Small steps see shoe sales soar

Small steps see shoe sales soar

As retail bosses this week celebrate Birmingham's small shops, Consumer Editor EMMA McKINNEY disovers the city's top independent footwear firms taking big strides to success. WITH 814 independent shops to its name, Birmingham boasts the 13th highest rate of small retailers in the whole of the UK. Bosses at Retail Birmingham, aimed at promoting the city's stores, Pets Still Homeless After Joplin Tornado feel these one-off shops are so vital to attracting shoppers to Brum that this week it is holding a 'Celebration of Independents' to shout out about small shop success stories.

Among them are many burgeoning shoe retailers, which have been successfully navigating the economic storm, while other major high street chains have folded. Rachel Simpson set up her own business three years ago - arguably a brave move considering the recession. "Some people thought I was a little mad to be taking a big risk," says the 31-year-old, who lives in the Jewellery Quarter. "But I knew if I didn't bite the bullet I would never do it."

After graduating in footwear design in 2001, Rachel first worked for a small shoe firm before going on to create children's shoes for fashion giant Next. She then went freelance in 2005, with the view to set up her own firm. "I was so busy with freelance work I didn't have chance to do anything about my own business," she admits. "So I took a risk, dropped lots of clients and got on a plane to Milan to source factories."

After designing bespoke bridal shoes for close friends and family, Rachel realised there was a gap in the market for vintagestyle wedding shoes that did not break the bank. "Working for major fashion stores had left me sick of copying designs off the catwalk, turning them round as cheaply and quickly as possible to beat the competition. I wanted to make something timeless, something special." She launched Rachel Simpson Shoes at a wedding fair in 2008, and since then she hasn't looked back, moving the business from a studio in her back garden to a factory in Digbeth last year and now employs two staff.