Could you tell us about your new British Heritage Collection and what we can expect?

The small collection adds a new softer, flexible TR rubber-sole to the Young Soles family of soles, increasing our choice of footwear. We have created four new lightweight and flexible styles based on the “Best of British”. Starting with ‘Diana’ and ‘Dolly’; both stylish Mary-Jane shoes with a slim strap and a cleverly disguised Velcro fastening behind a single buckle together with heritage brogue punch detailing. ‘Lucy’ is a classic double-strap T-bar that also has a Velcro fastening disguised behind its buckles as well as dragonfly punch detailing. Finally, ‘Tommy’ is a practical unisex lace-up boot with a padded leather collar. The shoes are beautifully styled with the attention to detail that you come to expect from Young Soles and made in Europe using the fi nest leathers.

Where did the design inspiration come from for this collection?

The collection was actually created as a response to requests from our customers, who loved our style and quality, but wanted something a little more traditional and formal for their children to wear. These styles are perfect for our infant and child customers to add something a little more formal to their footwear collection. Staying true to our brand ethos of “inspiring childhood memories”, we dug down into our past and summoned up memories of formal footwear from our childhood. Whether it be from school, weddings or family events there were many cherished “shoe inspired” fl ash-backs to be had. We kept a refi ned and elegant look to all the styles, but give it the Young Soles contemporary twist and practice applications such as Velcro fastening.

How important is sustainability to Young Soles and does this collection feature eco-friendly styles?

Sustainability is very important to Young Soles and is embedded in our DNA as a small family run business, but for us it is much more than just environmental issues. The Heritage collection is made from locally sourced materials and all our leathers are low Chrome and sourced as food by-products.

What makes the styles in this collection so special?

We feel that, once again, we are offering our Young Soles customers a greater choice of quality footwear. Much like our Vegan collection, this collection was made in response to feedback we had from our customers and retailers. We are always happy to react to the needs of our Young Soles family and to be able to do it without compromising our brand ethos whilst making some beautiful shoes makes us even happier! As most of the fastenings are Velcro, these styles are also perfect for teaching little ones the art of independent fastening (putting shoes on and o themselves!). Q And finally, do you have a favourite style from the collection? A My favourite is the Lucy doublestrap T-bar, as it “screams” British classic and so many people have already commented on how they had a pair “just like them” when they were kids.

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