A day in my shoes
It’s 9.30 in the morning, the sun is shining, it’s 15 degrees and the air feels warm. I’ve just landed in Spain, more specifically, in Alicante where our shoes are produced. It’s hard to picture how the weather is here in Spain, when you’re sitting at home in chilly Denmark, and my mom always taught me to wear woolen stockings and an undershirt – so I’m hot!
I’m wearing my favorite old down-at-heel boots. I’ve to walk a lot today, in dirty, dusty factories, where people are working at full stretch, glue and wooden shavings are flying around, where nails are lying all over the filthy floor, and you have to move fast when the men have to bypass you. My roccamores are safely in my bag – this is not a place for them!
I meet up with factory-owner, Jose, at the factory to discuss the new upcoming collection. We’ve to choose lasts, heels, materials and talk about designs before it is all handed over to a technician, who starts making samples. The first prototype matches so well to a mosaic bench that is placed behind the factory, I must have a picture of them together!
Jose is a very flighty person who is hard to keep focused for a longer period of time. And in the middle of the conversation, he just had to show me his newest collection of sneakers. They are very cute, even though their design is a bit crazy, and I gladly slip on a pair to make him happy, but there’s nothing like a pair of high heels!
After a long day of developing the new collection, we have worked with Roberto to find the soles, with Pedro to find lasts, with Maria Jose and Reca to find heels, platforms and leather soles, with Elena, Ernesto and Marco to find the right materials, and then we are finally done
Around 8pm I’m super tired, but the day isn’t over just yet. I hurry back to the hotel, take a quick shower and put on a dress and high heels. Tonight, I’m wearing one of my favorite pair of heels and I’m pleased by the comfortable wedge heel while I rush down La Rambla avoiding being late to my meeting with Angela; an Italian designer I met on the plane. She has invited me to join her for Tapas and also to introduce me to her Spanish agent.