Sara and Erin Foster of Favorite Daughter accepted the Launch of the Year Award from Gayle King at the 2025 Footwear News Achievement Awards on Wednesday in New York City — and the sisters showed off their comedic synergy in their speech.
The honor began with remarks from King, who said, “There are two things I put high on my list of stuff I love. One is smart, chic, badass, fantastic women. That’s one. The other is smart, chic, badass, fantastic shoes. Tonight, I’m here to honor both.”
After singing the praises of shoes and how powerful they can be, King, who mentioned her entire ensemble was from Favorite Daughter, showed her admiration for the brand and the Foster sisters.
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“They’ve launched a collection of boots that I have on, pumps, flats, loafers, sneakers, that mix effortless style with comfort. They really like the C word, it stands for comfort with a capital C.”
The sisters showed love for King, with Erin Foster saying, “Gayle, you are an icon. We are happy to even be breathing the same air as you.”
Erin Foster joked, “Being here and getting this award is very meaningful to us, not just because we are proud of launching shoes with Favorite Daughter, but also because we’ve lost so many awards this year.”
“We really have. Emmys, Golden Globes, Critics Choice,” Sara Foster said, adding to the bit referencing the sisters’ Netflix series “Nobody Wants This,” which made the rounds on the awards circuit this year. (Erin is the creator, and Sara serves as executive producer.)
Sara Foster spoke to the challenge of sustaining a brand: “We started this brand, you guys, five years ago, during a time where obviously, as we all know, brands are a dime a dozen, everybody has one. And if they don’t, it’s definitely on their roadmap. It’s really fun to start a business, but it is really, really hard to keep running one.”
The sisters are deeply involved with their brand, and as King also noted, have an eye for detail.
Erin Foster said, “It’s always been the highest priority for us to be involved in every part of the business; there’s nothing too small or any detail that we don’t care about.”
The speech went on to acknowledge the importance of Favorite Daughter’s business partners. The women’s label launched with Centric Brands in 2020 and teamed with Caleres for the recent shoe endeavor.
Sara Foster said, “The smartest thing we did was building this brand with a partner. Jason Rabin, I can’t see you, but you’re there. Thank you for this opportunity number one, but the team at Centric and Jason have been the secret to our success. And when it came to launching shoes, we are proud to say that we made another very smart decision in partnering with Caleres — Jay [Schmidt] at Caleres and the entire team.”
The sisters’ comedic flair was woven throughout the speech.
Erin Foster said, “Speaking of feet, I’m sure you’re all avid readers of the website WikiFeet, where they put photos of celebrities’ feet. I looked us up, both of our feet today, and Sara, your feet have a star rating of 4.89 out of five. But mine have a rating of 4.94. I just wanted to share that with the room.”
Both sisters ended the speech by expressing their gratitude, and Erin Foster called on the audience to help raise Sara’s WikiFeet rating — “It would mean a lot to her.”
Last year, the Launch of the Year Award went to Sara Blakely’s Sneex brand.
For 39 years, the annual FN Achievement Awards — often called the “Shoe Oscars” — have celebrated the style stars, best brand stories, ardent philanthropists, emerging talents and industry veterans. The 2025 event is supported by Caleres, Listrak, Nordstrom, Skechers, Vibram and Wolverine Worldwide.
