Billy Price suffered a spinal cord injury as a teenager and became paralyzed from the chest down, losing the ability to move his fingers. Daily tasks became difficult, but using his creative mind and unyielding spirit, he never gave up. Along with co-founder Darin Donaldson, BILLY Footwear was created on the principle of inclusion and perseverance to add value to the lives of others and make a measurable difference in the world, one foot at a time. Price joins us for this weeks Adaptive Fashion, Learning from the Innovators webinar in partnership with Runway of Dreams/Gamut Management. He shares more of his story below and how he created his Universal Footwear brand.
How did you conceive of the BILLY Footwear brand?
After breaking my neck from a three-story fall in October of 1996, I became paralyzed from the chest down and lost the ability to move much of my body, including my fingers. Not only did I suddenly face mobility challenges, but daily tasks that I took for granted, such as putting on clothes, became much more difficult. Throughout the years I learned tricks for getting dressed more easily. But that said, the one piece of clothing that always eluded me was shoes—I never found a pair of shoes that I felt were both attractive and that I could put on independently. Fast forward half a lifetime later, I got reconnected with a longtime friend, Mr. Darin Donaldson, and we decided to do something about it.
What does Universal Design mean to you?
The term “universal design” is used all the time in the construction of homes and city buildings, referring to environments that accommodate all parties. Universal design has even appeared right under our noses with the advancements and popularity of smartphones, which incorporate features that are not only convenient for the masses, but also allow individuals with vision, hearing, and mobility impairments to access all the same information. The designs of these structures and gadgets are universal, so why not apply the same term to fashion?
Our approach to universal design in fashion is to create mainstream shoes that are functional, fashionable, and inclusive for everyone.
Technically speaking, what have you done to the design of the shoe to accommodate the needs of People with Disabilities?
Smashing fashion with function, BILLY Footwear incorporates zippers that go along the side of the shoes and around the toe, allowing the upper of each shoe to open and fold over completely. Thus the wearer can place his or her foot onto the shoe footbed unobstructed. Then, with a tug on the zipper-pull, the shoe closes and secures overtop the user’s foot. It’s simple. It’s easy.
Since being a wheelchair user, our shoes are the only shoes I have ever been able to put on independently.
What were some of the challenges in creating these designs?
We have had many challenges throughout the journey of our business. But one of the biggest challenges we had to overcome very early in our company‘s history was the outcome of our first manufacturing run. We launched our brand with a kickstarter campaign and in doing so manufactured 4,200 pairs of shoes. We had two women’s styles, two kids’ styles, and three men’s styles. Upon receiving the delivery, we discovered that 80 percent of the total quantity was blemished and unsellable. It was a total disaster. We were left with the decision to either quit, or continue on. We opted to continue on, found a much better manufacturing partner who helped lead us to success and we have never looked back.
Can you share a story/stories of a customer(s) you’ve helped through BILLY Footwear?
We have been very fortunate to have many customers share their heartfelt success stories since wearing BILLY shoes. We have a tab on our website where one can read all the reviews. But with the many to choose from, there are two that are my typical go-to stories — both of which happened very early in our company’s history.
When we first launched in Nordstrom, the flagship store in Seattle carried our shoes. Being that I live in Seattle, I made sure to visit the store so I could see the shoes on the shelf with my own eyes. As I was looking at the shoes, I could not help but reflect on all the effort and hard work it took to bring this moment to life. And as I was looking at the shoes, a hand came into my frame of vision and grabbed the shoe I was looking at and took it off the shelf. My heart leapt. It was a mom who was grabbing the shoes for her two kids to try on. About 10 minutes later, I saw the two kids, brother and sister, walking out of the shoe department both wearing our Grey Jersey High Tops. I had to stop them and introduce myself and share how special the moment was to see them walking out wearing BILLY shoes. I will never forget the mom’s response. She said the reason she purchased the shoes for her kids was because these were the shoes her kids wanted to wear.
That same week, a mother of a boy with brittle bone disease reached out thanking us for our shoes. At the age of 10, her son had already broken over 50 bones. The mother was reaching out to us because she purchased the Grey Jersey High Tops for her son. The shoes were not only the first pair of shoes that her son could put on independently, but the first pair of shoes he could put on without being in pain.
Those two stories, back-to-back, were extremely validating for our young brand. Leading up to the Nordstrom launch, we felt in our hearts that we had the ability to satisfy both the fashion side and function side in a very competitive shoe market. Within the first week, we had our first two fantastic stories supporting our hopes—a hope of being an inclusive brand that strives to add value and make a measurable difference in the world one foot at a time.
Register for this week’s webinar, Learning From The Innovators on February 4 @ 12PM EDT
