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ye 7 Ae Sharon Bayliss, centre with creative director Karen Brittain, right, and Jamie Buisman, sales and marketing director. Photo Continued from page 21 stamping and branding iron ready to do its job. Piles of orders line the wide counters, ready to be shipped to the home-based sewers who receive the individual parts and transform them into slippers that this team swears are the most comfortable and flexible on the market. Slippers are due back within a week to the work- shop, where each pair is checked for quality control and embellishments like bows and crystals are added for the deluxe version of the slipper. But it is what the slipper does not have that makes wearers really kick up their heels. “There is no elastic barrier on the bridge of the foot,” says Brittain. This innovation is at the heart of the patent the team is seeking. It helps free the foot as it moves, twirls, does housework, stomps across a casino floor, navigates a slippery pool deck, keeps time to a drum (all examples the staff offers of ways people wear the practi- cal shoe), or, of course, dances the night awé Bayliss recently impressed another influential celeb- rity when the team hit a “gifting experience backstage in Los Angeles at the Warner Brother Studios, with Amer- ica’s Best Dance Crew,” says Sharon. The event was hosted by American Idol judge Randy Jackson. “It was a backstage gifting experience for the semi-final competi- tion.” 22 FOCUS - JULY 2012 07. JULY FOCUS 64 pages.indd 22 by J. Peter Hvidsten “And it was fabulous,” says Sharon. “We got lovingly nicknamed by one of the celebrities who fell in love with our product, because it was so unique. He couldn't decide if it was a shoe or a sock so he nicknamed it ‘schowk,’ “ says Sharon. “The goal was to meet and network. We were looking to get our brand recognized, and we did that. We are in- vited back for another opportunity on the second week of July. We secured a distributor, which means that we have representation in Los Angeles for sales.” The Sallazzo team also participated in an Alice in Wonderland-themed event to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. “We donated 200 pairs of slip- pers that went to children of celebrities, and children celebrities as well as patients,” says Karen Brittan. “We were giving them something that was very appropriate and good for the children in uncomfortable situations.” Even while the team eyes the feet of the global mar- ket, Port Perry residents can still purchase the slippers (usually priced from $17.95 to $19.95) right here in town at Ooh La La!, Forever Friends, Everlasting Memories, T-Zone and Durham Pharmacy at the Medical Clinic. “We are 100% Canadian,” says Bayliss, “and really proud to be Port-Perry-ian. We're always happy to have other retailers on board.” By Karen Stiller Focus on Scugog 12-06-25 11:17 AM