Jane Winkworth Shoe Designer

      There are those people who have a good business idea, then never take them any further and then there are the people whom have the ideas, act upon them and in the process change their lives and probably the world in general as well.
      One such person from the latter group is shoe designer, Jane Winkworth. Who in a moment of inspiration, opened her first store; "French Sole" in 1989 She would go on to own and operate 400 shops, with a high calibre list of famous celebrity customers.
      Interestingly, as a young girl she had a certain fascination for everything to do with ballet and more particularly ballet shoes, which she wore through most of her early and teenage years. always trying to seek them out wherever and whenever she could.
      Originally from Weybridge in surrey, she went to London to study Art, eventually dropping out to work for the fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki at Biba.
      In 1988 whilst on holiday in Spain, she discovered a shop in Marbella, selling a range of ballet flats. The shop was on the verge of going out of business and upon sheer impulse, Jane purchased their entire stock and brought them back to the UK.
      She began by selling a few items to family and friends and after all the shoes were sold, she began buying more shoes, in small quantities, sometimes end of lines, from French manufacturers. These she took to sell on a rented stall at various NSPCC fairs, often selling out her stock straight away, later extending her horizons at a number of other locations around the country.. During these times as she continued to sell through various Christmas and Summer events, she was able to make a deal with the Hirigoyen family, a french shoe manufacturer, to supply her with ballet fats, but often using Jane's chosen materials and unique colour variations.
      With her new supplies now under control she continued with the table-top sales, but began moving into Mail-Order only store, she was then able to take over the lease of a shop to test the demand for her products. And in the first day's trading was amazed and delighted to find a number of people waiting at the front door for the shop to open, attracting customers from far and wide.