Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniella Shevel.
Hi Daniella, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I moved from Johannesburg, South Africa to San Diego with my family at 17 years old. I completed my studies in business at the University of Southern California and then moved to New York to immerse myself in the fashion industry.
After eight years of working for brands like Shopbop and rag&bone, I decide to chase my dream of starting my own shoe line.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No way.
Finding a factory was one of the first really big challenges as an outsider to the shoe industry and I had to knock on many doors and hear many nos.
When I was looking for mentorship starting out, everyone would tell me I was crazy and not to do it as it was just too hard.
Production and inventory planning is a constant game to avoid launching a style that doesn’t perform and drains our cashflow as a small business so we really test and only launch products when we have fully tested them and feel confident in them. This has meant that some of our drops have been a little late to the season but we are getting better at planning and working with our factories to understand our process and work with us to achieve timelines that don’t follow a strict wholesale schedule as we are D2C.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a designer footwear brand with a hyper-focus on comfort and functionality.
Our mission is to cultivate a new way of thinking about the intersection of luxury, design, comfort and sophistication – resetting the standard for designer shoes.
I started the brand out of frustration of not been able to wear high-quality shoes for more than 2 hours during the day before my feet were aching. Comfort wasn’t a consideration. I had to change shoes between meetings, lunches and dinners.
We are known for our incredible comfort, triple-layered memory foam padding and exquisite design that molds to your foot with very unique designs inspired a lot from my years of dancing competitively growing up in South Africa.
We produce in small batches and have a program where any donated shoes to Soles4Souls we offer a $50 credit.
We have our own store in NYC and sell online through our website. We don’t do wholesale in order to keep our pricing at 50% less than other luxury designer brands.
We are also known for our hands-on customer service and extremely personal and fast response rates with our clients.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Visiting our store, following us on social, commenting on new styles (we love feedback) and any brand collaboration ideas, partnerships or pop-ups.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.daniellashevel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniellashevel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniellashevel/
