Birdies, The Shoe Nobody Thought They Needed, Has Scaled Beyond Its Founders’ Expectations

You never know you’re missing something until you need it. That’s how Birdies was born, conceived by two mothers of invention. “Marisa [Sharkey, cofounder and president,] and I started Birdies in 2015 when I was at Facebook overseeing retail partnerships and Marisa was working as group vice president of strategy at Ross StoresROST
. We were not in the footwear industry,” said cofounder and CEO Bianca Gates. “Neither of us are designers, but we both share a passion for the business. We don’t have any hobbies. Our hobbies are the business. We have an incredible curiosity about how the world works. If I wasn’t working, I’d be working.”

In other words, these women are driven. Gates said she had an epiphany when she went to the first leaning-in circle of Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook. “I would invite women to my home and we would start conversations about anything, political conversations, economic conversations, and as people were coming into my home I noticed that everybody would take their shoes off. I thought it was silly that we were grown women and entertaining friends and family without shoes,” Gates said.

“For me, Birdies was meant to solve this footwear problem,” she added. “We decided to solve a super-niche problem in 2015 and in 2016, we gained a lot of traction with our social slipper. We were hoping our friends would buy it and it would be fine and we’d have a good laugh go back to our jobs. What we hadn’t expected was that this really struck a chord with a lot of women. Meghan Markle started wearing us in 2016. She was wearing us all around town. The paparazzi would see her at the supermarket and she started traveling around London wearing her Birdies when she was supposedly secretly dating Prince Harry.”

Birdies filled a void in women’s closets that they didn’t even know existed because everybody was wearing socks when entertaining friends and family. “Why don’t we have loafers to wear around the house,” Gates said. “That’s where it started and the company has continued to grow and expand as we created this deliciously comfortable slipper that looks like a shoe. Women were asking for it in different colors, silhouettes and styles. We had loafers, slides and sandals made with the technology we developed that separates our shoes from everything else on the market.”

It’s a massive market opportunity for Birdies to come into the sneaker market and introduce something that sits in between performance shoes and the male-dominated sneakerhead culture, Gates said. “We’re giving women their own fashionable beautiful sneaker. The other thing that’s a little different is we have a hidden platform inside the shoes because women tend to like their high heels. They like the added height. When you’re in heels your leg looks longer, so we give her that wedge and lift that she’s looking for in a more traditional heel with the comfort of a sneaker.

“You gain an inch in height at the back of your foot,” Gates said. “It feels fresh and cool. “You’re like, ‘Yeah I’m a woman who is a strong woman and I support other strong women. That’s the culture we want to build. It’s like collecting other things, coins and handbags. It’s an addiction, and there’s a huge market in between the two extremes, which is performance and the male-dominated sneaker culture.”

Gates did a lot of research before deciding to launch the data-driven sneakers. “Women want to stand out, they want to look cool and they want to know the story about the shoes that are on their feet.”

To further differentiate itself, Birdies launched the second iteration of its inspirational “What are You Running?” campaign with its fall 2022 collection. The new campaign highlights inspiring women who’ve reached incredible heights. As part of Birdies’ ongoing mission to empower and support women, the brand partnered with financial pop star Haley Sacks, aka Mrs. Dow Jones, who runs “Finance Is Cool,” a financial literacy platform that revolutionizes money management by offering women all the tools they need to get ahead, and stay there.

“That happens to so many women,” Sacks said, referring to women who are clueless about their own finances. “We outlive our husbands, especially if you’re in a heterosexual relationship. It’s so easy to abdicate your finances. I would outsource anything, I love to outsource things, but unfortunately, we can’t outsource our finances. My money 101 course can help with your financial literacy and you can be empowered, because there’s no reason you can’t do this. Ultimately, you were never taught how. It’s worth setting an example, especially for the younger generation, if you have children. I have a lot of resources that could help you.”

Birdies’ first digital “What Are You Running” campaign launched in March, featuring activist and author, Blair Imani and celebrity interior designer, Brigette Romanek. The campaign highlighted the uniquely dynamic journey of women in charge, and the need for both style and comfort as they chase down the dream, leading to the introduction of their first-ever lace up sneakers – the Cardinal and the Roadrunner – based on customer demand.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, what we found was, we were all sort of isolating. The only freedom we had was to be outside,” Gates said. “More and more people were getting together with masks and there was this desperate need for conversation.

“What we were thinking about during the pandemic and what we’re thinking about post-pandemic – that’s when we decided to evolve our product even more and create the lace up sneaker,” Gates said. “[Our customer] was tired of being home and wearing pajamas all day. She wanted something that was fashionable and fun that separates her from wearing performance sneakers. So we developed these really comfortable, really fun lace-up sneakers. They were not intended to be performance sneakers, but were intended to be fun. You know, that hot girl walking around town in sneakers.”

How could they do it in a way that’s fresh, that’s true to brand, which is built around having conversations with women, Gates said. “The team came up with this great concept,” she said. “Instead of saying, ‘Where Are You Running,’ we said, ‘What Are You Running.’ The concept came about because we recognized that women run so much in their lives. We run friendships and families and households and businesses. This campaign celebrates the women who are running so much in their lives.

“We’re very business-driven,” Gates added. “That’s how we started. We’re all about lifting up women through conversation. This is just another way that we’re doing that with Haley. She’s known as a financial pop star and just that in and of itself is so cool. The last thing I want to do is buy a book that’s titled, ‘Finance for Dummies.’ I want to learn about it in a straightforward and fun way because making money and investing money is so powerful.

“We’re talking about a lot of things like sex,” said Gates, referring to her friends, adding that finances and money seem like the last taboo. “A lot of my girlfriends will talk about their sex lives [including] what they do with their husbands,” she said. “I asked my husband, ‘Do you talk about your sex life with your friends?’ He said, ‘Are you kidding me.’

“On the other side, I asked, ‘Do you talk about money with your friends, for example, how much money you make and what you’re investing in and how much equity you have.’ He said, ‘Of course, why wouldn’t we talk about that. That’s how we ask for more money when we want a promotion or when we want to have a career change.’”

Clearly, women need to get a seat at the table, and Birdies is listening.