Taking Narrow Path to Sell Shoes on Net

Here’s the skinny on another specialty e-tailer o surface locally: Narrowfeet.com (https://www.narrowfeet.com).

The virtual shoe store specializes in shoes for women with feet whose widths range from a slender size A to a downright twiggy AAAA. Launched earlier this month, the site offers shoes and boots from about 10 designers, including Sudini, Sesto Meucci, Etienne Aigner and Naturalizer.

Founder Annie Fuselier, 28, got the inspiration for her L.A.-based business after years of hunting vainly for size 8AAA shoes to shelter her own skinny dogs. Growing up, the Louisiana native dreamed of finding a shoe store that carried a huge stock of narrow widths. That’s a losing proposition for traditional retailers.

But Fuselier saw opportunity for an Internet store to reach a nationwide audience without the expense of bricks and mortar or mail-order catalogs.

“I knew the Internet was the vehicle to make it happen,” said Fuselier, who chucked plans to go to law school in favor of staking her claim on the Web.

Fuselier admits she has no previous experience with retailing or the shoe industry. Still, she walked away from this summer’s Shoe Show in Las Vegas with enough commitments from manufacturers to proceed with the launch. She has contracted with Industry-based Shipper.com (https://www.shipper.com) to handle fulfillment, while she tends to customer service from her Wilshire Boulevard office.

Whether she can wring fat profits from narrow shoes remains to be seen, but Fuselier is convinced she’s on the right path.

“Law school will always be there,” she said. “The Internet is booming right now.”

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Marla Dickerson can be reached at marla.dickerson@latimes.com. Lee Romney is at lee.romney@latimes.com.