Have You Heard of Polliwalks?
January 8, 2008 by Julie Bonner
Filed under Children's Clothing and Accessories
![CropperCapture[26]](http://www.blisstree.com/playlibrary/files/2008/01/croppercapture26.png)
Are these not the cutest shoes you have ever seen? A Newburyport husband and wife team are hoping you think so!
Joel Rusnak and his wife, Cheryl Andonian, of Newburyport are the brains behind these shoes, which are called Polliwalks. They recently started a footwear company featuring duck, alligator, frog and ladybug-shaped plastic clogs with animal-shaped treads. Imagine the prints these shoes are going to leave on the ground! So adorable.
The Daily News interviewed Rusnak and Andonian about their new shoe company. Here’s part of the interview:
Q: Where did the idea for Polliwalks come from?
A. Joel, my husband. He’s a terrific designer. Years ago he was a toy designer; for the past 18 years he’s been a footwear designer, and for several years he’s been a freelance footwear designer. He’s had an idea to design animal-shaped shoes for kids. He’s been looking at it for a long time. We started looking at this and said this is really good, and we thought about bringing it to another company and said, wait a minute, you know, we could do this ourselves.
Q: You got things up and running fast. How did you manage that?
A. Industry connections and calling on favors (laughs). Plus because we’re a small company, we can move fast. It’s not like a big company where we’d have meeting after meeting, and discuss it over six months. There’s only five of us.
Q: What about the name. I understand your son Isaac came up with it?
A. Joel and Isaac and I were in our office brainstorming what to call them. We were thinking about how some were shaped like frogs and you could walk in water with them, and Joel said ‘How about Polliwogs?’ Isaac said no, how about Polliwalks?
Read the rest of the interview here.
Right now, Polliwalks can be purchased at Stride Rite. Eventually Toys r Us, Etoys.com and Shoebuy.com willl be carrying them. I think these are going to be a big hit with kids. What kid wouldn’t love animal shoes? And ones that leave cool prints on the ground. Awesome idea!
See more pictures below the cut.
![CropperCapture[24]](http://www.blisstree.com/playlibrary/files/2008/01/croppercapture24.png)
![CropperCapture[27]](http://www.blisstree.com/playlibrary/files/2008/01/croppercapture27.png)
![CropperCapture[28]](http://www.blisstree.com/playlibrary/files/2008/01/croppercapture28.png)
Be sure and visit the Polliwalk’s website for more information.
Those are some nifty looking shoes. My niece would love a pair of those. I’ll have to check walmart for them.
If anyone is looking to find out more information about Polliwalks, just visit the website at http://www.polliwalks.com
You can find a full list of retailers by clicking on the “find a retailer” button. Right now they can be purchased at select Stride Rite stores, soon in select Toys R Us stores, and many other retailers across the country. They can also be purchased on line at shoebuy.com, lovethoseshoes.com (in the UK) and soon at Etoys.com.
@Jenny – they are adorable aren’t they?
@Cheryl – thanks for stopping by. I wish you all the best with Polliwalks!
Absolutely adorable! These shoes are a must have for the little fashionable up and coming generation.
Absolutely love the idea, Showed my 4 and 8 year old sons. They want me to purchase some. One drawback…..very expensive!!!!! Will have to wait till price comes down.