Allyson and Wes Felix build Saysh, shoes designed for women's feet

Executive overview

Athletic shoe brands design women's shoes from men's foot molds — women get different colors, not different construction. Allyson Felix discovered this while launching her own brand after Nike offered a 70% pay cut following her 2017 world championship record.

Saysh was built to fix that: shoes shaped from women's lasts, a brand centered on maternal protection, and a mission to find other products that aren't made for women.

Women have never had a shoe built for their actual foot — and didn't know it.

From athlete to agent: building the business around Allyson

• Wes ran at USC on scholarship; Allyson went pro out of high school to target the 2004 Athens Olympics, winning silver in the 200m
• After a liver virus ended Wes's running career, he started a women's fitness email newsletter and taught himself to build websites
• He pitched Allyson on working together, sending a formal letter proposing a partnership — she agreed
• Wes cold-messaged Serena Williams's agent Jill Smoller on Facebook after failing to reach her office; she replied and agreed to mentor him
• Smoller's key lessons: humility matters as much as deal-making; information about market rates is the real leverage
• Without knowing comparable deal values, brands offered 10-cent deals on dollar opportunities — Smoller fixed that

The Nike contract dispute and the New York Times op-ed

• In 2017, after Allyson became the most decorated athlete in world championships history, Nike offered a renewal at 70% less than her existing contract
• Wes negotiated it to 60% less; Nike still wouldn't move on performance-reduction clauses tied to post-pregnancy competition
• Allyson hid her pregnancy during negotiations, training at 4am in the dark, fearing even the reduced offer would be withdrawn
• She developed preeclampsia and delivered daughter Cameron at 32 weeks
• Nike then requested use of Allyson's image for a Women's World Cup campaign — that triggered the decision to go public
• Wes called the New York Times editor to proceed; minutes later Nike sent the unchanged contract via DocuSign unprompted
• He read it 11 times looking for changes, found none, and told the editor to publish

Discovering the shoe industry's structural gap

• While searching for a footwear sponsor who'd treat Allyson as Athleta did — valuing her as athlete and mother — she started peeling the Nike swoosh off competitors' shoes
• Wes suggested building their own shoe; Allyson said "put together a plan"
• Developer Tiffany Beers told them: shoes are made from a man's last — the women's wall at Foot Locker is marketing, not different construction
• A last-maker confirmed women's lasts exist and have been studied for 100 years — nobody uses them because it would mean making two shoes instead of one
• Women never complained because they had nothing to compare against; they believed they already had shoes made for them

Building the Olympic spike

• Self-funded; target was a spike Allyson could wear at the Tokyo Olympics
• Former Nike developer Beers connected them to designer Mike Freeton — one of Bill Bowerman's original proteges, present at Nike's founding
• Freeton said the original Nike mission was exactly this; he joined to help
• Allyson became the first Olympic athlete to compete in a shoe from her own brand; the spike won gold
• Initial expectation: sell 1,000–5,000 pairs to track athletes; the op-ed and Olympic platform expanded the opportunity

Saysh as a brand

• Raised an $8M Series A; Athleta was an investor
• Two lifestyle shoes: Sage 1 and Sage 2; a dedicated running shoe in development
• Maternity returns policy: if a woman's foot size changes during pregnancy, Saysh sends a replacement pair in the new size at no charge
• Long-term vision: ask women what else isn't made for them, then build it