Recently, I took Rafferty’s Shoes to Australia’s first Barefoot Shoe & Foot Health Expo.

Even writing that feels a little surreal.

Rafferty’s Shoes was the youngest footwear brand in the room, and the only brand there dedicated entirely to children’s footwear. Around us were names like Be Lenka, PaperKrane, Altra and Xero Shoes. These were brands that had been in the barefoot footwear space far longer than we had.

And then there was me.

A mum with a very young Australian kids’ shoe brand, standing there with the barefoot shoes for kids I’d spent so much time creating.

If you had told me when I launched Rafferty’s Shoes that, six months later, those shoes would be sitting alongside brands I had known long before Rafferty’s Shoes existed, I genuinely would have laughed.

The funny thing is, I almost didn’t go.

I actually said no

When I first heard about the expo and saw which brands were attending, I thought about exhibiting.

For about five minutes.

Then I decided: absolutely not.

I didn’t feel ready. I had never exhibited anywhere before, and suddenly people were talking about banners, tablecloths, displays and merchandise as though these were things I was supposed to understand.

I didn’t.

I also didn’t really have the budget I would have wanted for an amazing exhibition setup.

But underneath all those practical reasons was the real one.

I was scared.

Building Rafferty’s Shoes quietly from behind a laptop is one thing. Putting the shoes physically on a table next to established barefoot brands is completely different.

People can pick them up. Bend them. Look closely at how they’re made. Ask questions. Compare them.

Podiatrists can inspect them.

And somewhere underneath all of that, I was wondering: Who am I to be in this room?

So I emailed the organiser and said Rafferty’s Shoes wouldn’t be participating.

Decision made.

Then I changed my mind

Setting up for our first ever expo.

Later, the organisers came back with another option. They were creating a shared display where brands could have their shoes shown without needing to build and run a full exhibition stand.

That sounded slightly less terrifying.

And something in me changed.

I thought, Wait. Rafferty’s Shoes needs to be there.

We didn’t need the biggest booth. I didn’t need to pretend I had been exhibiting at trade shows for ten years.

We just needed to show up.

So I changed my mind.

I’m very glad I did.

Once the expo started, I forgot I was nervous

When people started coming through the doors, all the worrying became much less important.

Parents came over, and I started talking to them about why I created Rafferty’s Shoes.

When I first started looking seriously at kids’ barefoot shoes in Australia, I kept finding two extremes.

There were mainstream children’s sneakers that looked great but were often stiff, narrow and heavily structured.

Then there were barefoot shoes that gave feet much more freedom to move. Many of the options I found, though, were sporty, difficult to buy in Australia or at a price that felt difficult for a lot of families.

I kept wondering why there couldn’t be something in between.

Why couldn’t a barefoot kids’ shoe look like a genuinely beautiful everyday sneaker?

Why couldn’t children have room for their toes and a flexible sole while parents still got a shoe they actually liked the look of?

Those questions became Rafferty’s Shoes.

If you’re new to the idea, I’ve explained more about why I chose barefoot principles for Rafferty’s Shoes.

Talking about it face-to-face at the expo was completely different from explaining it through a website or an Instagram post. I could hear what parents had been thinking about, what they were struggling to find and why they had come to an event devoted entirely to barefoot footwear.

“Thank you for being here.”

There was one conversation I haven’t stopped thinking about.

Andy Bryant, Head Podiatrist at The Foot Collective, came over and said:

“Thank you for being here.”

I gave him some awkward response along the lines of, “Oh, of course, I’m so happy to be here,” because I thought he was thanking me for attending the expo.

He wasn’t.

He meant thank you for being in children’s footwear.

Kids were underrepresented in the barefoot space.

That stopped me.

I had spent so much time looking around the room and noticing how Rafferty’s Shoes was smaller, younger and less experienced than the other brands.

Someone else was looking at us and thinking: Finally. Someone is focusing on the kids.

Suddenly, being the only dedicated children’s footwear brand in the room didn’t make me feel smaller. It made being there feel much more important.

Then the podiatrists started coming over

A little glimpse of the day from behind the Rafferty’s Shoes table.

This was both exciting and mildly terrifying.

Podiatrists from different parts of Australia started introducing themselves to me. They picked up the shoes, bent them, looked at the construction and asked questions.

When you’re standing behind your first expo table with something you created from scratch, hearing “I’m a podiatrist” after someone has been inspecting your shoe certainly gets your attention.

But the conversations were fantastic.

We talked about children’s footwear, what they see in practice and the options currently available to families. Some wanted to stay in touch, and a few spoke about displaying or potentially stocking Rafferty’s Shoes through their clinics.

I also had conversations with potential wholesale contacts.

I don’t know where every conversation will lead, and I don’t expect all of them to turn into something.

What mattered more was realising that Rafferty’s Shoes had a place in this community.

The conversations with parents meant the most

One mum told me how much she had spent on custom orthotics after developing foot pain following pregnancy.

I immediately connected with her because my own experience with foot pain was part of what led me to start questioning footwear.

For years, most of us simply wear the types of shoes we’ve always worn without thinking too much about them. Then something starts hurting and suddenly feet become very interesting.

When I became a mum, those questions shifted towards my children.

What was I putting on their feet? Why were so many children’s shoes shaped the way they were? Why were they so stiff? Were there other options?

That curiosity eventually became the story behind Rafferty’s Shoes.

Other parents at the expo simply thanked me for creating another option for children.

That meant a lot.

When you’re building a small business, it’s very easy to become buried in inventory, sizing, returns, factories, shipping, packaging, photos and ads.

Talking to parents reminded me of the much simpler thing underneath all of that.

Someone was looking for what I had made.

I nearly let fear make the decision for me

Nothing actually changed between the moment I said no and the moment I decided to attend.

Rafferty’s Shoes didn’t suddenly become a bigger company. I didn’t magically gain ten years of footwear experience. A pile of money didn’t appear for an elaborate expo booth.

I was still a new founder, and I was still learning.

I just decided to go anyway.

If I hadn’t, I would have missed Andy thanking me for being in children’s footwear.

I would have missed meeting podiatrists from around Australia.

I would have missed hearing parents’ stories and having conversations that may turn into future opportunities.

Most importantly, I would have missed the moment where Rafferty’s Shoes stopped feeling like this tiny thing I was building by myself and started feeling like it belonged in a much bigger conversation.

Being new isn’t necessarily a disadvantage

Founders are often told to “fake it until you make it”.

I don’t really like that.

I don’t want to fake being bigger than we are.

Rafferty’s Shoes is small. We’re new. I’m learning, and there are people in this industry who know far more than I do.

I’m starting to think that acknowledging that is actually useful.

I ask questions. I listen to parents and practitioners. I watch children wearing the shoes. I pay attention when something doesn’t work, and I try to make it better.

I don’t want Rafferty’s Shoes to become a business that thinks it has everything figured out.

Being young means we can still listen, change and build alongside the families we’re making these shoes for.

What I brought home from the Barefoot Shoe Expo

Of course I want Rafferty’s Shoes to grow. I want more families to discover our kids’ barefoot shoes, and I want to keep building better options for children.

But the biggest thing I took home from the expo wasn’t a sales number.

It was validation that the question behind Rafferty’s Shoes is worth continuing to ask.

There are parents looking for different footwear options for their kids. There are health professionals interested in children’s footwear. Children also deserve a bigger place in the barefoot footwear conversation.

Adults now have an incredible number of barefoot footwear options. There are running shoes, work shoes, sandals, sneakers and everyday shoes.

Children’s feet, meanwhile, are still growing and learning to balance, climb, jump, run and move.

That’s the part of this space I want Rafferty’s Shoes to keep showing up for.

So when I think back to Andy saying, “Thank you for being here,” I understand it a little differently now.

Rafferty’s Shoes is still very small. I’m still learning. There are plenty of things I’m figuring out as I go.

But after the expo, I feel much more certain that Rafferty’s Shoes belongs in the room.

If you’d like to see the shoes that somehow brought me there, you can shop kids’ barefoot shoes here.

And to think I almost stayed home.