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Dr. Mika Hayashi has been in NYC for the past 20+ years. We asked her what about NYC inspired her to start the shoe company.

“Placeholder quote goes here.”

Eiko: You’ve been in New York for some time - did any part of being in New York push you to start the brand?

Mika: Though I think that I would have started the brand no matter where I was to carry out my mission, I think being in New York pushed me to start the brand and gave me much needed momentum.

New Yorkers walk much more than the average Americans do daily, 12,000 steps a day vs. 7,000 steps, on average. Patients who used to live in California and other areas always mention that suddenly their bunions get worse in New York since they walk much more here, compared to the life they had. New Yorkers walk in painful shoes during their commute and I see all kinds of foot problems while they are walking up the stairs or sitting on the subway. I’m a foot doctor so my attention goes to people’s feet. I had several occasions where I was almost handing my business cards to convince them to change their shoes (but I never did because I was afraid they may take it as sales..)!

Eiko: I used to live in LA, so I definitely feel the difference in the amount of walking in New York to get to places!

Mika: I have a private practice in NYC, so I see young pharmaceutical reps come do sales wearing painful high heels. I did feel ‘pain’ for them because I know they have to go all around the city with those uncomfortable shoes. That’s when my feminist side was triggered -  I was upset thinking why us women have to endure such painful shoes! As much as we want to look pretty and elegant, I always thought shoes should be your guardian angels, something to protect you, not the devils to hurt you, just like how shoes were invented for originally.

Eiko: This story also resonates with me. When I was in finance, whenever I went into meetings, I “had” to wear heels and they were super uncomfortable. Men were wearing comfortable, flat shoes!

Mika: I know, right?  When I started seeing my patients’ problems, I was convinced that many of the foot problems were due to their shoes. I also knew that no one really ‘addresses’ the problem except to advise them to “not wear those shoes.” I was frustrated by the fact that we doctors just tell patients not to wear those painful heels or wear no more than 1.5 inch heels only, period, and move onto the next patient. I had a problem with that. I started to think - what can I actually ‘do’ for these people? 

I also knew that they were wearing those painful heels behind my back.  And I also have situations that I myself have to wear those painful shoes at my lecture or conferences, while I’m advising my patients not to. What a hypocrite, I thought!  Anyway, this has bugged me for years and I decided to get in the driver’s seat to make that change. 

Eiko: That’s awesome that you took it in your own hands (feet?) to solve this problem. By you being a foot doctor in New York where many women were wearing heels for all types of work related ‘necessities,’ you saw that women just didn’t have many great alternatives. You saw the problem firsthand and you went out to solve it!

To be continued… In the next article,  we will hear from Dr. Mika on what the biggest hurdle in going from the design stage to production was.