Earlier this week, I was casually scrolling through Instagram, as usual, when I came across an interesting headline. The headline read, "Nordstrom's Sells Line of Shoes Specifically for Kids with Disabilities." I read further, and the Hollywood Unlocked covered a story on how Nordstrom's is selling a shoe brand called BILLY Footwear, which was created by a man named Billy Price, who has grown up with a disability, due to becoming paralyzed after falling down three stories.
In an interview, Price stated, "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 over top the user's foot. It's simple. It's easy."
Growing up with the disability myself, I adore the new concept! When I was little kid, tying my own shoelaces was just completely out of the question. Try as I may, if I even got to make a bow out of my shoelaces, it was so loose and floppy that it wouldn't even last an hour. Thus, this lead to a lot of tripping over my own shoelaces. Not only was it "lame," but it also presented a safety hazard.
Luckily, I could turn to velcro shoes, but the sound of velcro agitated my ears, and it was no longer "in." Fortunately, as I have gotten older, I have made some improvements with my shoelaces, but I am happy that the fashion industry is taking those of us with disabilities into consideration. I hope to see some kiddos rocking these shoes soon!
