Hourglass Footwear

I came on here to write a review and was surprised to see that mine will be only the second of reviews for this business. What a shame! I hope Hourglass gets more exposure and traffic. I highly recommend them given the quick response and friendly service during my first experience with them.
I became aware of Hourglass’s existence last week, because Q13 did a feature on their Seahawks custom heels and my brother’s partner posted the snippet on my Facebook page. My brother’s partner knows how much I love shoes/​heels, and the Seahawks, so this was right up my alley.
My girlfriend (also a fellow heels fan) saw the post and we suggested to each other that a trip to Ballard was on the horizon, stat. So, literally the next day (I happened to not have any plans on Sunday) we were both free and ready to go. I checked their website, but, it said they are open by appointment only. I emailed them in the morning to see if I can squeeze ourselves in, thinking that it would be unlikely I’d hear back soon since it was Sunday morning, and bracing myself for the disappointment that I may need to wait a little bit longer until I get these coveted heels.
To my delight, Kira responded within the hour, and said that she’d be in until 5 and we can come by anytime to see their showroom. Yay!
We headed down there in the afternoon. Kira was very prompt with meeting us and letting us into the showroom, and giving us the DL on what’s what. They have 4 different typos of shoes (flats, 3″ heels, Stiletto (4″), and Platforms (5/5.5″?) — it’s all on their website). They had about 100 different pairs on display, between different designs and different heights. They also had a number that were 50% off (but none of the sizes worked for me boo-​hoo).
Kira said we can buy anything off the shelf (if it happened to be in our size and a design we liked) to take home that day, or order any size with any design (which would take 2 – 4 weeks). I found a pair of flats that fit me perfectly and in one of the Seahawks designs I liked; you know I nabbed that one. I wanted heels so I ordered them with a slight variation from what I saw on the samples. So excited that no one else would have the exact same pair!
Their prices are extremely reasonable, especially given that these are custom painted shoes! The flats were ~$ 180 and the Stiletto were ~$ 230. Of course, actually price varies on your desired design and how fancy you want to get. They had some bejeweled heels that would cost a bit more. You can ask that the shoes be shipped directly to you for a flat charge of $ 15.
I’ve received so many compliments so far on the flats and can’t wait to get the heels. I’ll update my review if I feel the rest of my experience falls under the 5-​star review; otherwise, no news means good news!

Hourglass Footwear makes unique shoes painted by hand. The display room is amazing, I wanted everything in there. And they’ve recently added more designs, especially Danskos for nurses. The location is in a warehouse part of Ballard. I rang the bell and I was greeted by Kira who took us to the display room, there are windows where the shoes can be seen if you are walking by. There are set designs that you can order from different sizes of shoes (heel, flats, clogs). They are based in Seattle by appointment only (despite what the website says). The designs are lovely and they only have a few pairs in store, which you can buy immediately. If they don’t have it, they will paint them and have them ready. I wish I had known about this for my wedding because I would have purchased a custom pair of heels. Seattle shoe stores don’t typically carry below a size 6. Luckily they are able to order Dansko shoes in size 5 narrow. I asked for a pair of Danskos in 35 Narrow. I tried on several pairs and the flats were comfortable and the pumps and platform heels seemed as comfortable as high heels go. Kira had to order them from Dansko directly and then take a couple weeks to paint them. I had ordered them before August 25^th and toldit would take 2 – 3 weeks for the shoes to be delivered to Kira and then painted. I got an e-​mail it would take a little longer. When they finally got delivered on September 12^th, I did not get a Package Tracking number, email, or call. So when they arrived I was unable to receive them because I was at work and Fedex wouldn’t leave it without a signature and couldn’t get into my apartment building if no one answers the buzzer. So it’s being returned and nearly 7 weeks later I still haven’t received them. I e-​mailed Kira about 5 days ago to inform her that the shoes were being returned and i asked her for the tracking number. She responded after 3 days that she needed to look into it. Five days later, I still haven’t heard back, but I found my tracking number postcard that Fedex left me and it looks like the package is on its way back to Seattle. So, that’s just a picture to give you an idea of the customer service/​how fast you can get your shoes if you don’t know that the shoes are on their way. I will update this when/​if the shoes finally arrive.