Universal Design With Fashion In Mind: The Billy Footwear™ Story

Born out of a need, BILLY Footwear™ was founded on the basis of empowering independence and the principle of inclusion.

As a teenager, Seattle native, Billy Price, suffered a spinal cord injury and became paralyzed from the chest down, leaving him with limited arm and hand mobility. Daily tasks became difficult, but using his creative mind and unyielding spirit, he never gave up. He continued on, facing life’s challenges with tenacity and determination. Through the years he had found workarounds for almost everything, but he never conquered shoes.

Seeing a need in the marketplace, so began the journey of BILLY Footwear™— to develop shoes that enabled him to independently put them on.

The solution quickly became much bigger than just the answer to his own challenge. It became a mission to provide shoes for everyone, of all abilities, ensuring the functional shoes were built with an attractive style.

Utilizing our patent-pending FlipTop™ technology, we have revolutionized how footwear is put on and taken off.

Yes, BILLY™ shoes have adaptive characteristics, but they are hardly “adaptive” in the traditional sense of the word. “Adaptive” refers to a niche market. And although the shoes can satisfy the adaptive market they are not constrained by it. Bridging the gap between adaptive and mass market, BILLY Footwear™ provides fashion forward shoes that incorporate 'Universal Design,' meaning it works for and appeals to EVERYONE!

These shoes are available in select Nordstrom stores and online at Amazon.com, Nordstrom.com and Zappos.com.

More info: billyfootwear.com