Sleek patent-leather pumps, chunky-heeled metallics and we-want-them-now round-toed houndstooth wedges were artfully arranged, two by two, on a Friday evening in a living room.
The buyers at Soles by NioShe, a traveling footwear party, squealed as their eyes took in everything from satin ballet flats to copper, round-toe T-straps.
“I could care less about clothes, but there is something about … (footwear),” enthused Dee Greene-Hill, just moments before entrepreneurs Shelly Johnson and Nioka Biggs-Wyatt got things started.
“I can’t believe I haven’t heard about more of these happening in other places.”
She probably will soon. More and more, working women are supplementing their salaries by becoming on-the-side fashion entrepreneurs.
This is by no means a new phenomenon. Long before Avon came knocking, Madame C.J. Walker sold hair-straightening products to add to earnings as a maid.
But nowadays, women aren’t limiting themselves to peddling established brands like Mary Kay cosmetics or clothing from the direct mail company, Doncaster.
They are now selling everything from jewelry (Philadelphia-based company Zivile Art by Zivile Pupinyte) to pocketbooks (B’s Purses, started in 2004 by stay-at-home mom, Susan Gullien) to plus-sized clothing (Philadelphia entrepreneur Danielle Charles recently opened PHAZE in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.).
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