By Jeanine Biggs

For young girls, fitting in is often the most important thing on their mind. Problems start to arise with that need to fit in when a girl doesn’t fit the “normal” size or style. For bigger girls it can be difficult to find clothing and shoes within their size range at the popular stores their classmates are shopping at. That was always a problem for me. Being tall and busty meant that I couldn’t fit in the trendy store at the time “Abercrombie.” Seeing all the girls I went to school with wearing clothing from the cool new stores when I couldn’t fit caused a lot of embarrassment and pain for me growing up.

I wound up having to shop at stores catered to either older teenage girls or department stores who had all different sizes and styles. As you have probably gathered from my last two blog posts, the same struggle arose when I was looking for shoes. Not being able to wear the “in style” brand names was really hard when I was in middle school and those formative years. I wound up growing out of that complex that you needed to wear the brand names in order to fit in but it took a while.

Niche or specialized markets I think are something that can help young girls who are different cope with the struggle. Having a store catered to them like all the other girls at school have can be the difference in ensiling confidence and self-assurance that all girls desperately need. Having a place or a store that they feel comfortable going in or browsing and knowing they will always find something that fits them right and makes them feel comfortable is crucial in the tween and tween years.

Having a good fitting pair of shoes is no different. Being able to look on a website and find shoes that are cute and are age appropriate isn’t always easy when you are a young girl with women’s sized feet. Hannah’s Shoebox guarantees that young girls with large feet feel the love too. This group of girls are often forgotten by big shoe companies, but Hannah’s Shoebox caters directly to them. Unlike most stores, Hannah’s Shoebox doesn’t just have one or two styles to pick from, there are pages of cute and in style shoes that they will love to wear and that won’t break their parent’s bank account. These specific markets and stores are extremely important for girls to learn that they are beautiful and worth it, not matter what size.