This Columbus-based business sells handmade South American shoes with a story
John Orr needed a pair of shoes.
Originally from Maine, Orr moved to South America soon after meeting his wife, originally from Chile, in Columbus. Around six years ago, when Orr was living with his wife in Iquique, a town on the northern tip of Chile around an hour from the Peruvian border, he visited a local clothing market.
“I found this pair of shoes that I was just blown away with,” Orr told the Ledger-Enquirer. “The colors were vibrant. They popped. The designs were really intricate and really interesting. So, I grabbed a pair.”
Of all the things he loved about South America — the terrain, the friendliness of the people, the vibrant history and culture, and the region’s history — the footwear truly caught his eye.
Orr wore the slip-on shoes all day long, he said. He hiked in them. He did yard work in them. He wore them on the beach. He wore them in the Pacific Ocean and as a warehouse worker.
About two years later, the family moved back to Columbus. Orr, though, just couldn’t shake the feeling of always being near the ocean and mountains. He missed the relaxed feeling of living in Chile.
“How do I get people to feel that way?” Orr recalled asking himself. “How do I get that energy here?”
Orr then looked down, and his eyes fixated on his shoes — the same ones he’d purchased years earlier at the clothing market.
“That’s the ticket,” he said. “I’ve got to figure out a way to get more of these shoes up because the shoes encapsulated that feeling I had while living there.”
The idea for Paxx Shoes was born.
Starting from scratch
When Orr and his wife moved to Columbus, they were basically starting over.
“We had some family help, but we were more or less starting from zero,” Orr said.
In early 2018, he started sending out emails and making calls, eventually tracking down a manufacturer in Lima, Peru. The shoes are all done by hand, typically by a family and not mass-produced.
Orr worked with local chapters of SCORE, a mentor nonprofit for small businesses, and UGA’s Small Business Development Center to come up with a business plan and raise the money necessary.
He officially founded Paxx Shoes, based out of Columbus, in 2019.
Orr is also a double graduate of StartUp Columbus, which offers a nine-week startup curriculum, consultation services for startup businesses and more. The company participated in Market Days on Broadway for one year and sold shoes at two vendor fairs at Iron Works.
Paxx Shoes, still in its relative infancy, sells vegan-friendly shoes, all handmade, full of the colorful, intricate designs Orr loved from his time in South America.
“I could name a million different people I know, and they’ll all either tell you they love the beach, they love the mountains, or they love both,” Orr said. “The shoes encapsulate that feeling to me.”
Intricate designs, each with a story
The patterns seen on the shoes are derived from centuries-old cultural designs from ancient Peru. Although the production process has been modernized, the patterns themselves have remained “pretty close” to what they were thousands of years ago, Orr said.
The colors are dyed organically, using animal-free, organic dye.
“I can tell you with the utmost (confidence), they do not fade,” Orr said. “(The colors) will not fade.”
Paxx Shoes sells footwear for men and women, low-top and high-top, hats and T-shirts.
The designs, Orr said, are the “most desirable trait” of the shoes. The styles, patterns and colors all catch passersby’s eyes. But beyond the aesthetic, Orr said, the shoes are comfortable.
The inner liner is composed of a Peruvian chima cotton. The new shoe design is a “premium build,” he said, with a thicker sole, added padding around the ankle and more cushion in the upper.
“I think once people put them on, they pick up on that pretty quick,” Orr said.
Paxx Shoes can be found on Facebook and Instagram, in addition to its website. The company is participating at the Convention and Trade Center’s Southern Lovin’ Junkin’ Show Sept. 25, where it’ll hold a one-time 50% off sale on the remaining 2020 stock.
