We caught up with Neely Woodson Powell of Charleston Shoe Co. while she was in the Virgin Islands, opening her newest store — proof that the brand’s footprint continues to hit new strides. (We’ll try to keep the shoe puns to a minimum, but no promises.) For 25 years, Neely has been reimagining women’s footwear, blending comfort and style with a family of artisan cobblers in Mexico. Get to know this beloved Southern brand and its inspiring founder!
Neely’s Early Inspo
Growing up as a Memphis native, Neely was surrounded by creative inspiration. Her father developed Little Palm Island, and her mother started the wholesale interior furnishings company Worlds Away. Their work meant a lot of bopping between the Florida Keys and Central Mexico. “I went to Art School in San Miguel and spent a lot of time there as a child, and it really inspired me,” Neely says. “My mom started her furniture business in the early eighties, and everything was made in Mexico, so we were there all the time.”
In college Neely would help her mom at big furniture markets in High Point, Dallas, and Atlanta to make extra money. She noticed women walking around these massive markets in either tennis shoes or uncomfortable shoes. “They’re on their feet all day long, but they still want to look good,” Neely says. An idea sprouted that would soon bloom wilder than Neely could have imagined.
The Crazy Shoe Lady
In the summer of 1996, Neely met the family of cobblers she still works with today. “My mom and I bought these unbelievably comfortable, cute shoes, and we continued to buy more pairs throughout my teenage years,” Neely says. In college, she started bringing home a few cases full of shoes to sell to the furniture market women.
“It’s important to note that 25 years ago, ‘comfort’ was a bad word,” Neely says. “It was tennis shoes, stilettos, or some terrible pair of Easy Spirits or something.” When these women found Neely’s Mexican-made shoes, they couldn’t get enough. By the time Neely graduated from college, she had 300 wholesale accounts.
Although her margins were painfully low, and she never seemed to get what she ordered, Neely felt a warm obligation to sell to these women. “If I showed up without shoes, they’d ask, ‘Where’s the crazy shoe lady!?'”
Neely Gets Shoe-Serious at SCAD
In 2009, when her daughter was just a year old, Neely enrolled in the Savannah College of Art & Design to learn more about the shoe design process. “I wanted to know the process of actually making the shoe, and it gave me a great respect for all of our cobblers,” Neely says. Armed with years of creative inspiration, customer research, and design intel, it was time to make a retail splash.
While at SCAD, Neely noticed tourists could buy a coffee mug or a t-shirt, so why not sell them a fabulous pair of comfortable, attractive walking shoes? Store number one was born in 2010 in Savannah, and Charleston got stores two and three soon after. Today, there are 25 and counting. “The momentum kept growing,” Neely recalls. “People kept saying, ‘We want a store in our town!’ So we’d do trunk shows to give us an idea of where our markets were.”
Mismatched Shoes, Aligned Team
Walking into any Charleston Shoe Co., you’ll notice every employee wearing two different shoes. “I never want anyone to feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I want you to feel like you’re walking into a Baskin Robbins for your feet,” Neely says. “There are a million different flavors, and I think that’s so different and intriguing. Everyone has fun. I love that with retail, I can provide a more rewarding service than just clicking to buy a pair of shoes online.”
“If It Ain’t Broke …”
Neely was a 31-year-old new mom at SCAD surrounded by students in their late teens and early 2os. “I have never been a big trendsetter,” Neely remarks. “I’m not on the cutting edge of fashion. I cherish that classic, timeless look. I want something you can have for 20 years that never goes out of style. That’s the foundation of our line. We have shoes we’ve been selling for over 20 years, and they’re still cool!” Neely says. When it comes to new styles, colors, and lines, Neely turns to her employees and customers. “When someone comes in and says they don’t have a shoe for this certain problem or asks if I’ll enclose the espadrille so they can wear it to work … That’s when I’m inspired to make something new.”
What “Handmade” Means for Charleston Shoe Co.
Charleston Shoe Co. works with a multi-generational family of cobblers. “I met my cobbler when I was 15,” Neely says. “It was just the two of them, Santiago and his wife Martha, making shoes in a little room. Unfortunately, they passed during COVID, but their kids have kept this lost art form alive,” she says. “Most shoes are made overseas, but we make everything one at a time, and that’s why they are so comfortable.”
The process of making a shoe from scratch is not an easy feat. The artisans make between 5,000 and 7,000 pairs a week. Neely gets new samples weekly and is constantly iterating new designs. “The nice thing about working in Mexico is I can pivot on a dime,” she says. “If I see something taking off in spring, I can say, ‘Oh, that’s really working. Let’s make more of that,’ and the order’s in the next day. Overseas, it would take three to six months to fulfill some orders like that.”
Meet Charlee
A faction of Neely’s long-time team has created a fantastic clothing line called Charlee. “It’s taken off,” Neely says excitedly. “We make about 10 different silhouettes and tons of different patterns. We hire local watercolorists or design the fabrics ourselves, creating this whole package. People come into my store and say, ‘Okay, I love the shoes. But where’d you get the dress?’ Now we’re providing that entire thing to our customers.”
Spreading Shoe Joy around the globe
During the pandemic, Neely donated shoes to the nurses in the COVID wards. “I wanted to share some ‘shoe joy’ with our heroes. These women were getting a lot of free pizza, but to give them shoes they could work in all day really made an impact,” Neely says. After that, Charleston Shoe Co. began partnering with companies and nonprofits worldwide, like Soles for Souls and United Way, to give shoes not only to people who need them but also to people interviewing for jobs or starting their own companies.
The “cobblestones to cocktails” ethos remains
Neely hears, “Oh, my mother loves your shoes!” a lot. But she’s proud of it. Comfort might have been an icky word 25 years ago, but Neely’s out to change that.
“Comfort isn’t just for older people now,” Neely says. “We’ve watched our demographic change and designed shoes to keep up with the younger generations. I watch my 16-year-old wear my shoes. All my employees in their twenties love our shoes and wear them out socially, but that wasn’t the case when we started. Everyone wants comfort now. Plus, they’re just so much fun, so whimsical, look great on your feet, and truly are magically comfortable.”
Thanks for chatting, Neely! All photos courtesy of Charleston Shoe Co.
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