Pretty shoes for plus size feet

Gustavia Lui is a total #girlboss – she’s not even 30 and already she has spotted a problem in the fashion industry and come up with a solution. She’s the managing director of Staavias, a New Zealand based brand making pretty shoes for plus size feet. Forget boring clunky shoes or jandals, these are stylish shoes in eye catching designs, especially for large feet – and they even do half sizes. I asked Gustavia a few questions to find out more about how she got started and what we can look forward to.

1. Tell me about your own experience with finding shoes in your size
Where do I even start? I used to take my boys with me and tell them to look for any box with size 11. It was like a fun game for them, they loved it. The one thing I hated the most, was a salesperson watching you try on shoes – like seriously?! Eventually I got to the point where I would walk into a store and ask for their biggest size, it was the fastest way to do it. I would even call to save me petrol. I remember driving from Manurewa to New Lynn to get me shoes, I begged the lady to hold them for me, dropped everything and drove there. Most times the biggest size in store was a 10, I did get the odd 11 but it was as though shoes were shrinking! My measurements hadn’t increased so clearly I wasn’t the one with the problem haha.

2. What was the turning point that made you start Staavias?
I had nearly accepted the fact that there weren’t any nice shoes for me in my size! My goodness, thank God I didn’t. When the idea of a footwear store was birthed in my head – that was it. I decided “yes, I’m going to do this” and I never looked back. I love to dream – OMG, that’s what I do most days. I play music and just dream. Anyway, I started to visualise what success looked like for me and that was enough to push me to do it. I was going to open a store and import shoes. After a bit of travelling, I realised there weren’t any wholesalers with plus size shoes to import from. A couple of leaders in the footwear industry encouraged me to look at my own label and my trip to New York in 2013 sealed the deal for me – I came back home knowing I was going to start my own label.

3. Do you work with a designer or do you do it yourself?
I work with designers as I’m not good at drawing – I can visualise exactly what I want and describe it, I just need help bringing my vision to life on paper. I started this with absolutely zero experience or knowledge of the footwear industry so the designers I have worked with have been super helpful in every way possible. I am currently working with a designer in London and another in New York. I actually love it this way because we get combined experience, taste and expertise. I always choose designers who have worked with huge successful brands as it gives me peace of mind – they know their stuff. One of us has to know what we’re doing!

4. What inspires your designs?
We find inspiration in everything and anything. Our first collection was a summer one so we focussed on bright colours and summery things together with upcoming trend inspiration from the fashion shows across the world. Our initial collection is named after nieces as I only have sons – their names are Cassidy, Hailey, Elizabeth and Evania. Our flats are named after my two sisters – Noah and Gardenia while our designs called Serenity, Selena and Savannah (nieces) will be released in the coming months.

5. What do we have to look forward to from Staavias? I hope there are boots in the future lineup!
OMG! Yes, absolutely! Winter is coming up and we are looking at boots and some warm shoes. I’m willing to try new things – I feel New Zealand is so black and white, and I want to introduce brighter colours and edgier designs. We are dropping different designs all throughout the year, and I’ll be giving a chance to our Staavias VIP Family to vote on certain designs and pick certain things e.g. fabrics and hardware. We have a huge year ahead of us! We’re so excited.

6. What is your favourite shoe style and why?
To be honest, I absolutely LOVE all of them. It doesn’t matter which one of my shoes I put on, they all make me feel so good about myself. For me that’s super important and that’s the power of a shoe right? If a shoe can make me feel confident and sexy, then you are a favourite for sure and all our shoes do that for me.

7. Who/what inspires your own personal style?
Oh gosh, right now I kind of wear what ever fits me haha. I’m a real casual person and I like to mix and match different styles. For instance, I really love Kate Middleton and Kourtney Kardashian’s style mixed together. That real classy, chic kind of style. I’ve been to China a number of times now and I must say that I really dig their trends.

8. What is one thing that you want to say to women with plus size feet?
OMG girl, just like you embrace your curves and everything else on your body – embrace your feet! Whether they’re large, wide, flat whatever. It pays to look after our feet and make them look pretty and then style them up with some Staavias!

Check out the Staavias range and let me know which shoes you’d love to wear