The Founder's Story

Why I built this

I started Soavella after my best friend's wedding in 2023.

I lasted two hours in a pair of stilettos before I was the woman walking around in tights. By the speeches I'd hidden my shoes under a chair. I went home that night with blisters on both heels and one specific thought: somebody should fix this at a price normal women can pay, and nobody has.

The next year, I tried to.

I started by reading every Trustpilot review I could find for the brands I'd already given up on. EGO. Public Desire. Vivaia at the higher end. The pattern was always the same — women complaining about the same three things. The heel cup that doesn't hold the foot. The straps that cut into the Achilles. The sole that collapsed on the first wear.

I took the question to a footwear engineer. We started with the strap, not the heel.

Most stilettos rely on the heel cup to keep the foot in place. The cup is small, the contact area is tiny, and by hour three the friction has won. We tried building a shoe where the strap did the work instead — twin elastic bands that lock the foot in from above, so the ball of the foot stops carrying the weight.

The first prototypes were ugly. The second batch were better but slipped. The fourth pair was the one I wore through my own sister's wedding. I lasted from the ceremony to the last song. I didn't take them off.

That pair became ROVÉE.

It's £39.99 because cutting one tier of margin out of a shoe doesn't cost you comfort — it costs the brand its retail markup. The shoes are made in the same factories the £120 brands use. We just sell them to you directly.

If you've ever taken your heels off at a wedding, this is for you.

— Elena, founder of Soavella