WHERE

WHERE @ Need Supply

A little bit of press for us at WHERE coming from Need Supply, a really cool boutique in USA (Richmond, Virginia). They also have an online shop.

At Need Supply they sell brands like Jeffrey Campbell, Dolce Vita and Frye, which are amongst our favorite American brands, so nice to be next to them.

They say:

“We discovered WHERE during our last trip to the UK. Besides the amazing design, the companies ethics and fundamentals as a whole are what really attracted us to them. The pieces are hand made from very small producers and artisan communities around the globe. Everyone involved in the entire process of each piece receives a fair wage and is treated with the upmost respect, the way things should be. Designer Laura Villasenin is responsible for the footwear’s unique look. Laura graduated from London’s renowned school, Cordwainers, with a first class design degree in Product Design and development in the fashion industry.”

WHERE @ Need Supply's blog

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Last Wednesday ASCENSION celebrated the opening of their first retail store in London. Previously ASCENSION (known as ADILI before they re-branded) were selling their products exclusively online.

This new flagship store (1800 squared foot) on St Christopher’s Place, very close to another of our favorite shoe boutiques, AUTHOR shoes.

As Adam Smith, from ASCENSION, said:

“…Not only we are delighted to provide superior costumer care service and the best selection of today’s stylish eco-offering, but we also look forward to offering a platform for young designers to showcase their work”.

Black By Noir, Edun and Sonya Kashmiri are some of our favourite names also available from ASCENSION.

And of course we are really happy to be part of this exciting new opening. Thanks for giving us the chance.

PS. In the gallery above, you can see the WHERE products that ASCENSION is stocking.

WHERE is going to India tonight in preparation for the development of the Spring/Summer 2010 collection. So WHERE thought it would be interesting to re-visit the last trip to India. It focused on the development of our Spring/Summer 2009 collection.

The trip was hectic, packed with visiting the workshops in the cities of Jaipur and Delhi as well as working & developing with artisans in rural areas.

This is because every WHERE shoe consists of hand crafted elements or recycled parts.

We spent more than a month in India working on the project, and I wish we had taken more pictures, but at that time we were not (yet) into blogging as we are now. This time it wont be the same. Promise.

Thank goodness for Pooja, our Indian connection traveling with us from CFM (community friendly movement).  She has such a bubbly and easy-going approach, apart from being an excellent translator.

India is a whole new universe. Some of the things that we found very interesting, apart of shoe making, was visiting block printing and textile workshops (block print stamps and block printer master below).

Right across India you will find small companies, organizations and factories that are intensely involved in product development, whether it is fabrics, shoes, leather work or jewelry. And its not only in the cities but in rural areas as well.

When jobs are provided for those living in rural areas it helps to keep families together. Normally in rural areas there are not many jobs, so usually the men move to the cities to work in big factories and spent months away from the family to be able to send money. Very often this is what happens in developing countries.

We would like to contribute to keep this from happening in India where possible. And in conjunction with our IFAT partner, Community Friendly Movement, we ensure that workers received fair wages and received rational contributions.

We are not able to produce a whole shoe in the rural communities, because to make shoes some special machinery, skills are needed, but we can make some of the components in rural communities, specially for the summer ranges.

We then transfer the components to a small size organized workshop, where the shoe making and leather work is still done by hand, but with the correct tools and skills needed.

WHERE is looking forward to more sights and sounds and stories from India. And of more ridiculously hot temperatures (40 degrees to estimate), mad traveling plans and even more interesting product designs!

In August our new range of fairly traded felt slippers will come to the shops and you will also be able to buy them in the WHERE shop online.

For us collaborating with creative people is important. They bring in new influences and their talent to WHERE.

We invited Leen Michiels to come up with some character design for our range of felt slippers made in India under Fair Trade conditions.

Leen is a Belgium designer and artist living in London. She has worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, character designer, storyboard artist and in art departments of films and commercials.

And its fair to say that we are very happy with the outcome of the collaboration.

Look out for the slippers on the shops in a few months, after this hot summer (we hope!).