How Her Battle With Cancer Led to Creating the Most Comfortable Luxury Footwear on the Market

When my friend, Nelli Kim, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2016, I remember watching her navigate the road to health with dignity and grace.

Source: Nelli Kim

What I didn’t know at the time was that doctors gave her only a 30% chance of survival.

Nelli wasn’t about to accept that. Today, she’s five years cancer free.

Source: Nelli Kim

But back then, as she underwent chemotherapy, something surprising happened; she felt intense pain and cramping in her feet.

Turns out, neuropathy — that’s what it’s called — is a common side effect of chemo.

Suddenly, the former Bergdorf Goodman shoe executive realized what she needed — chic, comfortable shoes — just didn’t exist in the market.

So, she set out to make them herself.

Enter Rēden: her new line of shoes that are as comfortable as those ugly, orthopedic shoes. But happen to be super chic.

Rēden Women's Love Flat; Source: Nelli Kim

Guess what? They just got the Oprah seal of approval.

Source: @shop_reden Instagram

Customers tell her, “They’re like clouds.”

And they’re not just for women. They are styles for men, too.

COMFORT NOT “PART OF THE EQUATION”

ALINA CHO: I want to talk about your approach to buying shoes prior to your cancer diagnosis and how it changed after you got cancer.

NELLI KIM: Yeah.

ALINA CHO: A lot of times when people buy shoes, they're looking at the aesthetics and not really thinking about comfort.

NELLI KIM: Comfort is not part of the equation for luxury footwear.

ALINA CHO: Right.

NELLI KIM: I know this. Especially these big brands that are not necessarily shoe specialists — and that's what dominates luxury footwear these days — [shoes are considered] a completion of an outfit. Therefore, it doesn't matter how high the heel is because it's about the line that the body is making.

ALINA CHO: Exactly.

NELLI KIM: And for whatever reason, when you think of actual shoe brands, like Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik and Gianvito Rossi, they’re all men.

Nelli Kim with Manolo Blahnik; Source: Nelli Kim

So, the footwear is beautiful, but those men don't have to wear the shoes.

ALINA CHO: You're right.

NELLI KIM: Yes, it looks sexy. If you love a heel, more power to you, but I started to get to a point where I thought to myself, “It's not modern to feel like you have to change shoes.”

ALINA CHO: Yeah.

NELLI KIM: To go to work, you're in one shoe and then you put on your fancy shoe.

Nelli Kim wearing Chanel gladiator sandals; Source: Nelli Kim

And then, by the end of the night, your feet are dying, and you feel awful. And by the way, if you believe in reflexology, the entire bottom of your foot maps back to an internal organ.

ALINA CHO: Right.

NELLI KIM: I was all about a high heel. But then, I literally couldn't wear them anymore. And I was like, “Wait, why are there no other options if I don't want to wear a sneaker?"

CHIC AND COMFORTABLE SHOES: A WHITE SPACE IN THE MARKET

ALINA CHO: So, so let's talk about what happened as a result of your chemotherapy. What we hear so much about is hair loss. But something different happened to you that was unexpected and quite painful.

NELLI KIM: Most people know about the hair loss and the fatigue.

Source: Nelli Kim

But the other very, very common side effect of chemotherapy is neuropathy, which most cancer patients experience. It’s basically numbness, tingling, pain and sensitivity in your hands and your feet.

ALINA CHO: Wow.

NELLI KIM: I would just get these insane foot cramps, so I had to be very careful about my footwear. If it was too unsupportive, I would wake up in the middle of the night with terrible foot cramps.

ALINA CHO: How bad did it get?

NELLI KIM: Luckily, my case was mild, but that got me thinking: if this is mild, what is it like for people who have really bad foot pain? I thought, “This is a white space in the market. No one’s just focusing on making chic and comfortable shoes."

ALINA CHO: How do Rēden shoes differ from regular shoes?

Rēden Women's Love Flats; Source: Nelli Kim

NELLI KIM: When I first started this process, I was like, "I need to talk to every foot expert out there.” I connected with an incredible doctor named Dr. Holly Johnson. She is the team physician for the women's Olympic hockey team. She's the team physician for the WNBA [New York] Liberty, too.

ALINA CHO: She's legit.

NELLI KIM: Legit. I asked her, “What are the most common issues your patients face?" She said, “Obviously, support is really important. You need support in the right areas – your arch, your metatarsal, and your heel.”

ALINA CHO: Right.

NELLI KIM: I said, “Give me every product you ever tell your patients to use.” I went out and bought all of them, I wore them all.

ALINA CHO: And?

NELLI KIM: I started wearing them all and I'm like, "Okay, I can understand how this helps people." But when you try and put something like that into a regular shoe, you'll find quickly that they don't fit because they're not designed for those types of shoes, they're designed for sneakers.

ALINA CHO: So, how did you solve the problem?

NELLI KIM: I basically came up with my own proprietary insole using the best principles of what I think is out there that helps. We have that rigid arch support, which is very unusual. Nobody has that. And we have targeted cushioning in the metatarsal area, which is basically the ball of your foot, and the heel. And then we did something different with the construction of the shoe to minimize the bulk.

ALINA CHO: You launched with four styles.

Rēden Men's Intention Lace-Up and Women's Love Flat; Source: Nelli Kim

NELLI KIM: Yes, two women’s and two men’s [styles].

Rēden Men's Intention Lace-Ups and Men's Purpose Loafers; Source: Nelli Kim

ALINA CHO: And did I read this right? You want to launch a boot and a sandal?

NELLI KIM: Eventually. That's coming up.

THE BIG DREAM

ALINA CHO: You give away 50% of your profits to the American Cancer Society.

NELLI KIM: They're our current partner, yeah. The idea is to rotate charities and to be able to tell stories of community and hopefully inspire people to use their platform to be of service to others.

ALINA CHO: What's the dream for Rēden?

NELLI KIM: The big dream?

ALINA CHO: Yeah.

NELLI KIM: It's a big, crazy dream, Alina, are you ready for it?

ALINA CHO: Yes.

NELLI KIM: I don't know if you know this, but I went to Mumbai, India in 2014 for the first time, working with survivors of sex trafficking.

Nelli Kim with the daughters of survivors of sex trafficking; Mumbai, India; Source: Nelli Kim

ALINA CHO: Yeah, I read that.

NELLI KIM: Since then, we founded a nonprofit and still work in that community. That’s why I wanted to build this company in the first place, right? Shoes just happened to be the product we landed on, but the big dream is that eventually we will be able to hire from that population of survivors.

ALINA CHO: Wow.

NELLI KIM: And have them produce the shoes and give them economic empowerment.

ALINA CHO: That's amazing.

NELLI KIM: That's the big dream, which is why we need to have scale and volume, so that we can afford to train them and hire them and every step of the way, [try] to do our little part to improve [their lives].

ALINA CHO: Finally, I'm just curious to know what your customer response has been. People must love the shoes.

NELLI KIM: Yeah. It's been incredible. I hear a lot of people say, “They're like clouds, they're the most comfortable." Also, the one thing I really love is that they don’t require breaking in.

ALINA CHO: I love that.

NELLI KIM: That’s our goal, we want to enhance people's lives. We're going to build amazing, thoughtfully designed products that are a pleasure to wear.