In April 2003, Ney brought 2 pairs of tango shoes back from Argentina for Jennifer: fuzzy grey pony and black lace, both with sky high stilettos and completely open toes. He had bought them from a tiny showroom in someone's apartment. She thought "These don't look like any tango shoes I've seen before." and then she thought "I think I like them!" and thus it started...

Jennifer Bratt, founder of Maleva Shoes, has been bringing Comme il Faut tango shoes to ladies around the United States and world, since September 2003 shortly after the brand launched and she spotted the shoes on the dance floors of Buenos Aires. Jennifer was one of the first Comme il Faut distributors, selling shoes to her students in New York City and at local milongas, then  at nation-wide tango festivals, and then listing shoes online on her old teaching web site Close-Embrace.com. Jennifer also coined the now popular phrase "Comme il Fauts are the Manolo Blahniks of Tango Footwear".  In 2006, Jennifer opened a shoe showroom in her own apartment in New York and launched the MalevaShoes.com web site. In May of 2008, Jennifer proudly opened a dance studio in San Francisco with her partner Ney Melo: TangoVida. After a brief stint in Miami, they are now back in New York City and New England with their three children.

In March 2014 Jennifer launched her own shoe line under the Maleva label. Jennifer designs the shoes to be unique and sexy, and different from most of the other tango shoe brands out there.

Now over eleven years after its beginnings, Maleva Shoes is going strong, with new shipments arriving all the time. Welcome!