Texas Scientist Turned Shoe Designer is Obsessed With Comfortable High Heels — These Getaway Sticks Don’t Hurt

Days when your feet almost hurt too much to walk — when you have to beg off on that work event or fun happy hour — are all too familiar for many women who love high heels. Getaway Sticks, an online shoe store that makes stylish and versatile heels for women to wear all day long, is looking to change that. 

Getaway Sticks CEO and founder Steffie Tomson is a scientist in the Texas Medical Center and a loving mom of two girls. She is a Rice University grad who works as an assistant professor in the Department of  Orthotics and Prosthetics at Baylor College of Medicine. Tomson is also working on a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Baylor, where she specifically studies the genetics of synesthesia. She has even been featured in Nova’s The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers series.

This native Houstonian also understands the pain that comes with wearing many high heels, having struggling to walk from building to building in the Med Center for meetings due to horrible blisters.

This reality and her scientific background inspired Tomson to create a shoe that was both cozy and elegant. These shoes are not just for businesswomen. Tomson’s customers include stay-at-home moms, real estate agents, accountants and even wedding guests. 

The name Getaway Sticks comes from the 1920s’ old-fashioned term for women’s legs. “ ‘Put on your getaway sticks and run down to the market!’ was the perfect word to describe legs and represent motion and femininity,” Tomson says. 

Tomson designed her shoes from the ground up, talking to different vendors all over the world and testing out several heels.  

This scientist entrepreneur visited her manufacturer in New Mexico in February of 2020 to settle on a product, but two weeks later COVID-19 hit and everything shut down. After that major delay, Tomson launched her Getaway Sticks website in April. 

It Has To Be The Shoes

The secret to Getaway Sticks’ comfortable heels comes in the material. While most heels are made out of hard plastic, Getaway Sticks wedges are made entirely out of athletic foam with two layers of memory foam. This build of the shoe is great for feet in the long run because it saves joints from all the shock that reverberates up through the ankles, knees and hips.

Tomson says that her customers also enjoy the strap feature on the shoe, which makes it easier to maneuver versus heels with a tiny buckle.

“The footwear industry has lied to women about comfortable shoes for way too long,” Tomson tells PaperCity. “It’s time for women to have shoes that women can stand in all day without any discomfort.”

Currently, Getaway Sticks’ shoes comes in one style and in four different colors: brown, tan, black and metallic. Tomson is planning for new colors and styles to come out soon.