COMMON Magazine Europe - SPRING 2017

COMMON//SPRING 2017//
WALK WITH CONFIDENCE
CO-FOUNDER OF THOMAS BIRD SHOES, ADAM TALKS TO US
ABOUT FINDING A GOOD PAIR OF SHOES
By Azhar Ahmad
Tell us a bit about yourself and your role in
the company.
I am one of the co-founders of Thomas
Bird. I've always loved shoes. My main
role in Thomas Bird is marketing and
listening to what our customers tell us.
And I'm always keen to pitch in ideas with
our designers as to which new styles and
colours go into production next.
What drove you to be in the fashion
industry, especially in the shoemaking
business?
The team behind Thomas Bird had worked
behind the scenes for other top end
footwear brands, some for over 30 years.
We had spent a lot of time helping to put
collections together for other brands,
including some well known English and
Italian names. We had learnt about design,
manufacturing, quality control and
marketing. And we had worked with some
great factories In the UK, and Italy. Finally
we got together and said 'why not put
together a collection that we want to see?'.
Set up the brand that WE want - beautiful
design and quality, at a price that is within
reach of more people. I suppose we were
our own first customers.
When assembling a shoe, which part
comes first?
A shoe may be made up from ten or more
pieces of leather. These are individually cut
out from a large leather hide. Decoration
such as broguing might be applied, and the
pieces are then sewn together according to
a pattern to form the shoe's 'upper'. The
upper then goes onto a three dimensional
'last' to form the shape of the shoe and
stitch on the sole. Finally, several stages of
finishing add colour, wax and burnishing to
create the final shoe. It's not a quick
process and can take weeks.
There is a vast difference between English
and Italian style. How does Thomas Bird
capture this essence and unite the two
together?
That is a good question. Some people
associate English shoes with heavy welted
soles, heavy broguing, round toes. And they
see Italian as more light and sleek. Well it
wasn't always so. A lot of classic designs
came from the UK - oxfords, brogues,
chelsea boots - and at times they have been
elegant and sleek. We wanted to capture
that original British essence and elegance
with the fantastic quality, craftsmanship
and finishing we found in Italy. Hopefully
we've combined the best of both.
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