When Janet Ward’s now teenage daughter was in 2nd grade, she wore a woman’s size 7.
Unable to find anything age-appropriate that her daughter wanted to wear, Janet knew something had to change.
In November 2022, after extensive research on how fast girls’ feet grow during the pre-teen years and how shoes are designed and constructed, Ward and her longtime friend, Stephanie Guido, launched QUADSis Shoes.
“Give a mom a problem and she will find a solution, especially as it relates to her kids” Guido said. “We’ve created everything. We did not buy an existing product.”
Working with a professional shoe designer, they developed a 1.5″ high wedge for stability paired with easy-to-care for materials and youthful styling.
“The molds for the outsoles are expensive, so you want to make sure that you can reuse them down the line,” Guido said. “The wedge could be taken from a dress shoe and made into a bootie, or a sandal.”
Ward said QUADSis started out selling directly to consumers via their website (shopquads.com) to connect to their customers and hear their feedback.
“Our greatest goal is to help these girls be confident in who they are,” Guido said. “If you’ve got a larger foot than your peers, you’re already feeling awkward and out of place at a time when everything is awkward and out of place.”
The name of the company is derived from quadriceps, one of the strongest muscle groups in the human body, and the Latin word for four, and “Sis” is for the co-founders, who each have two daughters (ranging from ages 7 to 14) and are often mistaken for sisters.
“It takes courage to jump into a new industry and follow a dream. I enjoy every moment of this exciting journey; from weekly meetings, forecasting, product development, photo shoots, factory and tannery visits in Brazil, to so much more alongside these two amazing entrepreneurs,” shared Caroline de Baere, a 30-year footwear industry expert and product consultant.
Just in time for back-to-school, QUADSis is introducing a boot and bootie in two colors, and ballet flats are on the way.
Ward’s advice to other entrepreneurs: follow your gut, give yourself grace and believe in yourself.
“It’s empowering to have our daughters see that [if] you see a hole and a need in the market … you can create a fix,” Guido reflected. “It’s like Marilyn Monroe said, ‘Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world’. That is our mission.”