Shoemaker’s mission: Woman’s promise to herself as a teen creates fashionable footwear for extended sizes

Michiganders have a new shoe brand kicking up dust in the footwear industry.

And to think, it's all because of a promise a young girl made to herself and others hoping to find fancy shoes for big feet.

"There was always an issue finding shoes for me," said Sierra Massey, CEO and founder of Cee Cee Massey, a company providing fashionable footwear in extended sizes, recalling the frustration both she and her mother experienced.

When she was born in Detroit Massey weighed 9 pounds and 10 ounces.

That's a bit bigger than most babies but it was her length and feet that created a problem from day one.

"You know the cute little baby blankets everyone uses?" Massey said.

Her mother couldn't swaddle her in one of those because of her feet would stick out. So, she swaddled her in a twin-size blanket. And when she was finally ready for shoes her mother had to shop at Stride Rite, where she was able to find shoes for little but bigger than most baby's feet.

"Every year my feet got bigger," said Massey, whose father wore a size 16 EEE. "By the time I was 14, I was wearing a size 12 men's."

She didn't mind wearing men's running shoes.

"I went more for the tomboy look anyway," said Massey, who now wears a women's size 14.

It's all of the times that she shopped in the girls' shoe department, with her fingers crossed, hoping the pretty shoes she happened to see came in her size but never did, that bothered her.

"I wanted to wear the cute dress and the cute shoes to match, but that was never an option," Massey said, and while always disappointing it was a school dance that set her on a path to becoming a cobbler with a mission.

"I was in eighth grade," Massey said, recalling her days as a middle school student in Dearborn Heights and the Valentine's Day dance that had her and her friends excited about what they would wear.

Nike was known for its release of a limited edition shoe celebrating the holiday, either white and red, or pink with sparkles, so she and her friends made a pact: half of them would wear pretty heels and the other half would sport Nike's holiday shoes.

"That year's edition had a heart on the back and, of course, they didn't come in my size," Massey said.

Still, she went to the dance.

"I ended up wearing some heels but they were so ugly," Massey said.

She felt out of place the whole time and finally called her mother crying to be picked up early.

"I remember hugging her and telling her that I never want to feel that way again," Massey said. "I told her when I grow up, I want to make shoes for girls like me. I want to make shoes for girls with big feet."

This led to her decision to become a shoemaker but it's her strong will and fierce determination, inherent traits that she got from her mother Lynette, that led to her success as a cobbler and entrepreneur.

"We spent some time at Turning Point," Massey said, recalling that fateful night when her mother decided to leave her father with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

"I have memories of being in the shelter and sleeping in my mother's arms," Massey said.

Yet, despite the situation she does not remember it being a bad thing. Instead, she recalls her mother getting them up early and taking them to interesting places in and around Macomb County.

"We spent a lot of time at Metro Beach and the museum," she said, of what is now known as Lake St. Clair Metropark.

It was also during that time Massey's mother became determined to provide a better life for her daughters including Massey's older sister, and not only completed her associate and bachelor's degrees but is currently working on her doctorate. While attending Macomb Community College she also worked in admissions, helping other students.

So, it's no surprise to anyone that after high school Massey made good on her promise to herself, and not only attended business classes at Wayne State University but jumped on a bus and commuted from Detroit to New York every week, for six weeks, so she could take a shoe design class. After completing her studies to become a cobbler, Massey went to work making shoes out of a shop in her garage.

"I was determined, and when I felt down or deterred I would go to Payless where I would find nothing in my size," Massey said. "It would re-inspire me to say, yes, this is what I'm supposed to do."

Her first shoe was a green mule.

This led to other designs, a sandal, boot and eventually the need to mass produce them.

After working with several manufacturers, in India and China, where nobody wears a shoe bigger than size 12, men or women, Massey decided she needed to learn more about manufacturing.

In 2012, she began working at Detroit Manufacturing Systems (DMS), while still honing her craft as a shoe designer. Her work there not only taught her about the manufacturing process, from designing a prototype to creating a product, but her enthusiasm and drive gained the support of the company's new owner, Bruce Smith. During the following years and through COVID, Smith and DMS's Chief Operating Officer Ben Meachem helped Massey start her own company, Cee Cee Massey Shoes.

"I'm incredibly proud to support Sierra Massey in her entrepreneurial journey with the launch of Cee Cee Massey Shoes," said Smith. "Sierra's dedication, creativity and vision align perfectly with our company's values of innovation and excellence. By investing in her dream, we are not only empowering a talented member of our team, but also contributing to the growth of a brand that promises to set new standards in the footwear industry. We believe in Sierra's potential to revolutionize fashion with her unique blend of style, comfort and quality and we are excited to be part of her success story."

Today, Cee Cee Massey is a brand that provides stylish and comfortable shoes to women with feet bigger than a size 9, and up to 16. Pretty shoes that invoke confidence and elegance with every stride taken, whether it's a woman on her way to work, or a teenage girl headed to her middle school Valentine's Day dance.

"People don't realize how important a simple pair of shoes can be until you can't find them," said Massey, who's most popular product is the Malayah sandal ($49) , which can be worn with jeans or a pretty dress.

Feet facts

Over the last century, shoe manufacturers and retailers have known that Americans' feet are getting bigger, according to a report by Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America.

It states one reason for the expanding feet is that they're proportionate to Americans' expanding bodies.

There are brick-and-mortar shoe sellers willing to stock slightly bigger shoes, but some are reluctant to purchase the ones whose sizes fall at the further end of the bell curve because they're convinced they will not sell enough.

The U.S. Census Bureau collects industry data on shoes but only colors and types sold, and nothing about shoe size.

The National Center for Health Statistics keeps comprehensive anatomical statistics on Americans, from the average circumference of their heads to the skinfold thickness of their triceps, but next to nothing on feet. According to the FDRA report the last foot survey taken was in 1963, when the average foot size for women was 7 1⁄2.

There are different scales for shoe sizes all over the world. A size 10 shoe in the U.S. is a size 9 in the United Kingdom, somewhere between 42.5 and 43 in Europe and between 270 and 277.5 according to the Mondopoint system used in Russia, Japan, China and several other Asian countries.

According to the Guiness Book of World Records the woman with the largest feet in the world is Tanya Herbert, an American whose right foot measured 13.03-inches or a size 18.