Dear Friends,
Thank you for checking us out! We hope you like what you’ve seen so far.
We started Madison Harding a few years out of college after being frustrated that we couldn’t find any shoe lines that we absolutely LOVED. We had always been dedicated vintage shoe collectors and were getting sick of supporting the local shoe repair man. We wanted great quality, amazing styling and at a price that wasn’t a month’s rent. Why were there no shoe lines we could depend on each season to provide us with the perfect mix of what we needed in our closet to get us through the season?
Both of us having backgrounds in fashion, Hil had just finished helping build a successful contemporary fashion brand, and Barri worked in sales in a multi-line showroom, we set out to fill that gap and start a shoe line for girls looking for the same things we were. We also noticed there weren’t many successful women run contemporary shoe lines out there and thought it was strange that most of them were run by men.
So, in 2007, we used our factory connections overseas to make a mini-collection of about 7 styles and set out to take over the shoe industry! Unfortunately, the shoes looked like plastic barbie shoes and we knew no one would want to have anything to do with them. So, after a few years, a lot of hard work and many bottles of wine, we hit our stride. We started producing styles in Brazil, and began selling the line in-house to stores like Shopbop, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Piperlime, American Rag, and Blue and Cream. It wasn’t long before girls whose style we absolutely adored, Chloe Sevigny, Whitney Port and Lake Bell, started wearing our shoes.
Our name, Madison Harding, represents our roots, Hilary grew up on Madison Ave in New York City, and Barri, on Harding Drive in New Jersey. Today, we both call New York City home, place of work, and inspiration to everything that is Madison Harding.
We hope you find a Madison Harding design to make your next favorite shoe. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you on Twitter, and Facebook. Also, be sure join our mailing list to so that we can keep in touch!
Xoxo
Hilary & Barri