How Etta Grove Is Breaking Barriers with Extended Size Shoes for Women ft. Co-Founder Alexis Howard

[00:00:00] Good morning everybody. You are currently listening to A Tall Girls Podcast hosted by a tall girl named India I hope everyone who's tuning in today is doing super fantastic I am joined by a very very special guest today. Her name is Alexis. Hi Alexis. How are you today?

[00:00:17] Good morning, India. How are you today? I am still kind of sad from my trip But you know what? It's less the worst than it was a couple days ago. So I I'm okay Thank you for joining me on a Sunday morning

[00:00:35] Please can you just take a moment to introduce yourself to the audience? Okay, I'm Alexis Howard. I'm based in Washington, DC and I own I like to say a lifestyle brand where we craft fashionable footwear and extended sizes It's called Etta Grove Footwear

[00:00:53] I own it with my two daughters Kayla and Haley and it is the namesake of my grandmother Etta who was also an entrepreneur A tall girl and wore a larger size shoe So I'm five nine and my daughters are five nine and five eleven

[00:01:09] Wow, I honestly love that you also like named after your grandma as well I think that's so nice as a way to like, you know commemorate her and you did mention that you were tall and You know, I kind of want to hear about your experience

[00:01:25] Growing up as a tall girl like the good the bad the ugly like what was that like for you? So Believe it or not. I used to be five eleven So I'm over fifty now and as life has it I have shumped two inches

[00:01:41] I think you're spying compacts or compresses or whatever you call it Because my mom was five ten and she now is five eight But I was always the tallest one in my class I was tall as tall as or taller than my teachers in elementary school

[00:01:59] I think I was like five five and fifth or sixth grade But I think like the biggest thing is that so kids are going to be mean

[00:02:10] But like when you have adults that just don't know what to say. That's the worst. It's always like wow, you're at all It's like okay State the obvious to me right? Yeah, so, you know, of course it's harsh from other kids but when an adult, you know just

[00:02:30] Doesn't know what to say it just I think it hurts a little bit more because we expect more from them So yeah, I

[00:02:38] Understand that and I don't know if that was like the answer to the next question about to tell you what you said a little bit before But I do want to ask like what was something involving your height? It could be a question

[00:02:51] It could be a comment. What was something involving your height that you hated hearing? Yeah, I think that was it. Wow, you're like whenever you start a sentence with wow I Never think that a compliment is going to follow that so that was probably the biggest thing

[00:03:09] I think the impact it had it definitely Impacted my confidence as a child But it just Affects different aspects of your life if you let it So like I wouldn't date guys shorter than me and I'm sure there were plenty of nice guys that were shorter

[00:03:31] That just wasn't an interest to me I think I shrunk myself in a lot of situations try to make myself look shorter And so it probably impacted the way I walked and carried myself. So yeah, I would say that

[00:03:48] Those comments from adults impacted me in a way that I should not have allowed it to I mean you would think that most of those out there would think with adult brains, but You know sometimes my family says like some people girl physically, but they don't grow mentally

[00:04:07] Definitely So going back to your brand. Can you please tell us a little bit about it? Like what your mission is? So our mission is really to like I'm talking about confidence and knowing how some other my daughter's where size 12

[00:04:24] I used to wear size 11 and after I started having baby So I think I wore a 10 then I wore an 11 then I wore 12 and now I'm at a 13 It it seems like every time I would get in reach like it used to be 10 was the highest

[00:04:41] It'd be like, oh, okay. Now they carry intense then how to board 11 So each time it was like out of reach So for years even decades I talked about to my children and my family about starting a footwear brand that address the gap or

[00:04:58] Extended size options. So when I was younger, they were very few options in my shoes. I was starting at the Egypt and so I would shop in the men's department and at that time things were not attractive there like I wore some

[00:05:14] unattractive shoes just to have the fit I might have worn Flip flop year round maybe put some socks on Just to have that fit or even squeeze my feet into shoes two to three sizes too small

[00:05:29] If at all possible with my foot hanging off the back. So nobody should have to endure that like Shoes are an essential life item like Everybody wears shoes. So why shouldn't we all have a shoe that fits and makes us feel good about ourselves

[00:05:47] Like, you know, you have on this great outfit And then you get down to your shoes and you have one like some of the worst shoes ever Like sometimes I felt like I should have just put some shoe boxes on my feet and just walked around in those

[00:05:59] so That's what we're about. We're about empowering women wear extended sizes to walk confidently Through life because they have shoes that fit that are comfortable that are aesthetically pleasing and all of that That's what we're about. I

[00:06:18] Absolutely love that. I think that is probably one of the biggest Struggles in the tall girl community It's like yes finding stuff that fits but also finding stuff that fits that actually looks good, right?

[00:06:32] I absolutely love how you're tackling both of those issues and you said that you do Run like this business you started this brand with your daughters. What is it like running a business with your children? challenging

[00:06:49] We just in life all other aspects of life we have different opinions We're from different generations. We have different thoughts about the ways that things should be done But we're all creatives. So like even before I started this business

[00:07:03] I spent a great deal of time with my kids like doing arts and crafts. We would take arts classes We would just do different activities that were crafts like we will make stuff maybe for a nonprofit

[00:07:16] So it that kind of transitioned over to the business. So I designed all of our Products and then we added them together So I like to say that we're classic but on trend So hopefully we have footwear that you would enjoy wearing today and 10 years from now

[00:07:38] But maybe our colorway for this particular season might be something more trendy Like we have a house tooth Ballerina flat so like this is a staple shoe, but maybe this year we did house tooth before we did

[00:07:56] And we still have made to order nude colorways. Those are always being stopped So um, but also the other thing that's challenging and working with my kids is that The social media like it I think it's innate for your generation

[00:08:13] But for mine, it's like we have to get adjusted We have to wrap our mind around it at least a lot of us And so there are things I'll do and they're like that shouldn't have been a post that should have been a story

[00:08:26] Yeah, so that's challenging in itself. But other than that I enjoy spending the additional time with them That's so nice You know that's something that I learned and I took a family business course and like my last semester before I graduated

[00:08:42] And that was also probably like one of the main things as to why people start a family business So they can spend more time with their family So that's especially you know, like when your children become adults and they're like living their own lives

[00:08:54] It's like a nice way to like Spend time quality time together, you know, I'm sure they enjoy getting the to-do list for me I'm sure deep down they do You know, you were talking like a little bit about the mission of the brand and you know

[00:09:15] How you addressed the challenges of your customers and stuff And I want to go a little bit more into detail about how specifically do you guys like work to Make women with different proportions specifically larger feet feel more beautiful in their own skin so

[00:09:34] Like I said, we're in a large size is a pain point for us So in starting the business, of course, we're gonna work from the experiences that we've had So like one big one is like I never wanted a shoe to look like a Ronald McDonald

[00:09:52] You know big red clown shoe, right? so you want it to be fit your foot but To the extent that we can kind of reduce the look of the length Like that's something that we would consider. So when I design the shoe

[00:10:06] I'm some designing from the perspective of someone who wears a large shoe size So our prototypes and our samples are size 12 Sometimes we do a size nine, but usually so we're not medium to 14 medium for now

[00:10:22] So our sample sizes are generally in size 12 and a lot of people wear size 12 So, you know when looking at the shoe and designing it I design So hey, you know, we don't want this to look too long on someone's foot

[00:10:36] Also, I always remember going into my shoes and it'd be like, okay, you need a 10 10 and a half Okay, so we have an 11 where I don't wear an 11 or wear a 10 and a half

[00:10:48] So we have hold on half sizes for our footwear so that you don't have to jump a whole shoe size or an additional half a size so that was really important to us and Just the quality and the standards for our partner factories

[00:11:04] Like I mean, of course there are a lot of fast fashion places where you can get a really inexpensive shoe perhaps in a nine or a 10 even an 11 of course as you get to the higher sizes is less likely

[00:11:18] But you're gonna wear those shoes maybe this summer and then after that they'll probably be ready for the trash So it's really important to us that you have a shoe that when it's time or it needs repair

[00:11:32] You can take it to a cobbler for them to replace the sole or replace something on it a fastener rather than you just throwing it away so We try to I mean we want people to wear stuff that is quality

[00:11:46] That looks good on them and that then that fits them well And it's really important like who wants to wear something that's uncomfortable and that's important to us too Yeah, that definitely goes back to your point of like making timeless pieces and you know that

[00:12:03] opens up the door, I guess you could say for Sustainability right so that is definitely very important And I also kind of wanted to ask a little bit about your process for some reason I feel like they don't ask like business owners what their process is from like

[00:12:23] Ideation design all the way to getting it to the customer. So I kind of ask you this like what I mean It doesn't have to be like, you know a whole essay of course

[00:12:32] But what is the process of you from of you guys ideating these designs all the way to getting it to the customer? so like So the other day and some nights I just have wake up with dreams

[00:12:46] A shoe that I want to do and I'm like oh my gosh Like let me get that on paper and just to show you this was like the book for our first year

[00:12:56] Why it just happened to have in here. Oh, these are just like a lot some of the rhymes and like notes and like things like inspirations Just things and like I would draw and then I would make a note about a particular shoe

[00:13:12] Like oh colored top stitching different material on the back Art support like art support as someone who has flat feet art support is important Cushioning football of foot like all of those things are in here

[00:13:27] And so I have different ones just like this is kind of how our logo came about It was like okay at first it was a bow

[00:13:35] But then we're like, okay now we're gonna get rid of the tails like all those things are in the sketchbook like real old school for me. I Don't have any Use camber but at this point I don't have any design software which I would love to get eventually

[00:13:53] Yeah, so that's kind of my process and So a lot of people don't know this so when you Create a design and you draw it out and you use in what is a called a tech pack or

[00:14:09] Specifications to your partner factory and you tell them, you know on this particular shoe I Want, you know the vamp to be denim or I want the lux sold to be

[00:14:23] Inch thick or you give all of those specifications and what they do is they create what is called a last Okay, and so this determines what the shoe is gonna look like so this particular last kind of has a round toe

[00:14:38] Mm-hmm. This is probably like a low heel Here it's probably a shoe and not a boot and so these this determines so from those specifications they make this and then

[00:14:52] That is what determines how the shoe is gonna look so and then from that they send us a prototype Which is just one shoe and then we made edits to it and then they send us a sample which is a pair of shoes and

[00:15:07] So sometimes we have an edit after that like if we wear it and we're like, oh no This needs a little more cushioning, you know, then we kind of go back and then they make an edit to the sample

[00:15:17] So that's kind of the like a real short summary of the process Wow, that sounds really cool and kind of long like how like how long does the whole entire thing take? Um

[00:15:31] So it depends what factory work with so our first factory was a great factory in terms of their craftsmanship But they were really slow so like It was really hard for us like and so also as the startup we were not a priority

[00:15:50] So they had other designer brands that they produce for so we were like at the bottom of the list for them getting to our product But our current factory so from me getting them like a tech pack and all of that it probably would take maybe

[00:16:08] Four to six weeks for them to get a prototype and in between that time they're sending me pictures and Stuff like that for me. So I can make some edits even before it gets into me because it's abroad

[00:16:21] So I mean customs is very expensive. So even before they send it to me They want to get some feedback on whether they're on the right track and stuff. So yeah, so I would say from drawing to tech pack to sample Maybe like two to three months. Oh

[00:16:41] Yeah, okay. It's like sometime. Yeah, but I think that it's cool that the Current factory that you work with they you know keep you up to date with those things I think that's honestly very smart and can save a lot of money and time very good

[00:16:58] I mean, they're deadline driven like they respond to my emails and it's really important and I just want to note that As a startup a lot of factories are not going to take you in like they're like

[00:17:12] They're not going to take a chance on you. So I was grateful for that first factory taking a chance on us It just was not a good fit But I can't I current factory. I'm really happy with

[00:17:24] That's really good to hear and now we're down to our final question I do want to ask you what is one piece of advice that you want to give to the tall girls who are listening right now who are

[00:17:37] Shuggling with their self-esteem because of their height. I would say don't shrink yourself to fit in or for other people Just realize that nobody is perfect and everyone is dealing with something so give yourself grace give them grace and

[00:17:51] Don't shrink yourself. It's definitely what I would say. I Honestly love that advice. Thank you so much for that and please can you tell us where to find you on the internet? Okay, so we're on Instagram. Please go follow us at at a growth footwear ETT a grove

[00:18:12] footwear Also, we're on Facebook and Also at a growth comma personal website is where you can find this. Yes, everything is going to be linked in the description A lot with the survey. Do you want to talk a little bit about this? Right, okay. Thank you so

[00:18:32] In trying to find out what people who wear a large size is want from a brand that Provide shoes like I said, I consider us a lifestyle brand, but I guess a footwear brand We created this survey to ask like

[00:18:49] You know what price point how often what do you want to see in your footwear brand? Have you shopped at a girl before why or why not? Basically, what are we doing that you like? What are we doing that we could do better?

[00:19:04] Just to try to get a sense of community to engage people so that we can be the best extended size footwear brand to really establish a community of people who feel comfortable

[00:19:15] Engaging us because basically when you reach out to ETT a growth, you're reaching out to one of us Like we're a small business. So it's me one of my daughters Looking at who are my co-founders looking at what you're sending to us

[00:19:29] Awesome, and that's gonna be linked in the description as well. I feel that it did not take super long I think very very slow reader so world record for me and I also want to say to the audio listeners right now

[00:19:46] Alexis did show a couple of her pieces on the camera So I would definitely recommend watching the video version of this So you're able to see that and see her process and see her designs

[00:19:58] And I'm gonna take a moment to plug myself at a tall gross podcast Instagram interest all of the videos for this social media videos The survey the link to the survey. I'm also gonna post that on my story. So everything is there for you guys

[00:20:14] That's also going to be linked in the description and yeah, thank you again so so much Thank you so much for allowing us to come on and share about edit road. It was a pleasure Hopefully you get to vacation soon again fingers cross

[00:20:31] I think you again listeners for tuning in and I'll catch you guys in the next one. Good night and goodbye