SOAR TO SUCCESS / Feature Article Kara Mac graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and spent her early professional career as an apparel designer working with such brand names as, Ralph Lauren and Talbots. She has travelled the world visiting clothing manufacturers in Hong Kong, Korea, Turkey and Pakistan. After 25 years of working for others, she realized it was time to apply her skills and develop her own brand. She settled on an idea that solved a problem that she, like many women, experience every day. “I have amillion things to do today, and I need a shoe that can work in every circumstance.” Her commute to her office required an hour train ride and a twenty-minute walk every day. Not something you want to do in heels. Wearing flats for comfort during her commute meant she had to keep a supply of heels at her office. “At that time, it was completely inappropriate for someone in the fashion industry to be caught dead in sneakers. God forbid you ran into someone you knew from work wearing tennis shoes!” Her work also included evening events, which would require another shoe change. Kara commented, “I often carried another pair of shoes in my shoulder bag along with a computer and maybe some food and paperwork. Why do I need to be burdened with so many shoes to get through my days?” During a shoe shopping expedition at Neiman Marcus looking for a pair of sandals, she found just what she wanted but there were three different color options of the same shoe, pink, green and blue. “I couldn’t decide on which color I wanted, so I walked out without buying any.” Thus began the odyssey to develop a shoe that could be manufactured with a variety of options. The family kitchen became her ‘Research & Development Lab.’ Working with various chemicals and learning how to mold and cast
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