Fred’s Shoes at PLFM

Last month me & Tara headed down to the the gorgeous Westbury Hotel to check out the PLFM press day. We were invited along by Fred’s Shoes, who we’d been introduced to as a brand at Pure London last year & I fell totally in love with their sneakers, which are launching very soon & I can’t wait to show you in an outfit post!

We’d both had a pretty hectic morning with missed trains, delayed tubes & no time to eat, so when we finally arrived and spotted the tea & biscuits we couldn’t grab ourselves a cup quicker! We were both looking forward to meeting Vic, Fred’s creator & designer, and as we were sat hungrily stuffing our faces she spotted us & came over to say hi. It’s always so nice to finally meet people in person who you’ve been emailing backwards & forwards for a while, and Vic was just as lovely as I expected. We thought we’d be there for about an hour or so, but we got on so well immediately with Vic that we spent hours chatting about pretty much everything – from what Fred’s is all about to her experiences as a designer, sewing machines and even travel, music & movies! We completely lost track of time, like we’d just had a good catch up with an old friend.

Fred’s started with the classic brogue, in beautifully soft leathers of all kinds of colours, and these epitomise what Fred’s is all about – classic shapes made from high quality materials that are simple, fuss free, comfortable & something you can wear year after year. I must admit, I’m still not sure if I could pull a brogue off (definitely not as well as Brogue Queen Tara anyway!) they feel a bit too prim for me maybe? I’m very swayed by the new versions with the heavy tread soles though, giving them a nice toughness, I’ll always love a shoe I feel like I can stomp around in! They come in a great selection of materials too, my favourites were the lizard textured black ones with cream sole & the glossy metallic oxblood ones, I expected these to be quite stiff as is usual with patent leathers, but they were so supple & buttery soft, if I wasn’t already in love, I definitely was now! I also loved the spotted ponyhair ones, I’m not usually a spot kinda person but then I can never say no to ponyhair!

I was pleased to see even more sneaker varieties this time too, including my all time favourite kind – high tops! These came with a nice chunky rubber sole, lightly padded around the ankle & in lots of great leathers, my personal favourites were the washed black pair. The nice thing about these sneakers is the super minimal design with no fussy logos or features, but with plenty of subtle little details, like the waxed laces, rectangular lace holes and shaped tongue. They’re beautifully made, and comfy as hell, I can’t wait to start a little collection!