Spanx Founder Sara Blakely Launches High-Heeled Sneaker Brand Sneex

Sara Blakely, who founded the billion-dollar company Spanx over two decades ago, announced Tuesday the launch of Sneex, a hybrid luxury sneaker and high heel that goes for $395 to $595.

Multiple news outlets reported that Blakely designed a shoe that "blends the style of a traditional high heel with the performance and comfort of a sneaker." The shoes are made out of fine napa leather and suede and available in three styles and 10 different color combinations. People.com said Sneex set out to solve three major pain points of a typical high heel design: lack of support, unequal weight distribution, and toes being squeezed in the shoe.

People quoted Blakely as saying there has been a "void in comfortable footwear" and she wanted to create a luxury high heel that "prioritizes how women feel, not just how we look."

Total Retail's Take: Is there a market for the "comfortable" luxury high heel? In fact, the luxury sneaker heel has been around for decades. Vogue reported that Balenciaga has offered such a product under two different creative directors as far back as 2012; other luxury brands including Miu Miu, Bottega Veneta, Prada, DSquared2, Ancuta Sarca, and Isabel Marant have all had versions of the luxury sneaker as well. Blakely argued in Vogue that the difference between her Sneex product and the others is that hers addresses all of the painful parts of putting on a heel.

As a highly successful entrepreneur, Blakely has inevitably taken the lessons learned from her startup-turned-billion-dollar company and applied them to this new venture. While it remains to be seen whether Sneex will have the same success as Spanx, it can't hurt to have a savvy leader such as Blakely at the helm of the new brand.