Sherene traveled to the US and caught up with family and friends in early September. Charlotte escaped the US and went to Kenya and Dubai to see friends.
Now that we're back and charging forward, we can’t believe the holiday season is right around the corner.
We wanted to let you know that we are near the end of our stock for our best-selling Dalston boot. Available in a supple Cognac leather, this versatile boot is from our first collection and is extremely versatile.
From the sweater and jeans combo (@asos Tall sweater & @height.of.fashion tall friendly jeans) seen on @therealtall (6’4) to the smart casual head to toe look in tall friendly brand on @tall.and.isi (6’1) wearing tall friendly easy to style textured skirt & cranberry sweater; these boots do not quit.
We also have the Dalston boot available in Noir Suede in only a few more sizes seen below on @theresonly1char (6’3).
The Dalston Boot is easily styled with a leather dress by @asos for a sleek autumn evening glam look.
Another day to night look is dressing the boot with a leather skirt, turtleneck and grey leather cropped jacket (All @asos Tall)
We are also working on our next collection, so please be patient with us. We can’t wait to announce what is coming over the next few weeks and with Christmas right around the corner, expect to see some fun collaborations coming during November with some of your favorite tall brands/marketplaces.
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Things have been pretty busy here at CoIX and we couldn't wait to reveal what we've been working on behind the scenes.
Designing shoes across 3 different time zones through video calls while working remotely in a pandemic has made this a very interesting process. That being said, the last 8 months have brought us to this moment! We always knew we wanted to add a range of beautiful flats to our collection and we're pleased to say we've done just that!
We're so excited to introduce the latest additions to the CoIX Collection. These gorgeous flats are the perfect elevated essentials to add to your wardrobe.
Ochi Sandal (£90)
With 2 delicate, tubular straps, the Ochi is perfectly placed on a relaxing beach holiday or a city weekend getaway. Featured in a gorgeous tortoise shell PVC and lush creme leather croc, we imagined these beautiful shoes living their best life day to day too; a quick shopping trip, running errands, or brunch.These functional yet stylish sandals are our new go to summer sandal!
Sahara Slide (£110)
We wanted to reimagine the traditional slider; Sahara is made of the most supple leather enveloping the foot with a cushioned insole for the most comfortable, upscale slipper. Paired with shorts or sundress this versatile, easy to wear slide will make any outfit effortlessly luxurious!
These new styles mark the beginning of our new sizing and will go up to size UK 12 | US 14 | EU 46:
We're also working on bringing you wide width versions next summer, so stay tuned!
Preorders open 1pm BST ( 8am EST), Friday 16th July and will ship mid-August. We can't wait to see you in yours so very soon.
See these styles up close (as you can get for now) in our last IG TV, where we discuss the designs and the process:
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Bianca Stewart's collection of vibrant, sexy pieces are made to help you stand even taller, oozing with confidence. Check out their figure hugging liquid leggings to accentuate your long legs.
Focused on bringing comfortable, luxe sleep and loungewear to tall women, they launched last year with their sold out Cozy Set.
Advocating for fashion freedom for the tall, founder Franci launched her elegant, upscale brand to cover where other brands fall short. Her collection features gorgeous pants and jeans in inseams up to 40".
A sexy, feminine brand with a large collection of pieces from dresses to swim suits at affordable prices, founder Stephanie Foster has you covered with looks for the office to a night out on the town.
Established by model Nneka Morgini, this brand strives to enhance your wardrobe by creating quality, fashionable clothing for tall women.
Featuring great tailored pieces, from formal to casual wear, their versatile pieces are made to fit your tall frame perfectly.
Like us, founder Judy believes all women deserve choice and style when it comes to their footwear as well. Based in Canada, her collection includes styles with different heel heights to suit your preference.
Be sure to check out our first Tall Girl Talks with Jade (Rozana) and Tiffany (TJL Collection) on IG Live, today (Sunday 28th February) from 12pm EST/5pm GMT. We hope you tune in!
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In our week 3 roundup, we're highlighting other amazing black owned fashion brands where height is no limitation. Continue to catch the daily Stories on our Instagram Stories, for the last week of Black History Month (US).
The OG label created by stylist Irene Agbontaen, her range of bold and fearless designs have been sold on Long Tall Sally and Asos for women 5'9" and taller.
Founded by Jade, her latest range of comfortable, luxe pyjamas and coordinated sweatsuits are perfect staples to add to your wardrobe.
An ex-veteran and seamstress, Tiffany brings bold, modern designs for tall women to life. Starting at 37" inseams, her collection has everything from power suits to leisure sets, and she does custom designs too!
Edgy and cool, LaToya's label gives tall women on trend, figure accentuating, non-compromising pieces.
Founded by former model Robin, their collection of finely crafted ready-to-wear celebrates tall women. The brand was the first official boutique of the WNBA. With creative and modern designs, like their in-built mask essentials range, they design stylish clothes in the fit and lengths you need.
Tired of work out pants that are too short? Look no further than this brand, specialising in comfy tall leggings.
Lead by Shola and Agnès, this fellow footwear brand creates high-quality, comfortable shoes in standard and wide widths for sizes EU 38 to 46 (US 6-14).
Stay tuned for our final instalment of black owned tall brands. We'll also be hosting our first Tall Girl Talks with Jade (Rozana) and Tiffany (TJL Collection) on IG Live, next Sunday 28th February from 12pm EST/5pm GMT. We hope you tune in!
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This week we're featuring gorgeous accessory and fashion brands. Continue to catch the daily Stories on our Instagram Stories throughout the month!
Created by Neumi Anekhe, the brand creates luxe, affordable pieces to make women feel powerful and confident. We're eyeing up the Adesuwa hoops to add to our collection.
Husband and wife team, Kristin and Kofi Essel, fuse their love of geometric shapes with architectural details to create luxury statement pieces. The stunningly intricate, yet understated Marcy Link Necklace & Bracelet set is on our Wishlist.
Taylor's unique aesthetic shines through in the design of her bold, clay earrings. Perfect for making a statement, each pair is handmade making them each an original work of art.
Ethically handmade with fair trade African gold, and conflict-free fine metals, their fine jewellery is perfect to start a collection that can be assed down for generations to come.
Ebony creates whimsical, lightweight stamens earrings to effortlessly brighten up any look.
Fashion blogger Fisayo Longe is at the helm of this body positive and inclusive brand. Famed for their Gaia print, they make clothes to give women that extra dose of confidence.
Designer Elann Zelie creates stunning limited run collections especially for plus sizes. Bold, fun, and stylish, the brand is an unapologetic expression of individuality and we love it.
Stay tuned for Parts III + IV, where we'll be spotlighting brands that cater to tall women, like us!
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Each week we're grouping these spotlights into a post to live here on our blog. Here is the first in our 4 part series of 28 amazing, black owned brands you can support from beauty to fashion, and everything in-between. With Valentine's Day coming up soon, we're focusing on brands that can help make the day more special —whether you'll be showering yourself, your best friend or your significant other with love this V-Day.
UK based, Liha Beauty, create gorgeous products that reflect the co-founder's own mix of African and British roots. Shop their range of natural, 100% vegan oils, soaps and candles.
Zambo Aroma is an all-natural body care line made of high-quality ingredients hand-crafted in their Shea Butter House in the Bronx, NY.
This plant based skincare line The brand name means to grow wild in cultivated fields – unprocessed, raw.
Named by Vogue as one of the innovative brands leading in charge of size inclusivity, Love Vera's collection of intimates has something for every body.
Founded in London, Azaira Intimates was created especially for women with a fuller bust.
Their dreamy lingerie will inspire you to embrace your inner goddess. Their in-house collection features the most gorgeous luxury lingerie for you to indulge in.
Nubian skin has you covered for true nude under garments, hosiery and swimwear for people of colour. They even cater to men as well!
Stay tuned for Part II next week!
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We're currently designing our new collection (which we're so excited to share with you soon!) keeping in mind that there aren’t many places to go and “turn a look”.
That said, we wanted to give you a few simple tips that have kept us going over the last few months with regards to style and keeping motivated on the day to day.
Here are three simple ways to level up your at-home style:
Add some color
Okay, okay - this might sound pretty simple. But lets be honest with ourselves, how many of us have a sea of neutral colors in our closets and find ourselves picking up the same few pieces to wear around the house and on Zoom calls.
Long gone are the days where we are getting dressed to go out with purpose - but last week for the first time in a year I put on a lilac blazer I have (for special occasions) with a white tee shirt and worked in it. I found myself stopping at my mirror and smiling at how cute I looked and thought - I should do this more often! I ended up wearing a bright orange top and scarf after discovering I had these two items in my closet that I bought separately and thought, this could look nice together! I was complimented on my conference calls, the color brightened my mood and it was the first time I had seen myself in something outside of the same few sweaters and hoodies I spent much of 2020 in.
Throw on ALL of the accessories
So if you are doing video calls and back to back meetings or if you are working outside of the house or not working at all… It’s easy to get stuck doing the same, day in, day out. You might have even stopped wearing jewelry or accessories! (We're a shoe brand and weeks have passed since we’ve left our houses or put on shoes!)
But there is something so simple and whimsical about adding a fun pair of earrings to your look, a printed head scarf, quirky pin, chunky necklace or hat. These might seem unnecessary in the house - but each of the above items add another layer to your simple tee and sweats, while adding a sprinkle of personal style/flair. Who knows what you may find or fall in love with again?
Don’t be afraid to try new things (literally)
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When we started this journey, we embarked on it with a clear vision: to make versatile, modern yet classic shoes for larger shoe sizes that not only age well, but would complement looks from day into night.
It's tough running a small business from day to day, whilst working full time. Now two years in, we really wanted to celebrate how far we have come and thank you for all the support you've shown us through this journey! From our friends and family who encouraged us when CoIX was just an idea with no name, right through to the tall & plus communities who have embraced us as we’ve found our feet (pun intended).
We always get asked “Why did you want to start a shoe brand?” And truth be told, when we met it was ritually a bonding over frustration of struggling to find tall friendly clothing and shoes that fit our size 13 feet. We started this journey about four and half years ago with very little knowledge about footwear and the manufacturing process, but we had an enthusiasm for fashion, an eye for what would work in our closets, and a fiery desire to give ourselves and people like us better choices than what was currently available in the market.
We wanted to share some gems we've learned along the way and what we're most looking forward to for the future of CoIX.
What have you learned about yourself?
CHARLOTTE — I learned 4 things:
1. Don’t be afraid of things going wrong, failing and falling down. These things are all a VERY regular part of life.
2. I am my own worst critic.
3. I have an incredible network of people around me who are so supportive and encouraging.
4. I know my audience and I am my customer! Trust your instincts, the right things will happen in the right time.
It took being in the driver's seat for CoIX to learn my strength and what I am capable of. I learned quickly that I was afraid of so many things I couldn’t control; starting small, looking stupid, making mistakes and not getting things right. Running this business helped me learn that the mistakes we make are what teach our biggest life lessons. How I get up from the fall is what determines my success, not the way I fell down. I also learned that looking stupid was nothing for me to worrry about. How people view me, is not my business because it wasn’t something I could control. Once I recognized this, I noticed that I internally was in a constant state of beating myself up; telling myself I don’t do enough, that my creative ideas wouldn’t translate and constantly spoke negatively to myself both personally and professionally. I had to add the first two points together to realize, a vicious cycle of negative self talk and fear was not a recipe for anything good! It was the words of encouragement and love from my incredible network of friends, family and acquaintances that helped me recognize my power and how this brand is working towards solving a big problem and making women like me feel good in the process! The people in my life closest to me helped encourage me and were those reminders I needed to let me know that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself.
It was the support of my network and the very obvious reminder that I am my own customer that made me realize that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I am not running CoIX for huge financial gains or for the desire to become the world's most popular shoe designer, this brand was born out of a desire to solve a problem that many women like me had and in time, those who need to know about CoIX Shoes will know about CoIX Shoes!
SHERENE — Starting this business has helped me grow in so many ways. I think the most significant change for me has been overcoming my fear of failure. I've always been a bit risk averse, hoping to never make an ill fated step that would "set me back" from my very well thought out and thoroughly planned life milestones. I knew I wanted to start a business, but vivid imagery of it crashing and burning kept me subconsciously dragging my feet. It manifested in ways like wanting things to be in a "perfect" place before I could feel comfortable sharing it with others.
Through starting CoIX I know that perfect ideal I was trying to attain was nothing more than a huge hinderance and unnecessary burden. Especially as a small business with limited resources, my new mantra is "fail fast, and improve as you go" as it's truly the best way to learn and grow. Failure isn't something to be avoided, but to dive head first into. Every person in business has had to overcome a string of failures to achieve what they have now, and I'm open now more than ever to finding enjoyment in the entire journey, the failures and the wins.
What are you most excited about for the future of CoIX?
CHARLOTTE — I am excited to see the progression of our brand's voice. CoIX Shoes is currently a brand with some beautiful staple heels for your wardrobe; and our current collection was meant to be a statement collection full of timeless, chic and modern shoes that can be as versatile and fun as your wardrobe.
I know where I can see the brand at three years old and five years old and for me, the growth will come as I watch the women who will wear our shoes become more confident within themselves. I want CoIX Shoes to inspire women with big feet to feel more excited about getting dressed and finishing off their outfits with the perfect pair of shoes. The best feeling is speaking with someone who wears a size US 11,12,13 (UK 9, 10, 11 and EU 44,45,46 respectively) and seeing their face light up when I tell them the brand's size range. I want to make so many shoes that don’t exist for us right now and I want to make them all well, with quality materials. (I know, we need a perfect tall friendly over the knee / thigh high boot badly too!). I am really looking forward to the days when I will be able to meet you all out there who wear our size at meetups/pop ups/events and shows. I miss the social interaction in this incredible community and I love receiving live feedback in person.
The upcoming collection excites me because we are working on a line that I cannot wait to wear! I know that CoIX Shoes has a long way to go but seeing where we started and looking at our trajectory, I know the only way to grow is UP!
SHERENE — Taking a shoe from idea to real life is my favourite part of the work we do. I love spending hours trawling fashion imagery across the web for design inspiration. I'm most excited about expanding our current collection with more diverse styles that we love, allowing us to continue to improve the fit of our footwear and also expand the sizing options we can cater to (wide widths are still on the roadmap!).
As we grow our collection, I'm looking forward to continuing to grow and actually meet our community as well. As an online brand, we have connected with you through social media but once we're back to some level of normality after dealing with this pandemic, I'd love to be doing more events and meeting you all in person. There's nothing more special than seeing someone's eyes light up when they realise our shoes come in their oft overlooked size. The glee they have when they try on a pair, and they not only love the style but it fits them well with no compromise! It gives me all the feels, and when I'm low on energy reinvigorates me to continue persevering with the work we're doing.
Considering that we are currently in two different parts of the world, we planned a virtual celebration and would love for you to join us!
We both wanted to get in front of the brand a bit more as we gear up for the launch of our next collection so we'll be on Instragram live this Sunday, 13th December at 1pm EST/6pm GMT having a toast, answering your questions and chatting about tall fashion and more!
Follow us on Instagram to join the party. Can't wait to see you there x
Hey there!
We wanted to dedicate a part of our blog to being a place for tall style and inspiration! For our very first Tall Style Spotlight series, we’re really excited to feature Jenilee and Caitlin of The Real Tall blog. Caitlin is 5’11 and Jenilee is 6’4, and together the sisters from Wisconsin, share their fashion finds, making tall style look easy to wear and accessible. It's fun to watch how their fabulous finds fit their different heights and are expressed through their unique personal styles.
Listen to the girls answer a few questions about their personal style, the latest fashion trends and, of course, shoes:
As an emerging shoe brand, we love partnering with Jenilee and Caitlin who wear US sizes, 13 and 12 (respectively)! Watch them style our Dalston Boot and Seville Ankle Strap Pump too:
Be sure to follow Jenilee + Caitlin:
We'll be sharing more inspiring and fun stories on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe!
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One hundred percent forever classic. One of our favorite tall girl hacks, because turtlenecks can do it all! A personal favorite is this affordable and easy to style black turtleneck from Uniqlo linked here. This turtleneck in particular has a sensory breathable fabric and looks great layered or on its own. The link above will take you to the men's turtleneck because it is cut similarly to the women's tutrle neck and offers longer sleeves! Another example of a winning easy turtleneck look is a solid bright colored thick turtleneck that stands on its own, like this one at tall friendly brand Amalli Talli. Both work with everything through autumn into winter. Style it up or down with jeans, underneath a slip dress, vest, cute jacket, or midi skirt and you’re done! Turtlenecks also look great layered under jumpsuits.
If you’re a fan of bright colors, a turtleneck in any color can instantly add a pop of fun into your wardrobe layered or in its own.
Watch how Charlotte styles hers in this IG Reel here.
When you find a good sweater dress, you never let it go. It's an easy way to effortlessly make a statement. Find one in a fun print, pattern or color! Some of our favorite Tall girl friendly sweater dresses have come from Asos Tall and The Gap. Dress them down with a denim jacket and sneakers, or dress them up with a killer pair of boots or sexy heels.
It’s officially autumn when the chunky knits come out right? This year although the shopping & going out isn’t quite the same, finding a new sweater is still just as exciting. There are lots of silhouettes to choose from, so once you find a style that works for your body type, find a versatile primary color and you’re set! In our closets, we’ve both got a chunky long mustard sweater which pairs beautifully with black or denim pants, trousers and skirts! Finish it off with our final favorite autumn piece and you’ve got a look!
We may be partial, but when it’s time to elevate a look, an easy & chic upgrade to any look is our Dalston boot. As you can see, this boot is for both work and play! Available in a beautiful supple maple leather and black suede, both have a chunky heel made for long wear season in and season out.
Check out our Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube for more styling ideas. We’ve got some really fun styling videos and content coming this week from two of our faves, a fab sister duo, The Real Tall.
What are some of your favorite Autumn pieces?
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Our shoe names were much easier to decide on! We were on our way back from an accessories convention and were buzzing with excitement as we had just confirmed the full order of our collection styles and colours! We were sipping tea on the train ride back home and talking about upcoming holidays before focusing our attention back to CoIX and what we should name each style in the collection. We realised we should incorporate our love of travel into the names of the shoes for our collection.
Soho
Our Soho Stiletto was another easy choice, the Soho neighbourhood is known for its shows, bars and restaurants. No matter what the outfit, an easy to wear stiletto is always a good look in this trendy part of town.
Marylebone
Our Marylebone pump was a fun one! We both thought about where we would be seen wearing these shoes: a high tea, a gallery or maybe shopping before meeting friends for a drink? Classy and chic, we knew the easy to wear block heel would complement our style for long walks around this lush neighbourhood.
Monaco & Seville
The Monaco and Seville came out of our love of travel around southern Europe. We both imagined the shoes styled with hints of Spanish flair, ruffles, bright colors, easy to wear separates and dresses alike, easy to transition through the seasons! We thought about how both shoes would look when styled with Palazzo pants, straight legged French peg trousers or flowy skirts.
There you have it! Tell us what your favourite shoe style/name and share some of your favorite cities with us in the comments below!
Image source: The Guardian Photograph: beelzeboobz
Have you seen a black and white photo of a woman you know on social media this past week?
We started noticing the posts floating around tagged #womensupportingwomen and #challengeaccepted before being tagged to participate ourselves. As two black women particularly affected by the recent events around the Black Lives Matter movement globally, we have both been actively asking ourselves what does activism look like to us, and how/when do we reflect this through our brand? Honestly, we were both wary of participating in another round of hashtag activism and wondered what was the origin of this latest “challenge”? What were we actually supporting by participating?
Upon further research, we discovered it originated from something that we understand all too well. Turkish women, many under the age of 35, were being murdered at an alarming rate (474 in 2019 alone) in Istanbul and their murderers not being held accountable (sound familiar)? The black and white photos of more and more women found dead were appearing across social media and in newspapers, countless woman after woman seemingly with little or no repercussions for the people who had allegedly murdered them.
We learned that the black and white photo challenge isn’t new & there have been similar challenges in the past. That said, we must admit, that before this week and the #ChallengeAccepted hashtag, weren't aware of what had been happening in Turkey.
As women, we couldn’t help but feel heavy for the all to familiar adversities these Turkish women are facing, but for the many women and femme presenting people who deal with abuse in all forms; physical, sexual & emotional.
We want to actively empower women in our lives and through our business, and not saying anything about this didn’t sit right with us. Amongst everything we are working on, we spent time this week discussing what we stand for as individuals and how this should be reflected in our brand. It dawned on us that if we wanted to say we empowered women, we had to also be following that up with direct actions.
We stand with these women and accept the challenge, using our platform to support and build up other women (both on and off Instagram). We are nominating you, (yes, you!) reading this blog to post a black and white photo of yourself using all four of the hashtags below to continue to raise awareness.
For those of us who have already shared a photo - edit and add this to your caption; each hashtag helps raise awareness!
Share with a purpose! ✨
#kadınaşiddetehayır - English translation is “say no to violence against women”
#istanbulsözleşmesiyaşatır- English translation is “Enforce the Istanbul Convention”
Learn More
Read more about this on NY Times article here.
Zeycan Rochelle; a Black & Turkish writer, fashion designer and philanthropist posted a succinct yet detailed overview post on her Instagram here.
Donate
To donate/support to Turkish Women's Rights campaigns, check out this article which has links to petitions and fundraising efforts.
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WELCOME!
We, the founders of CoIX shoes are tall, plus size women and we always found ourselves struggling to find shoes that fit! (Pictured: Charlotte (right), 6’2 and Sherene (left), 6’0)
We bonded over fashion and finding tall clothing and shoes #tallgirlproblems! Both of us wear US Size 13 (EU 46, UK 11) and the struggle was all too real to find modern, well made, chic shoes that that didn’t fall apart after 2-3 wears! Much of the last ten years was spent trying new brands and finding that they were poorly made yet overpriced.
After 3 years of friendship and chatting about how frustrating it was to find large-sized shoes that made us feel good, we decided to embark on the journey of starting our own line. For us, designing modern, fun footwear that excited us meant soon we would have the shoes we couldn't wait to wear. We knew we wanted to create a brand that made the shoe shopping experience enjoyable and joyful for people like us. We dreamt of having versatile shoes that could take us from the office in the day to after-work drinks at night.
CoIX took about two years to get going, from inception to design to receiving the inventory for our first collection. We’re very excited and happy with our first collection and we hope you love all the details; from the fabrics to the insoles and the packaging.
After 2 years of research, planning and development, CoIX Shoes was born! CoIX, born purely born out of a desire to express our personal style and individuality from head to TOE!
We would describe our brand aesthetic as modern, chic and effortless. We did an interview with Jenna from Tall Girl Takeover and spilled all the deets on growing up tall including our fashion inspiration and favourite tall girl hacks. Read the full interview here!
How did we get the name?
We get asked this often! Our name, CoIX, pronounced coy, initially was to describe the fun flirty styles we knew we'd be bringing to life. The stylized ending of CoIX with the Roman numeral is a nod to the fact that we start at a size UK 9 and up.
CoIX Shoes was born out of our desire and passion to be the brand we wanted to see! Chic, stylish, versatile footwear in timeless silhouettes and modern colours for larger shoe sizes.
We would love to know where you are reading from? Comment below and let us know your shoe size as well!
Stay tuned for more and follow us on Instagram and Facebook!
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