Applejacks Shoes is founded and designed by a dancer looking for comfort for long wear, and balance and stability. We want you to not only look good, but to feel good. To be able to stay on the dance floor all night or walk around the city. Our shoes are designed to help your body stay aligned and balanced. Room for your toes, secure on your ankles and happiness on your feet. We believe that Applejacks represents a fresh take on comfort and design. One of the most important visions Jenna had when starting the company was balanced heels – and we delivered! The number one piece of feedback we get on our high heels is “Wow they are so comfy and I feel so balanced!”
We work extra hard to make sure the insoles in our shoes are soft and supportive. We have arch supports when possible. We use research on heel placement/balance/alignment to influence all of our designs. We name all of our models after important neighborhoods/locations in regards to jazz/swing/blues and the history and culture surrounding it. We aim for a variety of colors so that people of all skin tones have options. We are always making sure we are providing the best shipping options possible. We strive to make our online shop efficient and easy to navigate. We strive to learn and adapt as our brand grows. We have a goal to help reduce unnecessary waste, maintain high industry standards and choose sustainable durable or recycled materials whenever possible. We believe that Black Lives Matter and we stand behind the rights for the LGBTQ+ community and Immigrants. We are proud to be Women Founded & Women Owned.
We know feet are as unique as personalities, which is why we don’t believe in “one size (style) fits all”
That means we know our shoes may not work for everyone. But that is ok, because we founded this company to help fill in the gaps from the other companies already in business. Fit the feet that weren’t being fitted 🙂 Which means if our shoes don’t work for you, that is ok – they may fit your friends and family instead! And you can always check out some of the other great shoe companies out there with a different fit.
With all this in mind, here is what you can expect from our brand:
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- Representation of models on our platforms
- Balanced, stable heels
- Removable insoles on any non-sandal and non-heeled style models
- Simple labels – It gets thrown away anyway, so we only label what we need to
- Minimal packaging – From the factory to you, we do our best to only use what is needed
- 1 free shoe bag for every pair purchased
- Leatherwork follows German PCP Regulations
- Fair working conditions
- Non-gendered/Non-roled sizing and styles
- Vegan options on many models
- All samples are tried out on actual dance floors and streets
- All samples are kept, donated or sold as-is
- Extra shoe boxes are donated to local schools for craft projects
- Leather samples & scraps are donated or recycled
- Continued research/education on waster reducing, environmentally friendly alternatives
We are still working on building our brand and identity. We appreciate your feedback, and we hope you travel along with us on our journey. We are based in Vienna, AT and as of now all items ship from there, but our products are currently made in Spain.
Founding:
Applejacks was founded in Vienna, AT in 2019 by International Dance Instructor Jenna Applegarth after many years of searching for the “right” swing dance shoes. There were many beautiful, quality dance shoes out there – but she still struggled to find things that fit her feet and her specific needs. She was needing something that would have enough room in the toe box to keep her balanced and stable but the shoe itself still being flexible enough for dance movements. They needed to be comfortable enough to wear day and night but still look good enough for performing. She decided it was time to step in and design what she needed.