Elizabeth Anne LeGear noticed a severe faux pas in the world of women’s footwear, and decided to take matters into her own hands.
After searching endlessly for a pair of boots with interior pockets to hold credit cards and money, LeGear realized there were none. So the 27-year-old accountant decided to create a patent of her own. The result is Purse n’ Boots— the very first “purse for your feet.”
The knee-high genuine cowhide leather boots have storage pockets hidden inside to hold cell phones or makeup, credit cards and cash, removing the need for ladies to carry purses while enjoying a night out on the town. They are a classic style with a 2.8 inch heel and hidden elastic goring for a universal fit.
“I just wanted to buy a pair because I thought, ‘I’m sure this must have been done already.’ It’s a pretty simple idea and I looked all over everywhere and they just didn’t exist,” LeGear explained.
Purse n’ Boots began selling online through LeGear’s new company Elizabeth Anne Shoes just over six months ago, and are now being carried at select retail stores in Calgary and will soon hit Vancouver stores as well. So far the response has been huge, LeGear says.
“We’ve been just lucky that this thing has spread as quickly as it has. It’s a really unique idea so word spreads around,” she said.
“It feels really special. It’s pretty exciting when you’re walking down the street and there’s your boots in a store.
“I saw a pair on someone’s feet the other day and I said ‘oh, I made that pair!”
LeGear, who runs a bookkeeping business from her home, has no fashion design background. She simply came up with an idea, sketched it out and took it to the Chinese company Chiko Shoes to create a prototype.
“I was pretty lucky because the company that I found is one of the only ones that I know of where you can take your pencil sketch of what you want and notes on what materials you want to use and they actually will work with you and make a prototype— all just from this piece of paper,” LeGear said.
“Most of the time there’s a lot of steps in the middle. I think you actually have to have a wearable boot in a computer program that you have to send, and if I had tried to do that it would have come out as some weird garbled thing.”
There is only one boot design for sale so far but a few more new models are in the works. LeGear is currently designing a cowboy Purse n’ Boot to debut at the Calgary Stampede and a European walking boot with a passport pocket inside.
“It’s been about two years in the making. It’s been a lot of researching how to take an idea and make it into an actual product,” she said.
“I have a lot of ideas brewing around... I love coming up with innovative problem solving ideas. Ideally I would like to continue on with that and a few other things I have in mind.”
After realizing accounting is perhaps not her true calling, LeGear hopes to one day focus full time on her fashion creations.
“It’s kind of funny because when you’re little that’s the time to pick your career. I always said I wanted to be an inventor and then over time it changed to ‘maybe I want to be a financial analyst,’ she joked.
“It’s not so much that I hate doing [accounting], I do have that analytical side to me. I just didn’t like the idea of being in the same office environment nine to five everyday, two weeks holiday, it really just didn’t suit me at all.”
Only 300 pairs of LeGear’s original Purse n’ Boots were created, and just over half are left for sale.