During her orthopedic surgery residency, Taryn Rose searched fruitlessly for stylish shoes that wouldn’t destroy her feet. The podiatrist turned shoe designer found that her own quandary was shared daily by all types of women. Her quest for comfortable stylish shoes presented a unique opportunity.
Rose turned first to a favorite salesclerk at Barneys who had friends in the shoe industry in Italy. She then applied for, and got, a $200,000 Small Business Administration loan in 1998. Rose used the loan and the industry connection to produce her first line of foot-friendly, comfortable high-fashion shoes.
During the first year, Rose wore out a lot of her own shoe leather. She personally called on high-end independent shoe stores as well as a buyer at a Nordstrom store in Costa Mesa, California, to sell her wares. “Nordstrom was not as centralized as they are now, so the local buyer could say, ‘Sure, I’ll try it,’ ” Rose says. In 2001, she says, Neiman Marcus agreed to carry her shoes in five of its stores, requesting she meet certain sell-through rates and margins. Rose’s shoes (typical price: $400 per pair) blew through those targets, and she’s now in 36 Neiman Marcus locations.
To drive sales, Rose pumped up her publicity efforts, landing her shoes in the 2004 Oscar presenters’ swag bags and scoring the ultimate media coup: an interview on Oprah. This year, Rose, who has added a men’s line, persuaded Oscar winner Jamie Foxx to wear her shoes to the Academy Awards. Though she has a unique story–how many ex-surgeon fashionistas are there?–Rose puts a lot of faith in persistence, too. “It took us three years of campaigning during Oscar week to place shoes with some A-list stars,” she says. That persistence is paying off. The Taryn Rose collection, offering comfortable shoes for both men and women is now widely available and a sought out brand for comfort shoe seekers.
Click here to see the Taryn Rose Collection for men and women.
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