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Some brands are built on marketing. Nina Shoes was built on family. It started in 1953, in a small factory on Prince Street in the heart of SoHo, New York. Two brothers Stanley and Mike Silverstein, Cuban immigrants with a passion for craft began handmaking women’s shoes from scratch. Wood-bottom clogs with leather and vinyl vamps, fastened with upholstery tacks. Simple, beautiful, and entirely made by hand.
Stanley named the brand after his firstborn daughter, Nina. It wasn’t a marketing decision. It was a declaration of what the brand would always stand for: something personal, something made with love, and something meant to make women feel good.
Start With Comfort, Not Looks
From the beginning, Nina Shoes had a distinct point of view. The early clogs and patchwork styles captured the spirit of downtown New York creative, expressive, and effortlessly cool. They appealed to everyone from the mod girls of Greenwich Village to the fashion crowd in Miami and Hollywood. Women who cared about style chose Nina, and word spread fast.
What set the brand apart wasn’t just the design it was the attitude. Nina Shoes understood that fashion should be fun, that a great shoe could change the way you carry yourself, and that glamour didn’t have to come with an impossible price tag.
A Family Business, Through and Through
Over seven decades later, Nina Shoes remains exactly what it was at the start: a family company. Stanley’s daughter, Nina Miner, the woman the brand was named after serves as Chief Creative Officer, bringing her lifelong connection to the brand into every collection. The company is led today by CEO Ezra Dabah, who has guided Nina into new categories and new markets while staying true to the values the Silversteins established in that SoHo loft.
That continuity is rare in fashion. Trends come and go, brands get acquired and repositioned, and the stories behind them often get lost. Nina has kept its story alive not as nostalgia, but as a living design philosophy.
Pair the Shoe to the Dress
Your silhouette is the best guide to your shoe style. A full ballgown will hide most of the shoe, so focus on how it feels rather than how it looks though a peek of crystal or satin at the toe is always a lovely touch. A sheath or fitted gown puts your shoes on full display, which means this is your moment to lean into detail: embellishment, a delicate ankle strap, or a bold metallic. A high-low or tea-length dress is an invitation to have fun go for something with personality, whether that’s a Mary Jane, a ruffle-trimmed sandal, or a vintage-inspired block heel.
Think Beyond White
Ivory, champagne, blush, and silver are all stunning choices for wedding shoes and often more flattering alongside a white gown than stark white shoes. Silver and gold metallics photograph beautifully in both natural and indoor lighting, and they have the added bonus of being genuinely wearable again after the wedding.
What Nina Stands For Today
In a crowded footwear market, Nina’s proposition is clear: exceptional design at a price real women can afford. The brand occupies a space that is increasingly rare genuinely stylish, genuinely well-made, and genuinely accessible. Most styles fall well under $150, without the feeling of compromise that often comes at that price point.
Nina has been worn by celebrities, featured in national press, and sold in major department stores across the country. But the brand has never lost sight of who it was made for: the woman who loves fashion, appreciates quality, and knows that a great pair of shoes is one of life’s real pleasures.
