Luxury Shoe Designer Tiannia Barnes On How To Launch A Successful Shoe Line
You get what you pay for.
That’s what I’m telling myself as Tiannia Barnes, footwear designer and owner of the Tiannia Barnes luxury shoe brand, explains to me why I should stop shopping for bargain pumps at ALDO, and start dropping $300 plus on a pair of quality heels that are relatively scuff mark and scratch resistant.
“I'm going to bring this right on in for you so you can go forth and be great in a super pair of shoes!”
Class is in session, and I’m all ears.
“You have to invest in your shoes. If I buy this classic pump for $350, this is going to last me and I'll be able to wear it with my jeans, with my skirt, going to church, going to work, wherever,” she tells me. “If you're going to invest in your shoes, you're going to invest in quality because your expectation is that they're going to last for a while. “
So no more $80 online shoe boutique shoes then?
“There's no way that I, personally, would spend a lot of money at a store buying a shoe that's like $80. Because in the next month, you're going to go and buy another pair that's $80, because that one is probably going to tear up or something's up with the material. It's not going to last you a year, two years. I mean, that's very rare."
I think about the neon green faux-suede pumps buried in the back of my closet, the ones with black scuff marks that the shoe repairman I took it to said wouldn’t likely ever completely come out. I wore them to a club in Atlanta. They only lasted one night.
And while I won’t be running to my nearest Louboutin store and whipping out my credit card, I’m already internalizing the quality over quantity lesson that was just schooled to me by the fashionista.
On any given day Tiannia is working tirelessly on her Italian-made shoe line, often burning the midnight oil long after leaving her 9 to 5 as an IT Program Manager and getting her 11-year-old son settled in for the night. Ironically it’s her corporate experience and background in math and industrial engineering that’s enabled her to transition into fashion. She’s crunching numbers, finalizing designs, working with a graphic designer to create the technical specifications for the shoe, and developing a solid supply chain system to help move her product from the factories of Italy and through her e-commerce website that she distributes. It also helps that she has her MBA, and has learned that setting up a business is more about the execution than the idea.
Despite always wanting to be an entrepreneur, her corporate path is what armed her with the knowledge and tenacity to follow through with her dream of being her own boss.
Before tapping into the industry, however, she first had to commit to her dream.
Growing up in Oklahoma City Tiannia remembers always having an interest in fashion. Her mom wasn’t big into the latest trends, but she describes her grandmother as fashion-forward. Her Barbie and Ken dolls were always dressed sharp, and in high school, long after her plastic childhood friends were laid to rest, she designed her dress for the senior prom in an effort to stand out from her peers dressed in their department store finds. As an adult she took a liking to Gucci’s timeless designs and Guiseppe Zanotti’s bold prints, starting her growing collection in college and later, when her career afforded her the opportunity to travel, incorporating shopping sprees into her vacation destinations.
“I would go to Miami a lot because I have friends down there, and I would just talk to the people in the stores. I'd walk into Jimmy Choo and connect with the salespeople,” she says. “I had a person in Vegas, Miami, and New York, that would email me every time they had that semi-annual sale, and that's when everything would be like 40% or 50% off, so that's when I would buy my designer shoes.”
As her collection grew so did her interest in design, and just as she did back in high school she found herself raw sketching her own prints as a creative outlet. Even then, she had no intention of becoming a shoe designer—she just had the passion for fashion, so much so that she took a class for shoemaking in Cleveland, Ohio, working with London-trained shoe designer, Sissy Puccio, in order to gain further knowledge and understanding about the business, from patternmaking to prototyping. It was then that she realized this was more than just a passion, this was a part of her purpose, and it was time to take it her visions beyond the paper and turn it into a tangible product.
“Once I took that shoemaking class, then I had to make a commitment to starting a business. I knew this was something I love and I had a passion for it. You've got to have that burning desire inside of you, that's what you should hone in on because many people start businesses, and that's fine, but the business that's going to be successful is the one that is deep down in you, the one that you have that intuition about because that's your real gift. So, I had to commit to starting a business.”
Without that commitment she wouldn’t have taken the necessary steps to be her own boss, because while many entrepreneurs boast about their flexible schedules and not having to answer to another, they sometimes fail to tell you is that the grind is real. Tiannia first had to research whether or not she should establish her company as LLC or an S-Corp, and go through the tedious paperwork process of becoming a real business. She then worked with a designer to create her logo and business cards to push her brand and researched her target audience to determine what kind of price point she wanted to sell her high-end shoes at. Once the foundation was established she then had to design the structure.
She connected with the Italian Trade Commission in New York to help refer her to the best designers and manufacturers to fit her needs. She then traveled to New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to interview four different shoe designers and persons with experience in the footwear industry to determine who would best guide her through the process—she decided on a gentleman in Chicago who had a successful footwear business.
“It didn't matter that he had a men's footwear shoe line and that it was nothing like mine, what mattered is that he had the knowledge and the principles to get me to the next stage of getting my shoe made, because I was very green in that area.”
After going over her sketches and important details such as comfortability, quality, material, and the construction of the shoe, he worked with her to find a factory in Italy that worked with her to design the prototype. After a few back-and-forth exchanges where the prototype was marked up and redesigned, she finally had a finished product in hand after a few months, just in time to prepare for the launch of her Fall 2015 line.
But the work was far from over.
With inventory in hand, she now had to develop a website to push her products, which are exclusively sold online, and connected with a PR agency that scored interviews with Forbes and Fast Company, adding credibility to her budding brand.
Oh, and did I mention that this was all self-funded?
“The funny thing is that when I started my business, I said I want to self-fund my business because I didn't want anybody to come and take my baby. I don't want to lose control of anything; this is my vision,” she says. “So I said no, I don't want any investors. That was before I knew how much it took to actually start a new business—you know with the branding and the marketing and all of that stuff. “
Recently she was granted a small business loan but chose to only take out enough to get her to the next phase. She’s also let go of the “me only” mantra and has been taking meetings with potential investors, which has been a learning experience in itself since many investors are more concerned with their return as opposed to the idea in itself. She advises anybody looking for investors to be mindful of what outcome they’re looking for, and to find somebody who’s just as interested in your business as much as their financial gain. For those who may not qualify for a small business loan or aren’t able to lock down investors, start by reaching out to family, friends, or even tapping into a 401K.
“I really do believe in investing in yourself, that's a huge component because nobody knows your dream and vision better than you, and nobody's going to take care of it better than you.”
Tiannia, who recently relocated from Connecticut to New York for business reasons, is hoping that her hard work will soon pay off and allow her to transition into her role full-time. In the meantime, she’s directed her attention to her new collection, which will take her style options from three to ten. The collection includes a few surprise twists to her more classic designs, and a color palette inspired by the sunset, ocean, and vibrant colors ins[red by her travels to the Caribbean and beyond.
“Not to give a lot away, but there's some fur involved, I’ll just say that!”
Being her own boss has allowed the designer to tap back into who she really is outside of the college degrees and being a former wife. It’s helped build her confidence and get back to the foundation of who she is as a woman.
“Who is this new Tiannia? Who is Tiannia that's not the wife? All of this is a journey, and it's a personal journal for me to get back to who I really am, and what I'm really supposed to be doing with my life. When you follow what you're supposed to be doing, the universe or God will actually lay your path out, and I have a huge testimony about that.”
For a little girl growing up in the mid-west, the real journey started with fearlessly putting her best foot forward, one stylish shoe at a time.
Featured image courtesy of Tiannia Barnes
Kiah McBride writes technical content by day and uses storytelling to pen real and raw personal development pieces on her blog Write On Kiah. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @writeonkiah.
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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From Toxic Traits To Transformative Growth: Understanding Evolved Vs. Unevolved Zodiac Signs
Explore your sign’s 2024 horoscope predictions to learn what is in store for you this year in love, career, and more. Check out the love compatibility of each sign to learn more about zodiac pairings and all things compatibility.
Have you ever heard someone talk about a certain zodiac sign and wondered why your experience of that particular sign has been completely different? We have all heard about the notorious Gemini Man or Virgo Man being a difficult partner to have in love, but does this apply to all Geminis and all Virgos? Well, this is where the discussion of evolved signs vs. unevolved signs comes in. It’s the idea that, while some toxic or challenging traits are more prevalent in certain signs, it also depends on the individual at hand and on whether or not they have evolved in life.
Evolved vs. Unevolved Signs: A Guide
Astrology is life-changing not only because it allows you to learn more about yourself, but it also allows you to see certain behaviors or traits in yourself, and change them if you are not happy with the way they manifest in your life. To be evolved means to learn and develop. In order to tell whether you are dealing with an evolved sign or an unevolved sign, look at the way they navigate their strengths and weaknesses. We are all predisposed to certain behaviors aligned with our zodiac sign; it’s how you grow from your experiences rather than what you accept as a defining characteristic of who you are.
Evolved signs have done the inner work, unevolved signs make excuses for their behavior.
When we are talking about evolved zodiac signs, we are talking about the Virgo who appreciates progress more than perfection, the Libra who trusts that they can stick to a decision rather than accepting they are incapable of making the best one, and the Aries who takes intentional action rather than an impulsive one. It’s those people you meet and they make you change your perspective on a certain sign you may have had a negative experience with in the past. An unevolved sign, however, is the Aquarius who isolates rather than expresses how they are feeling, the Scorpio who lets their jealousy get the best of them rather than trusting their connections, and the Leo who puts their ego before anything else.
The good news is that if you feel you are living a more unevolved version of your zodiac sign, you can change this by first addressing where you may be self-sabotaging, and where you can highlight more of your strengths. Healing from past traumas, seeking a therapist or astrologer, or overall making your well-being more of a priority all will benefit. When you are feeling good within, you attract more experiences to you to where you can be that evolved version of yourself rather than entertain old habits or ways of relating that don’t serve you.
It takes work, but the more you tap into the evolved version of yourself and strengthen this part of you, the less you will revert to your old ways or attract those same types of toxic or unevolved people towards you.
So, how do you know which side of the coin you are dealing with or are yourself? Read below to find out more about the traits and characteristics of the evolved vs. unevolved signs of the zodiac.
EVOLVED ARIES
- Confident
- Methodical
- Disciplined
- Leader
- Energetic
UNEVOLVED ARIES
- Aggressive
- Short-tempered
- Reckless
- Arrogant
- Impulsive
You’ll know whether you are dealing with an evolved Aries versus an unevolved Aries through the way they communicate and approach others. If they are confident and encouraging, you are dealing with an evolved Aries who is comfortable with who they are but also doesn't feel the need to force their energy on you. Unevolved Aries will make you take a step back, evolved Aries will make you want more. Aries’ strengths are that they are bold and assertive, but an unevolved Aries tends to create more disagreements or challenges with others in the process.
EVOLVED TAURUS
- Abundance-mindset
- Grounded
- Generous
- Compassionate
- Trustworthy
UNEVOLVED TAURUS
- Materialistic
- Stubborn
- Lazy
- Vengeful
- Envious
An evolved Taurus versus an unevolved Taurus can be differentiated by the person who has stability or who has goals in life that they share with you and are working towards. The unevolved Taurus you will most likely find on the couch, demanding that you give them what they need at the same time. Unevolved Tauruses tend to show traits of envy or jealousy when you are explaining a recent win to them. An evolved Taurus will be the first person you want to go to with the good news, and they are a big support and secure person to their loved ones.
EVOLVED GEMINI
- Communicative
- Curious
- Creative
- Innovative
- Fun
UNEVOLVED GEMINI
- Confusing
- Chaotic
- Disorganized
- Bored
- Unpredictable
An evolved Gemini will have you feeling understood, heard, and inspired. They are fun and light-hearted people to be around. An unevolved Gemini will have you questioning them, life, and everything in between- and will create unneeded chaos in your life. Unevolved Geminis are notorious for being unavailable and disloyal in relationships, and you can tell the difference between whether they are evolved or not by what they do when they are bored. Do your Gemini create or connect, or do they do something destructive, leaving you feeling a deep sense of distrust around them?
EVOLVED CANCER
- Compassionate
- Nostalgic
- Supportive
- Nourishing
- Protective
UNEVOLVED CANCER
- Moody
- Holds a grudge
- Pessimistic
- Manipulative
- Clingy
An evolved Cancer leaves you feeling supported, nourished, and loved. An unevolved Cancer may make you feel the same way, but will be hot and cold on when and how they show it. An evolved Cancer will be your go-to and someone you can trust with basically anything. An unevolved Cancer, however, you will steer away from and not want to express yourself to them for fear of them making things worse. Evolved Cancers understand their emotions, unevolved Cancers let their emotions get the best of them.
EVOLVED LEO
- Self-confident
- Passionate
- Generous
- Motivating
- Kind-hearted
UNEVOLVED LEO
- Entitled
- Angry
- Selfish
- Controlling
- Dramatic
Evolved Leo has an evolved ego. They have a strong sense of self, they know who they are and what they want, but they don’t let that get in the way of how they treat others. Unevolved Leos command the room in a way where you are looking at them in shock rather than in awe. Unevolved Leos think the world revolves around them, evolved Leos think the same thing but also want other people to be in that world or think the same thing about themselves as well. Evolved Leos are like the Sun, and you will feel enlivened in their presence.
EVOLVED VIRGO
- Organized
- Caring
- Down-to-Earth
- Inspiring
- Helpful
UNEVOLVED VIRGO
- Perfectionist
- Overly critical
- Resentful
- Anxious
- Cynical
The easiest way to tell the difference between an evolved Virgo and an unevolved Virgo is the way they make you feel. If they make you feel inspired and like you can accomplish or experience great things, you are dealing with an evolved Virgo. If they are overly critical of everything you do, you are dealing with an unevolved Virgo. Evolved Virgos help you grow, unevolved Virgos tend to make you feel incapable of that. Evolved Virgos can laugh off or let go of the little things, unevolved Virgos will get caught up in them.
EVOLVED LIBRA
- Relationship-oriented
- Balanced
- Charming
- Diplomatic
- Fair
UNEVOLVED LIBRA
- Codependent
- People-pleaser
- Flaky
- Indecisive
- Dishonest
Evolved Libras make some of the best partners, friends, and confidants. Unevolved Libras make some of the hardest of the above to maintain. The difference between the two is the Libra's ability to find the balance between their needs and the needs of others. Libras are relationship-oriented people, but unevolved Libras tend to let this trait get the best of them and will be in and out of relationships and never really settle down to figure out what they truly want and need. Evolved Libras love, but will not sacrifice their sense of self in the process.
EVOLVED SCORPIO
- Passionate
- Mysterious
- Intuitive
- Transformative
- Resilient
UNEVOLVED SCORPIO
- Obsessive
- Secretive
- Reclusive
- Destructive
- Ruthless
The difference between an evolved Scorpio and an unevolved Scorpio is their ability to let go. Evolved Scorpios have learned from their past and have made their life better in the process. Unevolved Scorpios hold onto a lot of resentments and often cause themselves or others emotional turmoil. Evolved Scorpios can let people in and make some of the most loyal, protective, and supportive partners. Unevolved Scorpios tend to be very distrustful of others and have a hard time letting go of control in any way or letting people get close to their inner world.
EVOLVED SAGITTARIUS
- Outgoing
- Optimistic
- Spiritual
- Adventurous
- Genuine
UNEVOLVED SAGITTARIUS
- Dramatic
- Brash
- Superiority-complex
- Unreliable
- Careless
The evolved Sagittarius are inspiring, optimistic, and hopeful. The unevolved Sagittarius is just about the complete opposite of that. Evolved Sagittariuses have learned to fuel their adventurous spirit with intentional action rather than recklessness, and are there for their loved ones rather than leaving people hanging or being unreliable. Unevolved Sagittariuses can be very rude and aggressive and will mask this behavior with humor. They can be very harsh, rather than the evolved Sagittarius who is still outgoing, but is also genuine and confident and aligned with their highest self.
EVOLVED CAPRICORN
- Hard-working
- Loyal
- Stable
- Sensible
- Ambitious
UNEVOLVED CAPRICORN
- Workaholic
- Unforgiving
- Rigid
- Stubborn
- Dominating
When you are looking at an evolved Capricorn, you find yourself in the presence of someone loyal, hardworking, and down-to-earth. An unevolved Capricorn can be judgemental and cold, with only their personal goals in mind. Unevolved Capricorns seem to be stuck in the same place in life, and unmoving in what they believe is best for them. Evolved Capricorns are open to feedback and are flexible enough to figure out what is truly best for them, to explore, and to allow someone else to lead them at times. Evolved Capricorns are responsible and productive but take care of their well-being in the process.
EVOLVED AQUARIUS
- Freedom-oriented
- Logical
- Friendly
- Open-minded
- Outgoing
UNEVOLVED AQUARIUS
- Distant
- Cold
- Disloyal
- Detached
- Superiority-complex
Evolved Aquarius and unevolved Aquarius are mirrors of each other. The evolved version of Aquarius is friendly, open-minded, and supportive of not only themselves but of others as well. The unevolved version of Aquarius can be quite distant and detached from their relationships and life altogether and can be hard for people to get close to. Evolved Aquariuses value their independence, but don't use escapist behavior as an excuse for their actions. Unevolved Aquariuses will leave someone on read for months instead of just telling someone how they feel.
EVOLVED PISCES
- Loving
- Intuitive
- Compassionate
- Creative
- Romantic
UNEVOLVED PISCES
- Consuming
- Escapist
- Moody
- Distant
- Unrealistic
Evolved Pisces are the artists, muses, lovers, and dreamers. Unevolved Pisces may have that same creative energy but tend to wear rose-colored glasses that get them into trouble in the process. Pisces are hard to grasp in the first place with their fluid, mutable nature, but an unevolved Pisces will make that distance feel like miles. Unevolved Pisces can get pretty messy and will act out on their emotions without getting the full picture or giving themselves time to sort things through. Evolved Pisces on the other hand, let their emotions inspire them and know how to step into their true power.
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Featured image by Tanja Ivanova/Getty Images