Big Shoe Brands Are Coming Up Short | Why We Need More Extended Size Shoe Brands ft. Founder of Trèsolz Judy Stewart

Good morning everybody. You are currently listening to a Tall Girls podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone who's doing it today is doing super fantastic. We have a very very very very special guest with us today, tall girl Judy Stewart from Trey Souls. Hi Judy, Hi, how are you doing today? Hi? India, I'm doing great. I'm out here in Grenada on vacation. How are you, period? We love a good vacation. Meanwhile, I'm stuck, well not stuck here, but I'm pretty sure you're enjoying the nice weather compared to us in New York City. But please please introduce yourself to the audience. My name is Judy Stewart. I hail from let's say, Toronto, Ontario. Just a little city just north of Toronto, so but most people know Toronto, Ontario. I'm a fifty one year old woman, wife, mother of three boys, and I happen to own a shoe brand called Tray Souls, where we focus on fashionable footwear exclusively for large sized feet. We go from size nine and a half to size sixteen and speaking of me, I am five nine period. And you know what there's like a bunch of controversy on what's considered tall. Tall, right, I mean you are tall if you think about my personal opinion, I think that women that are like five eight five eight and a half ish and up are considered tall. I mean, well, yeah, go ahead. Well listen, you are tall if you have stories from your childhood where you blunt you like literally had bad posture because you you didn't want to be seen as tall, but you were. And you're always in the back row of all the pictures, you know, the pictures when you take the school pictures in the gym. I was always in the back row at the top. We're like the pyramid, Like that was me. Yeah, hi, Yeah, that makes me tall because I have all of those those issues, like dealing with post traumatic stress from my childhood. Well, speaking of childhood, let's hear more about your experience growing up as a tall girl, the good, the bad, the ugly. What was it like for you? It was. Eighty percent great, like I have. My My parents were immigrants from Jamaica. I was I'm the youngest of three girls. My father was a full time pastor minister in the church, and we grew up in a city in Scarborough, and we had a very loving family, very close knit family, a lot of cousins, and so even though I didn't fit in really well at school, I was. I was. I was into sports only, didn't didn't really love academics, just kind of scratched by. But when it comes to track and any sport, I ate it up. But in terms of like family wise, very close knit family. Spent all my weekends with my cousins and my extended family and such, and so I do remember issues with my height, like I was talking about before. Ever since I was like twelve, I've been this height five nights. Wow. And I mean especially with like going through puberty and being taller than all the boys and none of the boys give me any attention because like I'm taller than them, and it just wasn't cool. At that time. I hated my height. I used to look at my little short friends and clothes fit them properly, like nothing would fit me. And you know, we didn't have any money growing up, Like no, my hand me down was my life because I'm the youngest three girls. So I got the clothes two times down. Okay, So by that time they were worn out. They had patches in them because my mom was like, you know, we're not buying anything new if you don't need to. And so my fashion game wasn't on. Couldn't find obviously shoes I wear size ten and a half eleven since I was that age as well, so I didn't have that fashion game going on. And plus I was tall, so all of my clothes, like you know, the shirts were to hear. The pants we had to like do take out the hem, always taking out the hem every time I went to go buy even like when in my teens, when I had a little bit of money going to buy clothes, I would always like, if the pants are sitting are on the hangar, I would turn the pants over see how much hem there was, Like you know, so as I knew, I would have to go home pick it out, then wash it, and then iron it out so I could get an inter or two. That's the story of my life. Okay, I think everyone, do we not all resonate with that, Like that's just what it was like. So yeah, other than that, like eventually I grew to love my height, love my height, but those puberty years were working. I still I still think, like it's vivid to me when I'm thinking about That's why when I ever, whenever I see some younger girls where I have nieces and nephews. Now, I'm also an educator. If I see anyone who like seems to be shirking away from embracing their height, I tell them my story. I tell them you just wait, you just wait. You're gonna love it. I know you don't believe me right now, but you will love it. So yeah, that's that's kind of in a nutshell, the the good and bad of my upbringing, my childhood. Well, for starters, I'm pretty sure that we can all resonate with your story. Hence while we're here, and then I also wanted to ask, just as a follow up, what was something involving your height? It could be a question, it could be a comment. What was something involving your height that you hated hearing? Listen, I know you're gonna you already know what it is. Do I play basketball? Oh? Yeah? Okay, and yes, I literally spoke about this in my last episode two. I'm sorry to cut you off. Yeah, I mean I was an athlete, Like I went away to school for track and field Division one athlete sprinter very ran for Canada. All of that. I didn't play basketball. Okay, so stop that I don't play basketball. Why I don't play it? I don't like it. I tried. I actually did in grade nine. I got drafted. I got recruited. Like. I went to my local high school obviously walk in there in grade nine, and the basketball coach recruits me. Yeah, and let me tell you, I was like, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna try it. I don't like the sport. Even now, my two of my sons played basketball at a very very high level. My husband loves basketball, but back then and to now, basketball has just never been my thing. But I said I'm gonna try because he was. He recruited me. He was like, come out, you'll be a starter, blah blah blah blah. So I did, and I sat on that bench for the first I didn't play because I sucked. I was terrible. I tried out. I made I didn't even I don't think I had to try out. I made the team. And then they realized. The coaches realized that I couldn't play, and they were like, oh my, what have we done? Oh my, I'm sorry about that. But hey, at least you ended up with track and field. That's really what Yeah, now, seuching gears a little bit, tell us a little bit more about your brand. You mentioned Trey Souls, what like, how did it start and what is your mission? So Trey Soul started three and a half years ago, right at the end of COVID. Because I've always had it in my back pocket. I always had this idea that if someone was to make large sized, fashionable shoes, I would definitely that's a great I always thought. Not me, I never thought me. I was like, if somebody did that, that's such a great idea. I never put me into the equation, you know what I mean. I just knew it was a great idea because I'm only a size ten and a half eleven, Like I say ten and a half eleven because I have a wider foot so and who finds size ten and a half I mean except at trastles obviously, of course. But so I said to myself three and a half years ago, when I was we went online for school because I'm a teacher, I was always at my computer, and I thought I would start to do some research and see how viable it would be to start to start a large sized shoe brand. And at the time, like I'm I'm a math fyz fitness teacher. I also teach special needs right now, but I don't have any business. I'm no business, okay, girl, none. I just had my computer and thank God for the Internet now, like you can, like the world is really small when I comes to like looking up things, and so that's what I did. I just started researching, seeing what I could find overseas locally networking, like talking to people, and I did my first kind of original three or four designs, very very small volume, just to see how it would land, opened up a very rudimentary website and started selling with my initial kind of like bootstraps of finances, and it just it just took off from there. And I didn't know what I was doing, Like I don't know what it was doing. I don't know how else to say it. But the need was so great and the problem was the need was so great that even though I was selling shoes, people didn't and even to this day, people did not believe that like a brand like mine could exist, especially here in Canada, because here in Canada we cross border shop. Okay, every quarter we travel to your wonderful country. Yeah, and we buy up all the shoes and then we stick them in our trunk, or we put them in our feet, and then we sneak back across the border because we don't want to play duties and taxes on them, and we're not allowed to bring back a lot of We can't bring back a lot right without paying the taxes. So we put them on. Like even when it comes to clothes, I shouldn't even be saying this, but you put on all the clothes that you buy, you put it all on. You put on all the all the earrings, and all the shoes. Like I put on a pair, I take off all the tags, and I drive past the board and say, hi, sir, I just went to New York for lunch, just for lunch. Yeah, I didn't buy anything. Just here's my lunch, here's my lunch. Re seat bye. And that's what you do. Because there's so much more variety in the States, obviously when it comes to even larger size selections. But what I didn't realize about Tree Souls was that three years later we were going to not only like, we were gonna not stop at side thirteen. So I don't know if I said this, but we went from size ten to thirteen at the time my first batch of of designs and now listening to my customer, listening to potential people hitting up my website and saying, Judy, I love what you're doing, but I'm a fourteen, I'm a fifteen, I'm a sixteen. Now we go up to size sixteen, Like we are one of the only brands ever, like we like most of our stock our volume, Like we don't do like, oh, you know, one size sixteen and mainly size eleven twelve, No, our elevens and twelves, we don't do a lot of volume. Our volume, Like we want to make sure that the people who have the hardest time finding shoes, and those are people who have size fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. I'm sorry, but that's true. You can't find fourteen fifteen sixteen really anywhere in the stores. And so now we go up to size sixteen. Wow, that's honestly amazing though, because I mean, I mean, I don't I'm not in that size, but I mean, even the struggle of finding pants, That's how I can relate to this in a way, like I can understand how it's very frustrating, you know, trying to find something that is that looks good on you and is also in your size. So I think that's honestly amazing, And you know, you spoke. A little bit about it, but it's all with your brand. It's all about uplifting women and helping them feel more confident through shoes. So how do you think that footwear, especially for tall women with extended sizes, plays a role in boosting their confidence and you know, feeling empowered. Well, I think that that choice when it comes to fashion, when it comes to what you get up and choose to put on every morning. Like even myself, I'm not a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination. Like I live my life. I work out a lot, I work out a school that's a sports school, So I'm not even dressing up to go to work like office, where I go out for dates, I go hang out with my girlfriends. I you know, Like, but I have a life and a light. Everyone has a life. And guess what when you step out of your door every day, you're putting on a pair of shoes. You're putting on a pair not everyone's putting on a pair of glasses. Not everyone's putting on jewelry. Every person who steps out of their house to go do life needs to put on shoes that and should be able to that should match whatever they're doing. And that's when it comes to a parel in shoes. I don't think that people recognize people who have like normal sized feet. They don't recognize how much shoes play a role in your life. It's the most important thing. Yeah, and so I'm so I've been so used to people who have larger sized feet, have been so used to just choosing from one or two pairs to match the entire extent of their life. The variety of things that we do in our life, we do so much, especially as women, especially as moms, especially as people who go to work, especially women, We live diverse lives. Why did I only have three pairs of shoes to choose from because I just so happened to have a size eleven foot? Why? And so that's why I think what I'm doing is uplifting, is so uplifting, because now we have choice. Now we're just like everybody else who can choose. Look at my closet and say, Okay, this is what I'm doing today, this is what I feel like wearing, and I can just choose it. I can just choose it. There's no force, there's no force. Yeah, I honestly, I really like that. There's no force. You're not forcing yourself to wear a certain pair of shoes that don't go with that outfit for the day, because, believe me, I understand, it just basically recks. You're entired, and. For so long we've been told that, and I said this when I was on Dragons. Then I don't know if they're going to edit it out, But if we have larger feet, like we've been told that all we do is walk the dog and hike because that's all that's available. Like there, don't get me wrong, there are shoes available in size, in larger sizes up to size whatever you want, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, But they're basically saying the styles that those styles that are currently in the store is basically saying you're going for a hike, you're walking your dog, you're going to the gym. That's it. Yeah, is that all we do? No, So that's why my shoes, like I don't do a lot of my designs aren't aren't really kind of like those type of styles because they're already I'm I don't want to compete with what's already out there. Like I got my broken stocks too, Okay, I got my Okay, that's for my hiking and walking the dog times. But I'm saying I want to all the other aspects of my life. That's what That's what tray sols is about, Like the cute, fashionable, fashion forward shoes because women have a lot of shoes, Like we want all the shoes? Why not you know exactly? And you just mentioned it too. I wanted to say congratulations on number one, you know, partnering with go Is Shoes. We love go issues, but also like with dragons Den, like can you explain these two endeavors a little bit more and how you got to that point and so forth. Yeah, So with GOA Shoes, it just we just kind of partnered with them. I mean, we've been talking back and forth for pretty much probably a year. But as I've been and I would say, Keg if Kegg's listening, it was mainly me that has been kind of like not you know, fully going full throwat along to see if this could work. But I'm there came a point earlier this year where I just got so many hits on my website and abandoned karts from the UK, and I'm like, why, why why? And I think it's has to deal with the fact that here, like we ship worldwide, but I think our shipping terms are very expensive. So partnering with Goa hopefully will make it a little bit more accessible for an affordable for tray souls to go there. So that's why I thought I wanted to see how this would work. And so we just we just partnered, officially partnered mid October, so that's great. And with dragons Den, it was all a fluke. Let me tell you, it was all a fluke, like me being on dragons then even a year ago, like I'd be like, no way, I'm not ready, Like what am I doing dragons Den? No, it's not. It's like Shark Tank in the US. Right. So a friend of mine in January said, who had was on the show? We just started talking and I was asking about it, and he said to me, just out of the blue, he's you should you should audition, just audition, you never know. And I'm like, I've got audition, Dick for dragons Den. Your old company. I'm still kind of like, you know, building like Tray Soles is still very much a boutique company, like we don't our volumes are still very very small. And so he was like, why not try? I mean, your story is great, you have a great personality. I think that, you know, because remember Dragon's Den is not only about the end result, which is investment, getting an investor, but it's also good TV. It's you know, it's good, it's good entertainment. So I just when I just went home that night and it was the night before auditions closed. So I said, I went on my computer. I did this rudimentary application application, really fast, shit as my story blah blah blah. And then you had to upload like a sixty second video you know how it works. And so I did it and I press submit, and I just walked away. I'm like, whatever I did, it, can't say didn't try. And then the very next day they email me back and said, Judie, we want you to come in an audition. Wow. Oh. I did the audition, which was crazy, like I could talk for days about Like they send you a package like this thick with hundreds and hundreds of questions you need to know your numbers. You need to know everything like potential questions. So you're auditioning in front of the producers and then the next level is you wait. You wait for two months and they and they said, don't call us, we'll call you. Oh. I'm like, okay, So I just my personality, like I just forgot about it. I just I just forgot about it. Yeah. And so six weeks later, I got an email saying, you made it to the show. You made it to pitch live in front of the Dragons. So at that point, still you don't know you're gonna be on the show yet, Like you're pitching, they're filming you, you show up with you whatever, but you can still get edited out, like if you suck, if you're not camera, like, if you're not good on the camera, if your pitch sucks or whatever reason, they can still edit you out. Wow. Right, And so I was like, Okay, I did the whole thing. I got models, I pitched in front of the dragons, like I did it. And then they're like, we can't tell you, like if you're gonna make it to the show for another two months. So I'm like okay. So anyways, I found out that I got on the show, and only about forty entrepreneurs get on the show, and it's like hundreds and hundreds who start the audition process right the application thousands, I think. And so, yeah, I air on my episode airs on TV. If you're in Canada, I don't think you can get it at CBC's a Canadian company. I don't even think you can watch it, my friend, But I'm gonna like tape it or something. I don't know, Yeah, you should and put it on social media. And so I I gonna send it to me. Yeah, well that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna record it obviously, and I'm gonna send it to you. But if you're in Canada and you're listening to my Tall Girls podcast right now November seventh, at eight pm Eastern Standard Time, tune in. Wow. Honestly, hearing about your journey and just how it all started, even over the past year, it sounds like a lot has happened over the past year, and I really just want to congratulate you on that and like the growth of your brand, because honestly, it's just so amazing to hear that you're doing such big things and you're going to go on to do even more things, the more bigger, more bigger, more big things. Bigger bigger things. There you go. And now for our final question, what is one piece of advice that you want to give to the tall girls who are listening right now, who are struggling with their self confidence because of their height or even because of their other features such as having larger feet. I would say that you probably feel like you're getting a lot of attention, like people are staring at you. And that's how I know. That's how I felt, and I want you to realize when people are staring at us, they're saying, oh my gosh, look at her. She's got the longest, most longest, beautiful legs. I wish I had her height. Like people stare at us because they want what we have. And it took me a while to recognize that. So embrace that. Embrace your height because everybody wants to be tall, and we are tall. God made us tall. So and when it comes to larger sized feet, like when it comes to our feet, Tray Souls is one I'm just one brand that is trying to to be the solution to this problem, and so support your local brands that are trying to provide more inclusion to to the to the apparel industry because and stop squeezing your feet, like, stop squeezing your feet into the smaller sizes. Embrace those brands and it might cost you a few more dollars, but we're trying to make a difference here. We're trying to like change the game here. So you know, shop your your tall brands, shop your large sized shoe brands, and you never know, the more or that we support each other, the more mainstream this will be. And yeah, that's what I would say. Oh my gosh, thank you so so much for that advice. That was honestly so amazing. Please please, please, where can we find you? Where can we find tray Souls on the interwed This is the time to plug yourself. Okay, we're everywhere. Okay, First of all, if you are a Tray Soul's customer, please do me a solid. I know that some of you who are listening already own some of our shoes. Please We're on Google, so go to Google. Leave us a review that really helps with you know, people find finding us through through regular organic searches. But we are on Instagram, we're on Facebook, we're on TikTok, we're on YouTube. Our website tray souls dot com, we are on LinkedIn, we are on everything name something. Oh we're not on X. We're not on X. We used to be. Actually we are on X, just like we haven't post it for a couple of years. So we're everywhere. Okay, awesome. I'm gonna have everything linked in the description, so everybody who's sitting in things debfinitely go check you out. And I'm gonna plug myself at a Tall Girls podcast just like you everywhere. Literally just search me up on Google, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, everybody's Pinterest too. Oh there we go. So we're both on pinchers. So everybody's socials, everybody's links are going to be in the description. And I just want to say Judy again, thank you so much for being on this episode. I really do appreciate it. I thank you for what you're doing, like you are a trailblazer here. I know you don't think it like you're still stocked that you are, but you're doing great things. And I thank you for starting this podcast, and thank you just for being so like oh natural, so just like easy to talk to. Just you're just doing a great job. So keep it up. Thank you, thank you so much. I really do appreciate it. And thank you again to the audience for tuning in. And I will catch all of you guys in the next one. Good night and goodbye, hie everyone,