shoes for spring/summer or shoes for fall/winter.

Even though Beautiisoles is only in its infancy, Shreiber has managed to attract a wide range of customers. “Our customer isn’t necessarily a 30-year-old woman versus a 50-year-old woman,” Shreiber said. “We want to lead with fashion first, but anyone that has any issues with their feet is our customer. I’d say we do best with the 28 and up crowd, and we’ve got a shoe for everyone.”

The brand recently shot a campaign with its first ambassador, supermodel and activist Veronica Varekova, who was photographed in the Beautiisoles clear boot displaying the shoe’s fashion-forward ethos. In another photo campaign, they focused on real women of all shapes, sizes, and ages, wearing a variety of the new styles, proving this collection is about being sexy while emphasizing “shoes for every soul.” Ladies, no more sacrificing style for comfort. Beautiisoles is here to keep you well heeled.