the story
Just to be clear... Un/tied isn’t really a company, and you can’t really buy these shoes.
This is Evie Ruddy’s story about growing up genderqueer. As a child Evie didn’t quite feel like a girl, but didn’t feel like a boy either. Only recently as an adult, has Evie moved toward a more androgynous gender performance, and begun using they/them pronouns.
The decision to depict the story as a footwear brand originated with Evie’s idea of laying out their shoes from over the years to illustrate the progression of their gender identity. The ultimate form of an online shopping experience emerged as a means of tangibly representing Evie’s lifelong challenge finding shoes and clothes that “fit.”
By highlighting the gender divisions and forced choices of the fashion industry, Evie and the team behind this project hope users who fit neatly in male and female categories will keep this story in mind the next time they’re shopping. We also hope that clothing-store owners will see it and question how and why they market certain clothes to women and others to men. And we hope that people who identify as trans and non-binary see their experiences reflected here.
Un/tied invites us to step into a future with more options, fewer labels, and shoes that come in all sizes, for all people.
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada
story written by evie ruddy
Evie covets men’s shoes. But at five feet tall, Evie faces shoe and clothing choices that are limited by the mainstream fashion industry’s assumptions around gendered categories and sizing. Evie is genderqueer, uses they/them/their pronouns, and has long struggled to match their outward appearance to their trans-masculine gender identity. They live in Regina, Saskatchewan, where they work as a communications officer, freelance writer, and audio walking tour producer. Their short documentaries and essays have been broadcast nationally on CBC Radio, and their print work has appeared in the National Post, the Toronto Star, and numerous other publications.
art director/designer tracey
lebedovich
Tracey is an art director, designer and shoe-lover based in Vancouver, BC who uses she/her/hers pronouns. With over 18 years experience, Tracey has worked on award-winning projects for a wide range of both corporate and cultural clients spanning every medium, from interactive to photography to documentary film. Tracey’s life-long passion for storytelling has helped to reveal the often-hidden but extraordinary value of individuals within our own communities.
project team
producer
Nicholas Klassen
project manager
Jasmine Pullukatt
developer
We the Collective
photographer
Lauren Zbarsky
hair & make up artist
Min-Jee Mowat
production assistant
Justin Mah
impact strategist
Leah Gregg
french translation
Gabrielle Lisa Collard
executive producer
Robert McLaughlin
studio operations manager
Camille Fillion
studio administrator
Carla Jones
marketing managers
Tammy Peddle
Gabrielle Harvey
publicist
Katja De Bock
digital products project manager
Maureen Veilly
information technology
Sergiu Suciu
Bruno Gervasi
legal services
Christian Pitchen
special thanks
- Lynn Davis
- Fifi Edgell
- Josh Fehr
- Stella Fehr
- Zoe Fehr
- Chris Hellewell
- Audrey Hellewell-Hunt
- Roxanne Hunt
- Levi Jacobson
- Jordan Jessup
- Rita Milikin
- Sahjal Pall