(cont)

footwear for names like Marks & Spencer, BHS, Tesco and Asda and was, upon her appointment, immediately sent off to see how her prototypes and market products are produced to expand on her understanding of the commercial context in which her designs would be manufactured.

Trips abroad to cities like Milan, Paris and New York, returning with the latest designer shoes and clothes from the cities’ high-fashion boutiques yields a good deal of inspiration and helps Claire to have shapes, materials and colour nearby when designing.

“During autumn and winter, there are loads of boots, with utility shapes and block heels.” Says Claire. “Metallics, heavy jewelling and geometric peep toes are trends that designers are following.”

Nonetheless, it’s not all glitz and glamour – the process of bringing a designer shoe to market is the result of over 100 drawings and 50 prototypes, with around 20 eventual shoes in a given range taken to market. Claire says she’s capable of drawing over 10 shoes per day, and takes around a week and a half to initially sketch a collection about a year before the chosen designs are carried through to manufacture, in quantities of 500-1,000 in the case of wedding shoes, to 5,000 for commercial ranges and up to 100,000 for supermarket footwear.

More recently, Claire has worked for firms in Italy and Portugal on classic footwear, seeking a move away from mass commercial markets. Having turned freelance in 2005, Claire’s career has taken a new step (no pun intended) following her marriage to husband Richard.

“I’m always really picky with my own shoes but I just couldn’t find any wedding shoes I liked.” Says Claire. “It was impossible, some were beautiful but cost £500, whilst others were half the price but were in no way special… eventually I came to the conclusion that I could do better… and I’ve always wanted my own range. So, I decided to go for it!”

As such, Claire has decided its time to give brides a new range of designer footwear and has already begun to design her range, set up her company and complete much of the design, development and market research necessary.