Blogs

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Hi My Friends,

It’s been a little while since I have written about Vionic here on the community forums, so when QVC asked me to write down a few points about the brand, I jumped at the opportunity.

2016 marks my 11^th year with the Vionic Brand (or Orthaheel as it was once known). It’s been incredible to watch how the brand has evolved from a company that sold some orthotic inserts and three sandal styles (2 colors – black and taupe) into some athletic and drugstore distribution predominantly around Australia and New Zealand into what you see today. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I’d be working with the athletic shoes, wedges and extremely stylish sandals and boots that you see here at QVC.

Like most dramatic evolutions, this shift took some time. Upon renewing our focus on the USA in 2007, we really made a concerted effort to look at what people wanted from

“comfort” footwear. And to be honest, whilst we had some of the desired attributes already (with our supportive orthotic technology) we were a long way off in relation to the style that customers were longing for. With this in mind, the leaders at Vionic reset their way of thinking and we started to look at how we can provide life changing footwear solutions, that were also stylish.

I’ll admit, we had some false starts along the way, but the styles that we are lucky enough to bring you at QVC are the result of the hard work of a number of teams here at Vionic. We have a dedicated design team that looks at what categories and styles are popular, not only in footwear, but in handbags, jewelry and even apparel. We have a product team that sources materials from all over the world and works closely with our factory partners to ensure that the highest standards are met when it comes to construction and materials, whether it be the leathers that we source, the embellishments that we add or even zippers that we use – all of these elements are equally as important in the construction and quality of our footwear. There is a team whose only focus is the fit and feel of our products. Every style that we bring to you has gone through extensive fit and material testing. However, one of the key teams in the stable is our innovation team – this is the team that takes many of your suggestions and tries to bring them to life. Our innovation team are always looking at new ways to enhance the benefits that our technology brings to you. Innovations such as the First Ray and AMS technologies in our active range, or the very popular Elevated technology that you see in our heels and wedges have all come from our Innovation team. They are continually working on new innovations that will make your experience just that little bit better, however, always making sure that our brand DNA, the support that you get from our orthotic technology always remains the same.

I have been fortunate to work for (and with) many great companies over the years. What I love the most about working with my colleagues at Vionic is the fact the everyone in our business, whether they work in product, marketing, accounting, design, customer service, sales or legal has one focus – to go about their duties every single day with a vision of doing whatever they can to delight our customers. It’s very much the same philosophy that QVC has, which is why I believe this is such a great partnership, and why we are so grateful to all of you for your feedback and support. I can assure you , that it is always respected and greatly appreciated.

I look forward to being able to share more stories with you in the coming months, and would like to thank you all most sincerely for your support.

Sean – our Director of Fit and Feel (looking very happy with himself – something obviously fits well)

Our Product Team hard at work

Emily of our Product Team

Another of the development team, Jonathon, hard at work in his always tidy area (you may see some sneak peeks at some upcoming styles)

To see the entire Vionic line available at QVC, click HERE

-Liam