When BBC News recently examined the changing high-heel market for Business Today and US Opening Bell, the story began with a question the footwear industry has been asking for years: Are women giving up high heels?
Sneakers, flats and lower heels have become a much bigger part of women’s wardrobes, accelerated by relaxed dress codes, hybrid work and a greater focus on comfort. The traditional high heel is no longer an everyday expectation for many women.
But that doesn’t mean women have stopped loving heels.
BBC News invited Elizée founder Erika Carrero to share her perspective on where the market is headed and why the next chapter of the high heel may be less about convincing women to wear them—and more about making heels worthy of being chosen.
“Bringing ‘high heels’ back into fashion”
— BBC News
Erika Carrero, Founder of Elizée, discusses the changing high-heel market with BBC News for Business Today and US Opening Bell.
Women Still Want High Heels. They Just Expect More From Them.
At Elizée, this is something we hear directly from our customers.
Women come to us looking for heels for weddings, conferences, speaking engagements, dinners, vacations and celebrations. Mothers of the bride and groom often spend weeks researching a shoe because they want to look beautiful for an important day without spending the event thinking about their feet.
We also hear from women who have worn heels for years but simply aren’t willing to tolerate the discomfort they once accepted.
That distinction matters.
Wearing heels today is increasingly a personal choice rather than a requirement. And when something becomes a choice, the product has to earn its place in a woman’s wardrobe.
She can wear a sneaker. She can wear a flat. She can wear a lower heel. If she chooses a high heel, she expects it to look beautiful and feel good enough for the life she plans to live in it.
Comfort Is Changing High Heels, Not Replacing Them
Much of the footwear industry’s response to the demand for comfort has been to lower the heel.
Kitten heels, block heels, flats and sneakers all have an important place in a modern wardrobe. But simply reducing heel height doesn’t answer a different question:
What about the woman who actually wants a high heel?
That was the question behind Elizée years before the pandemic made comfort one of fashion’s biggest conversations.
Carrero was working as a finance executive and wearing heels regularly when she began questioning why high heels had to be inherently uncomfortable. Rather than starting with the assumption that height had to disappear, Elizée approached the shoe itself differently—looking at cushioning, support, balance, construction and fit.
As BBC News described it:
“She’s launched her own brand to bridge the gap between style and comfort.”
— BBC News
That gap remains one of the most interesting opportunities in women’s footwear.
Why Higher Heels Still Matter
One of the most revealing things we see at Elizée is that our highest heels continue to be among our best sellers.
It may sound counterintuitive in a market increasingly focused on comfort, but it makes sense.
There are already many comfortable choices when a woman wants a sneaker, flat or low heel. The problem becomes harder when she wants the proportions and feeling of a higher heel but needs to stand for several hours, attend a conference, go from work to dinner or make it through an entire wedding.
That is where footwear innovation becomes particularly important.
A high heel can’t rely on a layer of memory foam alone. Comfort depends on the entire architecture of the shoe: cushioning, arch support, heel stability, weight distribution, materials, fit and the relationship between heel height and pitch.
For Elizée, that engineering sits alongside Italian shoemaking and design. Our shoes are made in Tuscany, where traditional craftsmanship meets the comfort technology we’ve developed specifically for high heels.
There Is No Single High-Heel Customer
Another lesson we’ve learned from working directly with women is that “comfortable” doesn’t mean exactly the same thing for everyone.
A woman with a wider forefoot may need something entirely different from a woman with narrow feet. An ankle strap that works beautifully for one customer may not suit another. Bunions, instep height, toe shape and even how a woman distributes her weight can change which shoe feels best.
One Elizée customer had stopped wearing heels because wider ankles made finding the right fit difficult. She tried one of our styles with adjustable ties, found a construction that worked for her and has since purchased around ten pairs. She’s tall and doesn’t need the height—she simply loves how she feels in heels, including when she wears them to work.
That’s the modern high-heel customer in a sentence: she doesn’t have to wear them. She wants to.
And because she wants to, rather than has to, fit and comfort matter more than ever.
Are High Heels Going Away?
We don’t think so. But their role is changing.
The era when a high heel was automatically part of a woman’s professional uniform has changed considerably. On a travel day or during an all-day conference, sneakers or flats may make perfect sense. For a professional engagement, wedding, dinner, vacation or simply a day when she wants to wear heels, she may make a different choice.
High heels don’t need to compete with sneakers at being sneakers. They need to become better high heels.
The growing demand we’re seeing at Elizée supports the idea that there is still a customer who loves height, loves fashion and loves the feeling she gets from a beautiful pair of heels. What she is less willing to accept is unnecessary pain as the price of wearing them.
The future of high heels isn’t simply higher versus lower or heels versus sneakers.
It’s better design, better engineering and more choice.
And for women who still love their heels, that future is already taking shape.