FILA's Rise of the Independents: Rime

Rime's Sue Boyle breaks barriers in the sneaker game.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Being obsessed with shoes is an age-old stereotype about women. But being a lover of sneakers is usually a guy thing. Isn't it?

Sue Boyle begs to differ. She is the owner of Rime, a New York City-based sneaker boutique with locations in Cobble Hill and on the Upper East Side. To Boyle's knowledge, she is the only such female proprietor in the game. She is also the focus of Episode 4 of FILA's new series, Rise of the Independents, which you can check out by clicking on the video above.

Boyle's love of sneakers is unquestionable (after all, she did wear sneakers at her wedding), and it is her mission to break down what she describes as the "preconceived notion that girls are just not into sneakers--we only want heels." Boyle says that this perception is patently false. "There's a lot of girls out there wearing a lot of sneakers, and we buy product more than guys"--which is probably why Boyle has a whole slew of female kicks stocked in her inventory.

"Sometimes you have to take a risk and do what nobody else is doing to make your store stand a little differently," Boyle says. So far, it seems, that mindset is working out pretty well.