The laces shimmered in the light as Laura Stephan proudly showed off her new shoes.
“Daddy’s shoes right here, I said they look like' a pro-nessional,'” the 6-year-old said. “It looks like it’d be at the store.”
Her dad, Tom, may disagree there. But, this footwear certainly is better than the stuff he was making in the back room of his home a few weeks ago.
“Absolutely. It has become a lot more enjoyable,” he said from behind his sewing machine. “It’s rewarding now. It’s a lot less frustrating.”
The father of three had a problem – he couldn’t afford the $1,200 price tag that came with custom shoes for Laura’s feet. She was born with a condition where she only has two toes on each foot.
Both feet are unique as well, meaning both shoes had to be built individually. The need drove Tom to try to make shoes for Laura on his own.
It wasn’t easy.
Friends and family helped raise enough money to send Tom to Shoe School in Port Townsend, Wash., in mid-July. The five-day trip put Tom in touch with one of the top shoemakers in the country. He learned all the tips he needed to form shoes for abnormally-shaped feet like Laura’s.
The experience gave him enough knowledge to make a beautiful pair of shoes at home.
“I feel a lot more confident in it,” he said. “I can call a lot more people and send them a picture of Laura’s foot than I could six months ago.”
After airing our original story, Tom met Matt Defer online. The Texas boot maker was inspired to create shoes for Laura and hand-delivered them to Florida so he could see them on her feet. Tom also has received shoe molds from Serbia and pairs of shoes from Portugal.
The support has blown him away.
“I hope to be able to help somebody else if that opportunity arises,” he said.
As for the newest pair of purple shoes he crafted, they hit the mark for his toughest critic.
“It’s one of my favorite colors,” said Laura. “I really like the laces because they’re all shiny and glittery and glitter is one of my favorite colors.”
Dad makes shoes for daughter
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