Founded in 2011 by serial entrepreneur and inventor Dawn Dickson, Flat Out of Heels offers stylish, comfortable, and rollable flats to relieve women’s aching feet from hours of wearing heels. The machine-washable flats are compact enough to fit in a clutch purse but durable enough for daily wear and come rolled tightly in a disposable box with a shoe bag conveniently included with the purchase. The product is available online, in stores, and vending machines across the US.  

Now, with 10 years under its belt, Flat out of Heels is starting a new chapter, focusing on expanding its vending machine presence and sales with a new CEO, Danielle Shortt ready to lead the charge.

For all the high-heel hype, there’s one thing this shoe has never mastered: comfort. Heels quickly become uncomfortable—and sometimes downright painful—after just a few hours, leaving wearers stuck between a heel and a hard place.

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Most women report that their high heels start to hurt after just over an hour, with some reporting they start to feel pain after just ten minutes.  And when the pain is too much, women are forced to either suffer through the pain, pack an extra pair of shoes, or resort to walking around barefoot!

It creates the question: do you forsake style for comfort, or is there a better option?

Flat Out of Heels provides sweet relief for feet that just can’t take it anymore. Our rollable flats are compact enough to be carried as emergency footwear and durable enough to be worn all day for continuous comfort and style.

In addition to being sold online and in boutiques globally, Flat Out of Heels dispenses its flats out of PopShop vending machines, making it easy for women to get immediate relief on the go from the pain that plagues them after hours of wearing heels.

Previous Flat Out of Heels vending machines have been successfully placed in locations such as the Atlanta Airport, Club LIV and Bayside Marketplace in Miami, and the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Last year, we were thrilled to be the first brand to be seen in a PopShop smart vending machine and now we have secured a vending machine partnership with PopCom, with 7 machines already sold to be launched in Q2-2021.

Approximately 72% of women wear high heels at least some of the time, with 39% wearing them daily. Of these women, more than half report foot pain as a result of their heels.

Perhaps, as a result, the shoe flats market is growing, selling out 8.9% higher year over year. 

We have our target market segmented into four audiences: Teenage Girl, Collegiate Woman, Professional Woman, and Socialites. They are segmented by what they do most in heels -- travel, nightlife, work commute, etc -- appealing to their individual needs in our marketing campaigns.

We have seen successful sales in the years since our 2011 launch, with 90% of our sales coming from online purchases and products sold in over 65 retail stores globally. We were accepted into Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Small Business Program in 2017 and in 2019 we secured a partnership with DSW Shoes.

Flat out of Heels has been featured on MSNBC, CNN, Yahoo, Huffington Post, Forbes, Fortune and other top publications. We are also proud to have multiple celebrity endorsements including Loren Ridinger, Eva Longoria, Kandi Burruss, Meagan Good and Lala Anthony.

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Flat Out of Heels’ rubber soles are simultaneously durable and rollable, able to be tucked away or unpacked at a moment’s notice. This makes them a perfect solution for the person who wants a break from their heels but doesn’t want to ditch them entirely. 

We select high-quality materials that are machine washable and dryer safe. Upon purchase, customers also receive a beautiful, branded vinyl bag in which they can place their Flat Outs (before use) or high heels (once removed).

Flat Out of Heels retail at $29.99 and wholesale at  $10. Our flats retail on our website, in retail boutiques and in vending machines for $24.99, with certain styles going for $39.99, and cost just $3 to produce, leaving us a margin of 75%. 

Flat Out of Heels are available for customization, which has been the staple of our revenue from 2017-2020 while our Founder focused on building out the vending machine program. Flat Out was B2B only for two years and relaunched the B2C store in 2020. 

We’re a woman-owned business that seeks to empower other women by solving a problem we ourselves have experienced. 

Our creative distribution strategies, like selling our flats in vending machines gives us an important edge of convenience and innovation. 

We make sure our flats do not cut corners on quality like other competitors we have seen. Our hard, durable soles roll and fold, but are also hard enough for daily wear and keeping out unwanted rocks or glass. 

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We believe our celebrity endorsements—all unpaid—demonstrate just how much of an impact we’ve been making.

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We believe we have only scratched the surface of what we can do, and with motivated and energetic new leadership, we’re poised to take things to the next level.

After running Flat Out of Heels since its founding in 2011, founder and former CEO Dawn Dickson passed the reigns of her successful company over to our new CEO, Danielle Shortt in August 2020.

Danielle has almost a decade of experience delivering dynamic, competent, powerful and exceptional results in the marketing realm, including experience she gained as a digital marketing strategist at our very own Flat Out of Heels. 

She is motivated and extremely knowledgeable about industry trends and customer behavior needs—and she’s ready to take over and give Flat Out of Heels the support it needs to continue to roll out results.

As vaccines roll out and the world begins to open back up, we wouldn’t be surprised if high-heel fanatics out on the town have forgotten just how much heels hurt. 

We believe that the implementation of new Flat Out vending machines in strategic locations all over will be perfectly timed with a resurgence in Americans’ social lives.