We were lucky to catch up with Haley Pavone recently and have shared our conversation below.

Haley, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The story behind the name “Pashion” is actually quite literal – it is a combination of the words “practical” & “fashion”. Our focus on versatility & function is what really sets us apart for the fashion industry. One of the most common themes I’ve heard when rejected by larger footwear companies is that fashion for women is strictly an “emotional purchase”, and that our utility value would actually be seen as a downgrade by the consumer. I’ve always found this mindset laughable…the industry may have marketed us this “beauty is pain” mindset for centuries, but women simply aren’t buying it anymore. We are demanding thoughtful, intentional products that can actual keep up with us – fashion that’s practical. So, why not put that mindset front and center in the brand name?

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Pashion Footwear is an innovative women’s footwear company that has created a majorly disruptive technology for the space – fully convertible (& customizable!) high heels. That’s right – stylish heels that turn into comfortable flats with the simple removal of the heel itself. You can also swap out different heel shapes, colors & heights to create custom looks and instantly dress your shoe up or down for any occasion.

We are the ultimate solution to all high heel pain & inconvenience. No more barefoot nights, backup shoes, or foot pain in the morning. No more closets packed to the brim with dozens of nearly identical shoes. No more struggling to pack shoes for a trip. No more feeling “trapped” in your footwear. No more ordering Ubers to go two blocks solely because your feet hurt. The list goes on & on…nothing solves heel problems quite like turning them to a flat.

I’m most proud of the fact that we were able to invent this concept, patent it in 30 countries, and bring it to market with great customer satisfaction…in spite of being told hundreds of times by executives in the footwear industry that the entire concept is “impossible”.

We are on a mission to kick the outdated, archaic narrative of “beauty is pain” to the curb. It’s about time fashion got practical (& fun!) The days of sacrificing comfort for style have come to an end.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

As a female founder with a female-focused product (& a pretty novel one at that), we have always struggled to raise funding from the traditional VC path. Although we have raised over $4M to date, that is considered a relatively lean budget for a footwear company at our stage – and that is before you consider the disproportionate amount of IP, mechanical engineering, and testing we have had to allocate funds to compared to a standard shoe company (for instance – popular startup footwear brand Rothy’s raised over $500M).

We have always been stretched thin – and in 2022, we felt severe cash flow impacts from the supply chain crisis & recession. There were over 6 times that our bank account overdrafted. It was, honestly, the most scared and stressed I’ve been in my entire life.

However, I knew in my heart that in spite of the financial challenges we were facing – the underlying business foundation and the merit of our innovation were incredibly strong. I made the executive decision early on in the year that I would do anything it took to keep my team intact. After all, there were only 7 of us to begin with – with each and every one of my teammates being an absolute rockstar. I knew that losing members of the team would not only dampen morale, but it would break our foundation apart at the seams. The only path to success was with my dream team intact.

So, I forewent over 30% of my personal salary. We cut every expense that we could cut. We got manically focused on improving our margins, optimizing our marketing to be organic-first, expanding into omnichannel and getting profitable.

Now in 2023, I’m so proud to report that the entire Pashion team is still intact. We have posted our first 3 months of profitability – and are on track for #4. We have unlocked an organic marketing flywheel that is growing our business 150% month over month with $0 in marketing spend. We have sourced two strategic omnichannel partnerships.

2022 was the hardest year of my life. There is nothing scarier than staring at a bank account with -$20K in it, knowing you have to clear $20K of payroll the next day. I had to hustle harder than I ever have, all while keeping it together enough to still be a leader for my team. But now, on the other side of it, not only is the business leagues stronger for it – but I’m a smarter founder. Almost losing everything is what ended up giving me everything I needed to succeed.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I was incredibly honored to be secretly & unanimously nominated by my teammates for the 2023 Inaugural Positive Leadership Awards, hosted by the Positive Leadership Institute. I was then selected from 11,688 nominations as one of 24 winners.

My leadership philosophy is incredibly simple: treat people the way you would want to be treated, empower them to build the career of their dreams with you, and appreciate the WHOLE person – not just the employee.

Promoting work/life balance is a win across the organization. Teammates are hired to achieve goals and complete tasks. If projects are completed well and by deadline – it is irrelevant if they work from 9A-5P, or work in four sets of two hours with breaks for childcare, appointments, grocery shopping, workouts, etc. If an employee is efficient and completes their task list in 5 hours, they should be rewarded with time back vs incentivized to delay personal matters to fill a seat. This kind of employer trust, respect, and flexibility leads to less burnout, higher retention, and efficient productivity. We support this mindset at the corporate level by being a fully remote team, offering unlimited vacation, paid maternity leave, and flex hours.

I’ve also made every single full-time employee a stock holder in Pashion. Everyone involved in building this company should have a piece of its success – period.

I constantly remind my employees that their career is a “choose your own adventure”. I’m a huge advocate for internal promotions. If they work hard and with passion, I will let them build their dream job and hiring a team around them as we grow. Every quarter, I ask my team what they love and don’t love about their job – I then make sure the next wave of hiring supports getting what they don’t love off their plate so they can focus on doing what energizes them. After all, they’ll produce better results if they wake up excited every day to do things they love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pashionfootwear.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haley_pavone/ , https://www.instagram.com/pashionfootwear/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleypavone/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PashionFootwear
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@haley_pavone https://www.tiktok.com/@pashionfootwear

Image Credits
SLO Town Studios