“ Patients always reported better treatment results with the right shoes under their feet.”
As a podiatrist and physiotherapist, footwear couldn’ t be separated from my treatment if I was to provide the best care to my patients. I needed to get their foundation( footwear) right. But the options of comfort shoes were ghastly. The day a patient nearly cried when I showed her some comfort shoes that would be great for her treatment, I decided to see if I could design my own styles.
How did you turn your idea into reality?
I ran a footwear store within our podiatry clinics for seven years prior to developing FRANKiE4, so I had a good handle on women’ s preferences in footwear. To get my idea off the ground, I called a shoe manufacturer in Sydney, told him my idea – and met him the following week. About 10 prototypes later, and lots of wear testing, I signed off on my first two styles to sell in our podiatry clinics. Selling directing to my patients was the perfect way to gauge feedback and tweak my designs.
What is the biggest obstacle you ' ve faced along the way to success- and how did you overcome it?
My husband and I met with a well-regarded businessperson who advised us to walk away from FRANKiE4, saying it wasn’ t a viable business; there was no such thing as a successful privately owned footwear business; and the bigger footwear companies would cripple us. interview continues overleaf...
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