Atelier Shoes Announces the Lisa Shoe—Custom Designed for Breast Cancer Awareness

Sept. 30, 2010 - PRLog -- Atelier Shoes is a Denver-based custom design shoe company, started by Kate Friedman, a corporate attorney with a high heel addiction and a dream.  Atelier Shoes has been in the business of creating shoe bliss for women for about three years.   But, like many entrepreneurs have experienced, the early years can be scary and filled with self-doubt, offset only by the support of those closest to them. In Kate’s case that support came from her best friend Lisa. While supporting Kate’s dream sounds like the role of a best friend, Lisa had a lot of her own to deal with--she was in her early thirties, a mother of three little boys, and in the fight of her life against breast cancer, a fight she lost just a few months ago. “There were days that I felt I must be crazy for doing what I was doing. I’d call Lisa and lay out my list of woes. She’d listen and tell me to keep after it. Her ability to do that, to listen and support me so unselfishly, when she had so much of her own going on…she was just amazing.”

After Lisa lost her battle with breast cancer, Kate spent a lot of time thinking about how to honor her life and continue her fight against breast cancer.  “I wanted to do something to make her proud of me,” Kate says “and to tell her story, so I decided to design a shoe for her.  I wanted something feminine and comfortable—a shoe that women could wear without complaint because that was Lisa—she never complained about her situation.”  The result: the Lisa shoe, a small wedge, made in soft camel leather with a pink ribbon stitched on to the heel and double padding in the footbed for additional comfort—the key component.

After finalizing the Lisa shoe design, Kate reached out to http://www.breastcancer.org to discuss donating a portion of the profits in Lisa’s name.  Breastcancer.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing reliable, complete and current information about breast cancer. “I remember Lisa telling me about managing her fears and how an Internet search could overwhelm her.  I liked the idea of an organization that helped breast cancer patients and their families in this way.”

The Lisa shoe is now available for $85.00 on Atelier Shoes’ website. Visitors can purchase it by visiting http://shop.ateliershoes.com/Design-Your-Pedestal-PINK_c8....” Fifty percent of the profits from every sale are donated to breastcancer.org. Kate and Lisa’s sister, Stephanie, are actively spreading the word. “We both needed a positive outlet for our emotions after Lisa passed. Telling Lisa’s story through this pair of shoes, well, we’re proud of it and we know she would be too. It’s a beautiful shoe designed with a beautiful person in mind.”

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Atelier Shoes is a custom-design shoe company that allows women to design their own shoes in our Online Design Studio. Women can choose among nine basic models and customize their choice by selecting the materials for the upper, heel, sole and footbed.