Health & Well-Being

CAIRS Shoes designs fashionable, adjustable footwear for people living with lymphedema, diabetes, pregnancy, and other conditions that make conventional shoes difficult to wear.

CAIRS Shoes is a Greenville-based footwear company founded by LaShonn Edmonds, whose experience with lymphedema shaped its mission. The company creates shoes for people who need both comfort and support because of foot swelling, diabetes, pregnancy, bunions, cancer treatment, heart disease, obesity, and other conditions that can make traditional footwear difficult to wear. The company’s shoes are designed to be fashionable, adjustable, comfortable, and stretchable, using materials and features that enable custom compression, an expanded fit, and greater ease of use. By combining medical functionality with style, CAIRS helps customers maintain comfort, mobility, and dignity without being limited to clinical-looking footwear.

In December 2024, the Village Launch Catalytic Fund recommended a $75,000 loan through Abundance Capital to support CAIRS Shoes. The capital was designed to provide non-dilutive growth financing for manufacturing, inventory, fulfillment, and continued business expansion. The loan gives CAIRS runway to grow revenue before repayment begins while preserving a clear path for the charitable capital to return and be used again.