Leather uppers are made using the highest quality materials sourced from reputable dealers who assure me that they themselves source from equally reputable dealers.

I try to design styles which are both beautiful and functional. With this premise in mind, the shoes are all made to accomadate the natural shape of your own foot (the pointy bits extend beyond this line) allowing your feet to function as mother nature intended. I don't believe your feet should suffer for you to have beautiful shoes!

 

Accessory and shoe patterns are all drafted on recycled card collected from various sources! I then hand cut every individual pair and item from the hide (they aren't cut with a machine), carefully assemble them and finally stitch them together using a vintage leather sewing machine. Soling is cut using an old wheelwrights saw, previously used locally for making cart wheels! My sanding machine is home made (birthday present from a clever Husband) from a recycled washing machine motor!

I do not use lasts (modern ones are all plastic), instead I shape each individual pair by hand, manipulating them with my fingers to attain a uniform shape, sculpting the leather as I go. Bags etc are likewise cut by hand and sewn with equal care!

 

They are quite simply, a labour of love....

 

All stitching is worked using strong synthetic thread (sorry but it will last and after all you don't want your shoes falling apart). The shoes are all fairly robust and should give you excellent service and comfortable mileage for many seasons! I personally do not offer a resoling service, BUT your footwear can easily be resoled by any reputable cobbler, or even by yourself, thus extending the life of your shoes and avoiding adding to ever growing landfill sites. 

 

Shoemaking was once a flourishing trade in this country and every town and village could boast of a resident shoemaker or two! I hope that in my own small way I can keep this ancient craft alive. We all wear shoes every single day and yet many of us never give a thought as to where they come from, who made them, what with, where they go when we've finished with them, etc? 

I own many pairs of Fairysteps! My shoes have literally walked hundreds if not thousands of miles. Within a few weeks your own pair of Fairysteps shoes will begin to change. The leather foot bed will take on the contours of your foot making them feel ultra comfortable, like a glove, and the outer stitching line which is visible on the new shoes as a little ridge all around the edge will disappear making your shoes look, I think, even better! Wear them and enjoy them!

 

The Fairysteps workshop is heated by wood and will soon be powered by green energy.

 

A NOTE ON PACKAGING: for the benefit of the environment (and us), I recycle some boxes and packaging. Only clean, sound boxes will be reused. All interior packaging that comes into direct contact with the product is new. I hope you approve!