It started with a little girl with bonkers energy levels and shoes that kept slowing her down.
That felt wrong. So we fixed it.
Launched in 2022, Dubs exists because the kids' shoe market was broken in three ways and nobody was fixing all three at once.
Too many brands were shrinking down adult styles and calling them kids' shoes.
Fast fashion was churning out cheap throwaway pairs that wrecked feet and trashed the planet.
And buying any of it was a nightmare.
We knew it didn't have to be that way.
Working with kids and their parents, we set out to answer three questions nobody else was asking:
Can we design a shoe built properly for a kid's foot?
Wide toe box. Sensory-friendly design. Incredibly flexible. So comfortable, kids forget they're wearing them.
Can we make sizing simple?
Size from home with AI or print our accurate size guide. Whatever you choose, getting the right fit takes minutes. No more buying a six and a seven just to guess.
Can we do all of this without wrecking the planet?
Planet-friendly materials. Independently verified to cut carbon by 56%. And when they're outgrown, not outworn, sold on through Dubs Preloved. We call it the Immortal Sneaker Movement.
These three questions guide everything we do.
Every design decision. Every material we choose. Every sole we build. Because we believe kids' shoes can be properly comfortable, genuinely planet-friendly, and easy to buy, all at the same time.
Nothing complicated.
Nothing compromised.
Nothing that slows a kid down.
Meet our co-founders
Stuart and Gary
Dubs was born in lockdown, founded by lifelong friends Stuart and Gary.
Stuart's daughter Leila has always been completely, utterly, gloriously bonkers.
The kind of kid who treats every walk as a sprint, every puddle as a target, and every climbing frame as a personal challenge.
He watched her slow down for nothing, except her shoes. They didn't fit properly. They fell apart. And even the good ones were destroyed after a term.
That felt wrong.
Gary, a fashion designer, had seen the same thing. Throwaway designs. Poor fit. Zero comfort. The kids' shoe industry was broken and nobody was fixing it.
So they did.
Today, Dubs is on a mission to make sure nothing slows a kid down.
Not uncomfortable shoes. Not shoes that fall apart. Not shoes that wreck the planet.
Trainers that let kids be kids and keep going long after one kid has outgrown them.
