Flowered peep-toes. Velvet spat boots. Cuffed booties. Behold, shoes I imagine Suri Cruise would wear unabashedly and with abandon. Shoes that walk the line – as the best grown-up versions do – of function and pure delight.
Here, Jessica Haley of Joyfolie (the woman behind the shoes) fills me in on everything and anything about these adorable little pieces.
Your shoes are downright adorable. What would you say sets them apart from the pack?
I’d dub our shoes unapologetically feminine, thoughtfully detailed, and meticulously packaged. Each pair comes in a drawer box with a styled image of the shoes inside and a matching hair clip, too. When I began the company, I didn’t aspire to grow so quickly or even grow at all, in the beginning. I was just delighted that customers loved my shoes enough to keep buying them. Often, as a thank you, I made clips out of the scraps from the handmade shoes. As we grew into a manufactured line, I wanted to continue that same expression of gratitude, which is why we continue to offer a clip with every pair of shoes.
So, how did it all start?
I used to describe Joyfolie as my “hobby run amok,” which is to say, when it first began, I had no intentions of starting a company. I handmade a pair of booties for my daughter when she was an infant and on a whim, put a pair for sale on Etsy. In a short period of time, I had celebrity purchases, press in some great national magazines, and an overwhelming amount of wholesale orders. I handmade literally thousands of booties to fund our own growth, first making them myself, then hiring a team to hand-make them in the United States, and eventually transitioned into full-scale manufacturing to accommodate the volume we needed.
I’d take it then that your shoes are no longer handmade?
Oh, lands, no! I do not miss those days! I love to create, but I am more of a big-picture thinker. Back in those day, I would sew until 2 or 3 in the morning every night because my children were small at the time and that’s when I could work most efficiently. I would get bored making the same shoes over and over. Back then, counting the rubber of the soles and layers in the lining, a pair of handmade shoes (like this one) had 17 layers of fabric to make them stiff!!
Just throwing it out there – as a little girl I would have fallen head over heels for these. Is there a particular little girl you design for?
I design with every little girl in mind! Whether it’s sparkly pink loafers or silver sandals or brown studded boots, it’s my hope that we have enough variety for every little girl’s preference and that Joyfolie shoes make her feel happy and special.
Where do you picture her going in these?
Traveling to meet a queen, trekking up a mountain, sipping tea with The Three Bears – that’s where my daughter tells me she wears hers!
And, next steps. What’s up for Joyfolie in the future?
Joyfolie is growing so fast… every new season I am both amazed and humbled by how much we are growing. As we grow, that enables us to expand into new product lines. We have some women’s boots coming out this fall that I am particularly proud of!
Our Joyfolie Girls’ Clothing & Accessories Boutique opened Tuesday, May 28, at 11AM ET.
By Joanna Berliner, Editor
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