It’s been almost 6 months since the brand that you know and love, Orthaheel, became Vionic with Orthaheel Technology. I wanted to take some time to reflect and share with you the reasons for this evolution.
The Orthaheel brand has had a very long and proud history. It was started by a podiatrist, Phillip Vasyli, with the purpose of creating life-changing footwear solutions for everyone. He achieved this by developing a way to add orthotic support to a wide range of footwear styles. This innovation has helped a lot of people feel greater levels of comfort and support in the footwear they wear. And all this comfort and support was wrapped up in great- looking footwear.
In January 2013, it was decided that Orthaheel would evolve to become Vionic with Orthaheel Technology. This was not a decision that was made lightly, given the popularity of the Orthaheel brand and also as many of the people involved in the decision making process had been a part of the brand since the very early days. The decision came after extensive customer consultation (including QVC customers), where a lot of people told us what they wanted – the same comfort and support of the Orthaheel technology, but with more style and a fresh new brand look. This gave us the confidence and inspiration to go ahead and become Vionic with Orthaheel Technology.
Now that the marketing spiel out of the way, I’d like to tell you what this evolution means for you. We’ve received (and greatly appreciate) feedback from so many of you over the last 5 years here at QVC. We love the suggestions that you give us and take so much away from all of your comments, whether they be on the community forums, in response to my blogs, and of course, on my Facebook page. Much of the feedback that you’ve provided tells us that you want more fitting options, you want more heel heights, you want more leather options, but you still want the same feeling of support that Orthaheel Technology provides. This is what we can bring you with the Vionic brand. The same great feeling of comfort and support, but with the ability to continue to give you the styles that you have come to know and love, along with new and innovative ways to provide you with new, stylish options such as wedges, heels, ballet flats and even boots (oops.. there’s a little sneak peek into the Fall collection)..
The company and the brand still remains the same as it was as Orthaheel. But with one main difference: under the single Vionic name (you might recall that we used to have 3 brands – Orthaheel, Vionic and Weil) we are able to have a singular focus in achieving our company mission – To create life- changing footwear solutions. All of the styles we have at QVC still carry the Seal of Acceptance from the APMA, and we still carry the endorsement of world-renowned integrative medicine expert, Dr. Andrew Weil.
What do we want to do as a brand at QVC? We want to continue bring you new and innovative footwear styles. We want to keep bringing you our classic designs but also offer you more style, all with the built- in orthotic support. Most of all, we want to bring you footwear styles that will help change your life, that will give you the freedom and confidence to get out and be active. Whilst many may think that I am extremely passionate about this brand, I can assure you that the hard working teams behind the scenes – in fact every member of our company, are just as passionate. We all share the same belief in what we are trying to offer you, our QVC customer.
I hope you get a chance to check out the Lauren Slide, our 6/9/2014 Today’s Special Value. My old mate Steve and I will be here online throughout the day to answer any questions that you have.
-Liam