Jennifer Bailey, 48, who received abuse from online trolls about her foot condition, now expects her bunion shoe business to bring in £1.8 million this year. The mother-of-two, who grew up in Wigan and now lives in Newton-le-Willows, launched Calla Shoes in 2016 after struggling to find attractive footwear for her bunions.
Bailey developed bunions – hard, bony bumps at the base of the big toe – during her teenage years. The condition also affects her daughters, aged 11 and 13. After being made redundant from her role as Head of Marketing at Salford University's Science and Engineering faculty, she decided to start her own business.
"I needed to figure out what I was going to do next because I'd found out I was pregnant at the same time with my youngest daughter," Bailey told the M.E.N.
From trolls to viral success
Bailey uses social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to promote her company, which sells shoes for women with bunions. Her videos have attracted negative comments, including one comparing her feet to Handsome Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants.
"I've had some brilliant comments. Some of them are actually hilarious," she said, adding that the attention helps drive virality and reach potential customers.
Bailey's own wedding dress shoe hunt highlighted the lack of attractive options. "There were lots of brands out there that made shoes for bunions at the time, but they were all ugly," she recalled.
Building Calla Shoes
After her redundancy in 2014, Bailey researched how shoes are made, with mentorship from the British Footwear Association. She flew to a shoe factory in Portugal and launched Calla Shoes in 2016 with a government-backed start-up loan and personal savings.
"I sold out of my first 300 shoes fairly quickly," she said. A year later, an investor backed the business, allowing her to move operations out of her family home and garage.
Calla Shoes now employs five full-time staff and an "army of freelancers". The company sells in 92 countries, with almost half of its business coming from the US, where Bailey opened a new warehouse last year.
Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
Bailey advises others to build resilience and a strong support network. "Your network is your friends, your family, your husband or your partner or your wife or whatever, and then your network of other business owners as well," she said.
Her products have been worn by celebrities including Dame Helen Mirren, Nikki Glaser, Prue Leith, and Tamzin Outhwaite. Calla Shoes has 221,000 followers on Instagram and 100,000 on TikTok.
