Annie Purdy Is Saving The World One Shoe At A Time

Born and raised in London, Annie Purdy never had much interest in Bratz or Barbie dolls. In fact, as a child, she was so unimpressed with her one Barbie that she ended up dismantling it and leaving it legless. Instead of playing with dolls, she channeled her creativity into making shoes, quirky Play-Doh creations and accessories. Although she refused to wear shoes until she was five, the recent graduate of the Royal College of Art now has a shoe game that's stronger than ever.

In our latest edition of Baes with Kicks, we catch up with the talented footwear designer to dive into her journey and explore the inspiration behind her new collection, "Hot Girls Hike."

Name: Annie Purdy
Location: London, U.K.
Occupation: Footwear designer

How did you get into footwear?

I got into footwear after studying at the London College of Fashion. I studied my foundation at Central Saint Martins and I was on the Jewelery, Footwear and Fashion Accessories course. I was the only footwear student in a class of jewelers and started experimenting with waste material by going into my recycling bins, cutting things up and making little shoe-like objects. While I was there, I met an established footwear designer and they offered me an internship so I thought, "Why not? Let's go head first into it."

I was  intrigued by the challenge of it because the foot is such a weird part of the body and it's such a weird shape. I felt like it was a really good challenge to understand a different making process and I've always been really intrigued by how shoes are made, but never tried to make them myself. Overall, it was and still is a process of discovery to develop different techniques.

What do you think is distinctive to your practice compared with other footwear designers?

I hope that what makes me distinctive is my playful attitude towards footwear. I try to use footwear as a vehicle for a wider context; to talk about things like post-consumer waste issues or feminist practices. I use my practice as a shoemaker to delve into various wider topics.

Can you tell us about your latest collection?

I just graduated from my MA at the Royal College of Art in Fashion. It's an MA in fashion, but I specialized in "FAME," which stands for: footwear, accessories, millinery and eyewear. I wanted to study this because I wanted to carry on my practice as a shoemaker, but I also wanted to explore different methods. For my latest collection, "Hot Girls Hike," I really tried to dive into using footwear as a material commentary to explore female hiking experiences. This means using things like hot water bottles, tents, discarded parachutes and kites to reimagine them as shoes to broaden the horizons of what female footwear could look like.

Where do you source your materials?

The majority of the things I use are post-hiking waste materials, which are found on British hiking trails. Alternatively, I ask my hiking community to donate materials to me. I've also used random materials, like the orange ripstop fabric from RÆBURN's sample sale. Being a footwear designer, I don't need to use much in terms of material, so I can often use scraps and other people's waste.

 

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In the future, what materials would you like to use?

I would really like to have a long-standing collaboration with a company that specializes in outdoor materials and work in its waste department. This could be looking at things that are still within the hiking realm and the community of people who want to embrace the outdoors, but also maintaining the importance of sustainable practices within the fashion industry. Material wise, I'd like to use anything that can be repurposed and recycled.

For this current collection, my favorite material was a hot water bottle. I really enjoyed the material challenge of that and through the process of development, I learned how to work with it as a material with different glues and construction methods. Using non-traditional shoe materials with traditional shoemaking techniques is a duality that I enjoy. I'd love to new materials with traditional shoe making techniques to carry on the longevity of being a shoemaker and also being a shoemaker in London, because though it's not a dying trade, it's not a super common profession.

 

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Where do you think the future of upcycled footwear is headed?

The future of the footwear industry needs to look at reimagining what we already have. Rather than creating more from new materials, we need to look at what problems already exist and ways that we can change the system. Once we have different policies in place that can change recycling footwear, or even just consumers having a better understanding of the journey and the lifespan of their shoe, then people will make more conscious buying efforts. However, it's also down to the company to take more initiative once the shoe is sold to consumers, so they still have responsibility over its lifecycle. In terms of upcycling, people need to understand mending practices. Having more common knowledge and access to how shoes are made would really help consumers address wider issues.

What are your next steps?

I'd really like to do community-based workshops to give women an understanding of how to make their own footwear and use available waste materials. I'd also like to collaborate with festivals in the future to gather and repurpose the leftover waste they generate. Festivals often produce a lot of discarded items and finding creative uses for these materials could be an exciting project.

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