In Their Shoes – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, Katie Greenyer chats to Sophia Webster – artist, entrepreneur, ‘boss-lady’, and Mum who is known for her joyful, playful, feminine shoes that are instantly recognisable. Sophia tells the story of her journey into footwear from a degree course at the London College of Fashion to a Masters at the Royal College of Art. Throughout her student training, she sought internships with the designers she wanted to emulate; her first post-degree collection and collaboration with Browns in Mayfair was a sellout.   

Sophia’s appeal is global – her fabulous shoes with their distinctive butterfly branding are available in over 200 retailers around the world. She opened her first boutique in London in 2016 with a second store just two years later. Her book: ‘Oh my gosh, I love your shoes!’ was published in October 2023.

Sophia’s story is one of tenacity and determination. Rejection she says is really important – ‘it’s like a test of what you really want’. Her message is always to play the long game. Don’t compare yourself with other shoemakers, manage your own expectations but be true to your unique vision. And she’s giving back to charity with an important collaboration with Butterfly Conservation helping to highlight two of the United Kingdom’s most endangered butterflies. 

Sophia is an icon for emerging footwear designers – proof that resilience, talent, and determination will out. It’s a brilliant podcast for anyone thinking can I make it in fashion? She’s a lady on a mission to get everyone – including Barbie – wearing the most fabulous shoes and that includes extending the range up to size 13 the first high-end shoe designer to be truly available to all. And yes, seeing her first shoes on display gave her ‘butterflies’. 

https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/sophia-webster-collaborates-with-butterfly-conservation

In this episode Katie Greenyer chats to Sacha Spencer, Senior Buyer for Womenswear, M&S. Listen as they chart her journey in footwear. From an occasional Saturday job in her parent's shoe shop in Somerset and a love of all things creative to a career of over 20 years of experience in retail. With over half of which spent with Clerks, she describes her rise from shop floor assistant through trends analyst and range manager roles through to senior buyer at one of our leading retail brands.

Listen out for Sacha's top tips and secrets to being a successful buyer, it goes beyond having a keen eye and ability to build a range. They talk about the importance of speaking to your consumers, how to do it, the need to take calculated risks and role of leadership. Emphasising the need to be brave - be the voice in the room for consumers and the need to believe in your product.

Hear Sacha's on-the-ground insights into the impact of COVID of retail, the changes in buying habits, the move of consumers online and the challenges of the global recession that is starting to bite. Katie and Sasha explore the concept and practicalities of ‘positive business’, how to set yourself apart from the competition, trusting your instinct and learning from the occasional stumble along the way.

Throughout the conversation, Sacha highlights the importance of mentoring, networks, and support both to her career and for the future of the footwear industry.  A champion of the importance of giving back, this podcast offers a warm, personal insight into what inspires and drives Sacha as an individual and professional. A must-listen to anyone interested in engaging with consumers and finding out more about different retail roles in footwear and fashion.

In this episode, Katie speaks to Helen Kirkum, London based artist and designer and the inaugural winner of the Cordwainers Footwear Award in 2014. Helen has developed a unique formular learnt from manufacturing to deconstruct and reconstruct footwear utilising recycled and dead stock. She has the ability to tell the most incredible stories through her work and started her own studio in 2019.

Katie and Helen discuss what first inspired Helen’s journey into footwear and specifically attending the course at the University of Northampton, in the UK’s footwear manufacturing mecca. They discuss the opportunities Helen grasped with both hands from the Cordwainer Footwear Award to winning an internship at Adidas in Germany, exhibiting as part of the Sneakers Unboxed Exhibition at the Design Museum to launching her new bespoke range at London Fashion Week. She emphasis the importance each of these were in spurring her on to the next step and boosting confidence in her ideas for her brand.

Helen speaks passionately about the post-consumer waste in the industry and her drive to upcycle and be sustainable, both in designs and as a business. The importance of demonstrating and slower, smaller way of creating a brand, working with charities can still work. Listen to discover more about her design influences, planning what you are doing with your brand, knowledge sharing and top tips for budding students on how to network. Find out more about mentoring slots for young designers and downloadable workshops such as her sneaker sculptures.§

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In this episode Katie interviews Beatrix Ong, fellow Cordwainer and a footwear legend that has collaborated with some of the world’s most respected designers, brands and artists. She is best known for her sustainable and eco-focused practices within design, for which she has been awarded an MBE.

Step into the shoes of the sometimes author and judge of the Cordwainer Footwear Awards as she describes her personal journey from art and graphics into footwear. From wining a ‘terrifying’ magazine internship at Harpers Bazaar in New York to working with Jimmy Choo in his bespoke workshop helping produce shoes for the likes of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Later becoming Choo’s Creative Director aged just 22, helping take the brand from a small workshop to a global brand.

Katie and Beatrix talk about meeting the Queen, designing shops and the inspiration and detailing of an Ong creation. Hear how seeing the wastage in factories drove her to try to make sustainable shoes. Beatrix argues that often her low points have been the defining moments where she has taken time to ‘checked in’ with who she wants to be and her business to be. In 2002 she launched her eponymous shoe range which quickly garnered significant attention and landed her a place on the Independents newspapers Top 10 Leading Shoe Designers list, alongside Manolo Blahnik. Discover some of the challenges from running your own label to launching the company of x in 2019 – an eco-focused platform which merges design with social and environmental sustainability

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In this episode, Katie talks to Charlotte Olympia Dellal who built her own footwear brand in 2008, after studying at London College of Fashion. Charlotte Olympia’s products are famed for their spin on Hollywood glamour, a mantra that as a designer she lives and breathes. A fellow Cordwainer and judge of the Cordwainer Footwear Awards she has a sharp eye for detail and is an inspiration to fellow designers across the globe.

Bought up in a globetrotting family with a mother who was in fashion, Charlotte believes that your accessories and hairstyle can dress you up more than anything else. They discuss the drive and inspiration behind her brand mixing 40’s and 50’s glamour with a novelty twist, and the journey she took to get there including working in a fashion house in Paris and manufacturing her graduation collection in Brazil.

Charlotte offers insights into how she seeks to strike emotion with her creations, and the connection we all have with our own footwear. How many shoes do you think she has in her own personal archive?

Listen in to hear more about the opportunities and challenges of collaborations, from working with MAC to Barbie. Hear about her defining moments, opening her first store, and her hints and tips on how to grow and develop your brand.

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In this episode Katie speaks to Dominic Casey, fellow Cordwainer, master craftsman, teacher and bespoke shoemaker. Dominic has worked in the bespoke shoe trade for over 35 years. He originally trained as an orthopaedic shoemaker while simultaneously teaching the BA course on design and pattern making at Cordwainers college. He has his own workshop, worked in the ladies fashion industry and for 15 years taught on the footwear design MA at the Royal College of Art.

They discuss his style influences and journey from management consultant to become a craftsman at what turned out to be a renaissance time in the footwear industry.

They delve into the topics of hand techniques, home-made tools, patent making and the challenges of starting your own label. Find out Dominic’s views on the value add of the personal bespoke service, what customers expect and building a shoe wardrobe.

With light-hearted tales of a disastrous first commission and his venture with Steven Lowe teaching lastmaking at Lastmaker House you’ll never look at your feet the same way again.

The conversation ends with Dominic arguing the importance of reviving handmaking skills being lost from the industry such as ‘turn shoes’.

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In this episode Katie speaks to Caroline Groves, a fellow Cordwainer and master shoemaker, her brand is internationally renowned for luxury craftsmanship in shoes and accessories. Her work seeks to blur the lines between fashion, art and fantasy, often combining embroidery and needlepoint. She believes there are many ways to make a shoe and it is as much to do with the heart as the head.

Katie and Caroline discuss her craft influences and journey into the footwear industry. The challenges and lesson’s learnt along the way, from the importance of doing due diligence and the positive impact of PR. With wonderful personal anecdotes about the singular difference a good client can make to a bespoke business. Can you guess what happened to the polka dot shoes?

They touch on issues of supply and sustainability around leather, from vegetable tanning in the UK, to quality and traceability from Italy. She also highlights the importance of networking, mentoring and support between craft artisans. Listen to find out more about she gives back, by sharing her knowledge and working with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust to support an apprenticeship in her own workshop.

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In a jam packed episode Katie chats to Joachim Sedelmeier, fellow Cordwainer, Judge of the Cordwainer Footwear Awards and Head of Design at Paul Smith - one of Britain’s foremost designers renowned for his creative aesthetic, ‘classic with a twist’.

Growing up above the family shoe shop in Germany, his childhood memories are filled with the smell of leather, but he initially resisted the idea of working in the industry. He shares his journey from orthopaedic apprentice and application to Cordwainers College.  His passion for product and inspiration from art, architecture and cycling.

Katie and Joachim discuss the pivotal internship at Red or Dead and what he has learnt from his impressive range of experience with a variety of brands since then, from Jones the Bootmakers and M&S to working as a freelancer the likes of Coach and Calvin Klein.

He highlights the challenges faced setting up his own casual footwear brand, Skive and the importance of balancing design flair, commercial success and leadership style. They touch on issues of footwear detailing, fights for good quality and comfort vs cost.

Hear them swapping thoughts on how rapidly the industry had changed and the inspiration they take from judging the Cordwainer Footwear Awards. Nurturing and mentoring the next wave of footwear design talent, from the award winners to details about apprenticeships at Paul Smith.

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In this episode Katie speaks to Michael Atmore, style icon, fellow judge for the annual Cordwainer Footwear Awards and Chief Brand Officer, Fairchild Media, at Penske Media Corporation and importantly Editor of Footwear News, the industry’s bible for the shoe business.

Their discussion opens a window onto both his business and personal life, from being a member of a big sporting family and his love of New York and all things vintage, through to a career which includes stints in product sales, modelling, acting and of course writing.

They touch on the sheer scope and range of the industry from athletics companies to individual bespoke designers. Then delve into the responsibility and challenges of his powerful position, where editorial has the ability to change the culture of a company. And discuss the rewards of being able to spot, nurture, and grow new talent. Listen for tips on mentoring and what you need as a creative starting a new business.

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In this episode Katie chats to Guy West, fellow Cordwainer and judge for the annual Cordwainer Footwear Awards. He is an entrepreneur, co-founder and designer alongside Mark Jeffery of established brand Jeffery-West. A footwear brand that has a worldwide reputation in offering individual, highly distinctive men’s footwear.

Offering insights to Guy’s personal and professional life from kite surfing to craftmanship, they discuss his inspiration heroes and style influences, including sub-culture trends, DIY and vintage fashion.

Growing up near Northampton it’s not surprising that he ended up making shoes. Listen to hear how he and Mark Jeffery went about creating their own label, crafting goodyear welted shoes for the stars, ranging from David Bowie and Tom Jones to Zac Efron.

Katie and Guy discuss what goes into good craftsmanship, sustainability and signature style. How Jeffery-West distinguishes its brand through story telling, as well as the finer points of seasonal directions of collections, collaborations and the logistics of running a business from being on the shop floor to crafting the product.

They make the case for a return to proper retail experience vs the online trends. The thrill of opening your first London, then New York shop and the smell of leather.

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This podcast is produced by Audio Coast