- The Name: Don’t know if you all remember the Ryder Cup. The European Gallery kept singing "Allez!, Allez!, Allez!". It was cool. In French Allez! is an interjection. It means "Come On!" It also is somewhat homophonous. A casual diction of “Eliza B Allez” could sound much like “Eliza Ballet”.
- The Concept: Take the classic Eliza B foot bed, the most comfortable footbed in the sandal world and put it on a good looking ballet flat. Give it a little bit of a heel. It’s more comfortable that way. Try to strike a design balance. Not too minimal and not too orthopedic. We think we nailed it. A classically good looking flat with all day wearability. The Eliza B flat fits in at the club, at the market and at the office. If you have one made in a gold metallic, it will even fit in at the disco. All the ladies in the office here wear nothing else. In the classic English Tradition, Eliza B ballet flats are bench made to order. We make then right here at our headquarters in Essex, Conn.
- The Difference: You are the designer. Pick from our fabrics, our micro suedes, our damasks, our trims. Then pick the color sole: Brown, Black or Almond. Or leather with edges stained or painted to match the top line. We will theoretically never be out of stock. Oh, and if you have a fabric you love, send it to us and we will turn it into a pair of flats. The hem from your wedding dress, a fabric you picked up on vacation or even a dishtowel. And, of course we can make belts and hand bags to match.
- The Hurdle: Making shoes by hand isn’t easy. No one in the United States has a clue how to make footwear anymore. To make matters worse, all of the operator’s manuals for the machinery are carefully written in German. After a year we finally caught a break. We found an old pattern maker in the back woods of Maine. Then we found a fellow who knew how to run the machinery. Eventually with persistence, pluck and the full knowledge that we would never be able to return the machinery; we finally began to turn out some good looking shoes. A couple of months after that, we started turning out right and lefts that looked like they belonged to each other.
We hope you agree. Every closet should have at least one pair of shoes made in America. |
