Caprice Neely, a footwear designer who’s led teams at Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour, recently revealed that “in the athletic footwear industry, nearly every shoe is made for a man’s foot, then shrunk to fit a woman’s foot.” 

The term they use is “shrink it and pink it,” and it’s a problem because women’s feet aren’t just smaller than men’s — they’re significantly different, leading to significantly negative outcomes.

BALA is tackling this with a shoe for nurses specifically designed for the female foot. Their “her-first” approach, coupled with a strong influencer strategy, led to a 7-figure launch 5x the size of Allbirds’.