About Us

The welcome sign is lit. The doors are open. The red carpet is rolled out. 

Not what you were expecting from a shoe store? We like to do things a little differently, here at Hallowed. Like making a fuss over our ‘more sole’ tribe. You and your feet with a little more sole are not only welcome here, you’re our priority.

Our online showroom is full of beautiful, quality made, leather shoes catering specifically for sizes at the top end of the bell curve. We exist to make more shoes available in larger sizes, for both men and women. That said, we are in this business for so much more than the ‘supply and demand’ transactions. 

At Hallowed, we’re motivated by the difference having beautiful shoes makes, to crafting your self-expression. Our goal is to have you walk tall and proud in shoes that make you feel confident, that complement your style and help create a you statement. 

We also believe that having ‘feet with a little more sole’ shouldn’t relegate you to the back dusty corners of shoe shops to rifle through odd pairs, or scan the shelves for a size label that isn’t available. At Hallowed, your size is our core business. Your customer satisfaction is our priority. Your feedback and buyer behaviour informs our future collections.

We’re proud to be a business that legitimises your right to be included. Inclusion gives you options. When your feet are taken care of, and comfortable in every step, your quality of life improves. Your self-confidence and how you carry yourself, changes. When you feel good in your style, you’re reassured about the investment you’ve made in a quality product. Inclusion is the transaction that matters most to us and why we do what we do. 

We continue to work hard behind the scenes to negotiate with manufacturers and suppliers to expand their sizes. While there is more work to be done to win them over, we are pleased to have made progress! Our corporate and casual collections span EU41 to 50 (*European sizing) and include a wide variety of designs, colour palettes and leather finishes for you to play with.

Women’s Shoes

• Size range EU41 to EU46
• Sole length: 26cm – 31.5cm 
• Width range: 8.5cm – 11cm 

Men’s Shoes

• Size range EU46 to 50 
• Sole length: 29.5cm – 33.5cm 
• Width range: 10cm – 13cm

Of course, accurate sizing is all-important when buying shoes online. Our’s is a very hands-on approach to sizing; taking focus on ‘accuracy’ to the next level. Every one of our styles has its own individually measured size chart. You’ll find sole length, width and foot circumference, and ankle and calf circumference measurement where relevant. We don’t have a generic size chart on the site because there is no universal size references that all manufacturers use to make shoes. Simply choose a style you like from our store, then check your foot measurements against the size chart on that product page, to make your selection.

We have a comprehensive Returns Policy and are happy to work with you to make sure you get the right fit every time you order, so if there’s something more you’d like to know, we’re here to help. Please don’t hesitate to ask!  

Welcome to our Hallowed home and your ‘more sole’ tribe.  

Hi, I’m Carolyn, one half of the Hallowed Footwear team.

If you’re a tall woman with long feet, chances are your highlight reel of past shoe shopping experiences is a bit short on content. 

I can relate. I’m a relatively tall human at 181cm, but my feet which stabilise this tall frame are off the charts. Literally. 

I grew into these beauties by the tender age of 13. They gave me a natural advantage as a competitive swimmer for which I was thankful, but when it came to fashion and my flourishing feminine fragilities, my feet were a huge inconvenience. No teenage girl suffers the humiliation of shopping for shoes in the men’s department if she has other options. I simply didn’t. The shoe industry didn’t cater for me, or women like me.  

Eventually I learned to live with my shoe envy and tried to make the best of it.  It’s not ‘living the dream’ but if you want to be in life instead of watching it resentfully from the sidelines, you grin and bear it while making the practical compromises necessary. Wearing the most feminine men’s shoes I could find, was that compromise.

Raising a family kept a lid on my frustrations for a couple of decades but as my four boys grew into tall young men – three of them over 195cm – so too did their identification with my shoe plight. It turns out that finding large men’s shoes (apart from joggers) for a younger market is just as tough. There I was again, on my soap box, going from shoe store to shoe store expressing my disbelief about how the industry is still ignoring the top end of the bell curve.

My desire to be part of that solution stared me in the face once more.

In 2019, my husband Greg (the other half of the team) gave me the encouragement I needed to take the leap. We did our research, sought advice from trusted sources, visited shoe fairs and crunched the numbers.  Our excitement grew as we made connections with manufacturers who were willing to work with us to extend into bigger sizes without requiring large orders. The reality of building our own brand began to unfold.

With Greg’s nous about the retail sector, my marketing and communications background, and our shared love of fashion, we began to see the opportunity to address the marginalisation of large footwear in both men’s and women’s ranges. Greg’s passion for the business was cemented with the decision for him to manage our men’s footwear range and include my lads in the road-testing process.

With a desire to see both men and women happy in their ‘feet with a little more sole’, the concept finally became a reality, and Hallowed Footwear was launched.

SERVICE: We exist to improve our customers’ quality of life through service. 

Promise: Hallowed Footwear serves the needs of customers requiring larger-than-average sized shoes. 

Inspiration: We’re doing our part to usher in a new era in confidence for consumers whose needs have been marginalised by the footwear industry for decades; helping to redefine their shoe shopping experience as one to look forward to.

Approach: We research new supply chains that meet our quality standards; educate manufacturers about the size supply gap; negotiate with wholesalers to expand their reach with larger size options; and stay abreast of emerging trends to ensure the styles we bring to your fingertips are ‘in season’.  We’re also working hard give you the best possible online shopping experience so you do look forward to the experience and have the confidence and trust in us to do it again.

Invitation: If there’s more we could be doing to serve your needs better, please get in touch here.

VALUE: We are driven by meeting a need, not building an empire.

Promise: Hallowed Footwear continues to invest in direct partnerships with fair-trade manufacturers to share prosperity with suppliers in emerging nations* and to pass the savings available, onto our customers. 

Inspiration:  We’re inspired by the opportunity to give more in value than we receive in payment. Making high-end shoes available in large sizes at an affordable price, is one way we’re achieving this. Another is implementing a brand loyalty program where repeat custom is rewarded in  ways that surprise and delight. 

QUALITY:  We prioritise quality over quantity in building a sustainable online business.

Promise: Our team informs design choice, style variations and comfort features in the manufacturing of Hallowed Footwear shoes so our customers have access to exclusive styles in our branded range. Our wholesale buying decisions also prioritise quality over diversity.

Inspiration: We seek to reframe the definition of ‘beautiful footwear’ previously reserved for smaller sizes, and look for ways to improve the sustainability of our business. 

Approach:  As a burgeoning brand, Hallowed Footwear is intentional and selective about our product range, prioritising quality materials and craftsmanship rather than a broad product range (eg. Hallowed Footwear shoes are made from natural, durable leather in a vast array of colours and luxe finishes). Our buying decisions will continue to be motivated by quality, comfort, style and affordability considerations. Monitoring our customers’ purchasing behaviours will inform our future buying decisions. Our focus on ways to improve the sustainability of our business also informs a responsible approach to managing supply and demand.

(*We acknowledge that without international laws in place to protect workers from unethical or unsafe working conditions, it remains challenging to regulate practices.)

Hallowed is something of a traditional term used most famously in the Bible in the Lord’s Prayer. While it’s connotations vary, we chose it primarily for the meaning ‘set apart’. 

The formation of our business, Hallowed Footwear, has been an exercise in positioning ourselves as proudly ‘set apart’ from other footwear retailers. Instead of excluding larger sizes, we exist exclusively to supply them. 

Hallowed also means ‘sacred’ and ‘holy’. The close alignment of these terms with heaven and where one’s soul goes created an opportunity to be light-hearted and ‘punny’ with our tag line.  Playing on the duality of sole and soul appealed to our sense of humour and meant we had options other than ‘large’, ‘big’ and ‘long’ to be product specific.  

Lastly, Hallowed means ‘revered’, ‘respected’ and ‘venerated’ – in simpler terms, ‘being honoured through devotion’. Far from claiming our arrival at this point of reputation, or being intrinsically deserving of your devotion, Hallowed defines the responsibility we carry to operate in a manner worthy of that name. It inspires us in our servant leadership. Our success in earning this reputation will ultimately be determined by how many customers we serve, and how well we serve them.  

That’s a little sneak peak into why we became Hallowed Footwear – for feet with a little more sole.