We're LoyalYak®
We love our journey of bringing ShoeSling® to hectic parents and travelers everywhere. Learn more about us and we’re certain you’ll fall in love with the ShoeSling. It's the shoe bag that helps make your life easier!
LoyalYak Mission & Values
Our Mission:
Our mission at LoyalYak is to provide a simple, yet helpful solution for transporting and organizing shoes.
ShoeSling® is a simple shoe bag used to ease life’s journey.
Our Values:
We value integrity, quality, humor and kindness.
We value our customer and vendor partner relationships.
Customers can expect us to create and deliver quality products.
Vendor partners can expect us to follow through on requests in a timely manner.
Where It All Began
Like most products and inventions, ShoeSling® was born out of an observation for a need. We are the creators of ShoeSling and the owners of LoyalYak: the Loy family. Our adventure began several years ago in the Denver airport as we were coming home from one of our favorite vacation spots, Grand Lake, Colorado.
As we were waiting for our flight, LuAnn noticed several people traveling with dirty, dangling shoes or hiking boots tied by the laces to their backpacks or carry-on bags.
One person only had a single shoe tied on. The poor "sole" probably got lost along the way.
LuAnn commented, “There must be a better way to transport shoes on the outside of a backpack.”
The Adventure Begins
After conducting the proper research, we discovered that there wasn’t a shoe bag on the market that you could put your shoes in and attach easily to a carry-on or backpack. It seems that most people either tied them on or used an old plastic grocery bag. While these methods work, they aren’t ideal, and they don’t look very good.
Once a grocery bag is tied on to a backpack it can be hard to get off, especially for kids.
The first order of business was to create a prototype. We enlisted the help of Aunt Debra, who is an excellent seamstress. Thank you, Aunt Debra!
The Adventure Continues
We next picked out material and stitched up a few prototypes. We then gave them to friends and family to field test and provide feedback. Everybody loved them! With the exception of some very minor adjustments, the final shoe bag is pretty close to the original prototype.
With the guidance of a textile expert, Michelle Letendre, we decided to use 100% flexible sport-grade washable polyester fabric that is infused with antimicrobial technology to help discourage the growth of bacteria and avoid that dirty shoe smell! We also added an optional carabiner for easy clipping to a bag or pack. Thank you Michelle!
We’ve even wash tested the product to check for shrinkage and stability of the structure. We know this is an item that will be washed frequently, and our shoe bag is definitely up for the challenge.
The next best thing to actually having a yak carry your shoes around for you is to have a LoyalYak ShoeSling® carrying them!
Patent Pending
The next logical step was to apply for a patent. We found a great patent attorney, Matthew Mitchell, who patiently helped us through the patent process. Thank you Matt!
Patent Approval
We filed in for a patent in 2017 and ShoeSling® was patent approved shoe bag in April 2019. We have a U.S. Patent D 846,320. Whew!!
Who We Are
Mike Loy is a semi-retired Sales/Marketing professional who loves to travel and is a Christ-follower. LuAnn is a passionate volunteer advocate for individuals with disabilities. She is the inspiration behind the product and they have involved their grown children in the company. It is truly a family endeavor and business. Mike and LuAnn have 3 adult children, 4 grandchildren, a dog and a cat.
