Tiffany Bivins is the founder of Maddox & Co., a luxury men’s footwear company that carries both dress shoes and sneakers.
As a tribute to her late grandfather, each shoe is made with careful attention to the patriarch’s unique style.
Bivins opened up about her design process and how she wants to impact shoe culture with her brand.
When did you first become interested in designing men’s footwear?
It was after my grandfather passed. This was something that we kind of bonded over such as dressing, shoes, and his style. Once he passed, I felt like it was something that I should [add] to his legacy. I wanted to develop nice and comfortable shoes that spoke to who he was as a person.
What does your design process entail?
For the first brand, a lot of our shoes are staple styles that other brands make, but the design process formally starts with the construction of the shoe. We’re going to choose a style, especially for our dress shoes, but then we work on that shoe from the inside out to make it comfortable. We add our proprietary techniques to the shoe and ensure that we are making a shoe that is comfortable and stylish at the same time.
As we go through that process of picking out a style and determining how we’re going to be able to [design] from the inside out, I’ll put it into production, and then we end up with a sample. The same goes for our sneakers. They have more designs because we have to make them different from other brands, so we work with a manufacturing team in Italy. They have designers there that work with me. I’m not a designer by nature or by trade, so I kind of give them a vision and then they design the shoe.
How do you want Maddox & Co. to impact the shoe culture as a whole?
I want the name to be known. I want to create a community around Maddox and Co. where we are doing community events, bringing people together, and networking. When somebody sees a Maddox & Co. shoe they know that it’s highlighted in reverence or that it’s a brand that is put out with love. That’s what I want people to see and feel when they encounter our brand.
