By Jeanine Biggs
Growing up tall isn’t always easy. As a 5’11, 22 year old woman, I have been taller than a majority of the people my age for as long as I can remember. From standing out from the crowd, to having to bend down to be able to fit into a photograph, to trying to find clothing that fit, being tall was often times more of a nuisance than a blessing.
As a child, tween or teenager, you just want to fit in. Seeing girls in school all wearing the same type of clothing, brands and shoe styles made me want to follow their style. Being so much taller than the other girls often limited what fashion choices I was able to follow. As other girls were wearing the big named stores like Hollister, I was stuck in clothes from stores who has women sections like Kohl’s.
Shoes weren’t any easier. I have been a size 10 foot for as long as I could remember, probably growing into the size sometime in late elementary school. Having feet that big at such a young age not only garners some teasing and name calling but also causes some stress when back to school shopping. If you ask anyone I grew up with what type of shoes I wore throughout my upbringing they would say either Nike sneakers or Uggs. It wasn’t that I was obsessed with these shoes, they were just the only ones that fit comfortably and were age appropriate.
I remember my mom having to call into my middle school and argue with my principle that the dress code for our 8th grade graduation and dance would not be practical for me. The dress code stated that flip flops were not allowed, girls needed to have closed-back shoes. For every other girl in school, this was a blessing, they could finally wear the cute heels they found in the mall. For me this meant an endless amount of shoe stores to search through for shoes that not only fit right but weren’t too old looking for an 8th grader. For whatever reason, as shoes get bigger in numerical sizes they also tend to get wider. My feet didn’t follow that trend, I may wear a size 10, but my feet are very skinny. Even if I found an “age appropriate” shoe, they were often too loose, which was dangerous for obvious reasons.
My shoe size has been an issue for me most of my life. Although it is finally getting better now as I am at an age where I can wear the older looking shoes, I could have used something catered to me when I was a tween. That’s where Hannah’s Shoebox comes in. This company would have been a godsend to me and my mom. It would have saved us endless amounts of time searching through shoe stores for an appropriate shoe, not to mention the amount of money I could have saved. Not only are the shoes appropriate, they are cute and fashionable. I always had to pick the plain and understated shoes when I was growing up, but now girls don’t have to compromise their style for their shoe size and comfort. To this day a problem I have when shoe shopping is heel heights. It seems to be that the lower the heel height, the less cute the shoe gets. Luckily for the tweens and girls today, Hannah’s Shoebox makes stylish low heels. Now moms don’t have to worry about their daughters adding five inches to their height unnecessarily or standing out from the other girls their age for bad reasons.