How Clothes Affect Focus: Dr. Steffie Tomson’s TEDx Talk

CliffsNotes (Quick Takeaways)

• Dr. Steffie Tomson recently appeared on the TEDx stagee to deliver her talk, “How Your Clothes Could Be Distracting You at Work.”
• Dr. Steffie explores how wardrobe discomfort creates sensory noise that competes with our ability to think clearly.
• Steffie shares how cutting her own heels in half in the lab revealed rigid, abrasive materials that amplify pain and distraction.
• Cognitive neuroscience connects wardrobe discomfort to reduced cognitive performance and increased mental load.
• The talk introduces The Sensory Edit, a simple, practical method for dressing to think, lead, and create at your highest level.
• Watch the full TEDx talk on YouTube (link below).
  

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When most of us choose what to wear each morning, we think about how we want to appear: polished, confident, elevated, or fun. What we rarely consider is how our clothing and accessories will make us feel hours later; and how those subtle sensations might affect our focus, productivity, or ability to think clearly.

In her recent TEDx talk, Dr. Steffie—cognitive neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and founder of Steffie’s—uncovers a truth many women know, but rarely articulate: sometimes our wardrobe is thinking louder than we are. This talk isn’t about fashion for fashion’s sake. It’s about how the sensory environment created by our clothes directly influences cognition, attention, and decision-making.

The Moment That Sparked a Movement

Dr. Steffie’s “ah-ha moment” began on an ordinary workday while she was a professor at Baylor College of Medicine. A seminar she desperately wanted to attend popped onto her calendar. It wasn’t in her schedule, but it was only a quick 10 minutes across campus. If she moved some things around, and walked briskly, maybe even a light jog, she could make it.

But it wasn’t that simple.

She was wearing heels that made it impossible to jog, or even walk quickly.
So she skipped the seminar. And she regretted it.

Women everywhere understand this scenario: rearranging our decisions, meetings, or energy around wardrobe discomfort. The idea that clothing could shape our choices, big or small, stayed with her.

Fueled by curiosity and a little frustration, Dr. Steffie did what any scientist would do. She brought her heels into her lab, took them to the bandsaw, and sliced them straight in half. Inside she found rigid architecture—plastic, metal, nails—of course these materials cause pain. T Heels are unintentionally designed to amplify shock by incorporating rigid components.

This discovery became the spark that eventually grew into Steffie’s high-performance heels. Dr. Steffie engineered a brand new shoe with soft, responsive foam, designed to absorb impact rather than create it.

The Neuroscience Behind Distraction

In the TEDx talk, Dr. Steffie explains why sensory discomfort has such a powerful impact on our cognitive bandwidth.

Pain, whether major or subtle, is a survival signal. The brain is wired to treat this as a priority. Signaling, “Hey! Stop what you’re doing and fix this.”

A tight blazer, itchy tag, heavy necklace, earrings that sound like windchimes, a shifting shoulder strap, or shoes that pinch, may not be life-threatening, but the brain doesn’t know that. Over hours or days, those sensory inputs accumulate into cognitive noise. That noise competes with our ability to:

• Focus
• Lead
• Think deeply
• Create
• Socialize

And it’s just downright uncomfortable! As Dr. Steffie puts it: “Do you really want a wardrobe that is thinking louder than you are?”

Imagine surgeons, firefighters, astronauts, judges; anyone whose work requires total concentration. Their clothing is intentionally engineered to be:

• soft
• familiar
• predictable
• silent
  

So, why should the rest of us operate with anything less?

Introducing: The Sensory Edit

Dr. Steffie teaches a simple, highly effective method you can start using immediately. She calls it The Sensory Edit. It’s not a closet cleanout or a style overhaul—it’s a filter. It’s one question you can ask yourself every time you get dressed or shop: 

“Will this interrupt me?”

To put it into practice, ask yourself:

• Will this headband give me a pressure headache?
• Will these bangles clang on my desk?
• Will this blazer make me uncomfortably warm?
• Will this seam scratch my skin or this tag itch all day?
• Will these heels slow me down or make me think about my feet more than my work?

If the answer is yes, set that item aside for moments when deep concentration isn’t required. Like at a special event, or a fun night out. Beautiful (uncomfortable) pieces still have their place. The key is wearing them strategically, not when you need your full cognitive bandwidth.

The Sensory Edit is not about eliminating things you love. It’s about choosing the right moments to wear them, so they enhance your experience rather than distract from it.

Why Does This Matter? and Why She Built Steffie’s

Steffie’s heels are the direct result of everything she’s learned at the intersection of sensory neuroscience and everyday life.

Her TEDx talk reinforces the mission behind her company: 

Women deserve wardrobe choices that support, not sabotage, their ability to think, lead, move, and create.

Engineered foam heels weren’t created for fashion’s sake.
They were designed for cognitive freedom.

A shoe that absorbs shock instead of amplifying it gifts your brain more mental bandwidth.
A wardrobe that stays quiet gives you the clarity to show up fully.
And a sensory-aligned closet puts you first, allowing your ideas to take the stage, not your discomfort.

When we’re comfortable, that mental bandwidth gets reinvested. It shows up as deeper focus, more patience, sharper listening, and greater creative flow. It’s why casual Fridays often feel lighter, why working from home in sweatpants can unlock productivity, why sundresses, soft knits, or familiar silhouettes allow us to move through the day with ease. When clothing stops demanding our attention, we gain the freedom to think more clearly, collaborate more openly, and stay present in what we’re doing rather than managing how we feel.

By contrast, clothing that is itchy, heavy, tight, noisy, or slightly “off” quietly drains that same bandwidth. Even if it looks good, discomfort pulls our focus toward those pinching seams, slipping straps, aching feet, and constant micro-adjustments. Over time, those sensory interruptions add up, stealing energy that could otherwise be spent problem-solving, leading, creating, or connecting. Comfort doesn’t lower standards. It raises capacity.

In a loud world we all deserve clothes that allow our minds to lead. 

Watch Dr. Steffie Tomson’s TEDx Talk

For the full talk, and Dr. Steffie’s signature blend of humor and science, watch the full talk here:

Watch the TEDxFiesole Talk on YouTube - Watch Now!