Sophia Webster is a British luxury accessories designer, she founded her eponymous label in 2012. Webster is most known for her playful, yet bold designs and has accomplished distribution in over 200 retailers worldwide. In 2014, Marie Claire named Webster as one of 7 designers who represented the future of British fashion. In 2015, Webster's 'Riri' shoe went on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum as part of their 'Shoes: Pleasure and Pain' exhibition. In 2018, Webster opened her second boutique in Chelsea, London.
Sophia Webster speaks with Forbes reporter, Rosemarie Miller about her book, Oh My Gosh, I Love Your Shoes detailing her art/design background, the highs and lows of bringing her brand to life, and resilience.
Sophia Webster speaks with Forbes reporter, Rosemarie Miller about her book, Oh My Gosh, I Love Your Shoes detailing her art/design background, the highs and lows of bringing her brand to life, and resilience.
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CreativityTranscript
00:00 Hi everyone and welcome to New Money where we talk to movers and shakers about how they
00:07 made it.
00:08 I'm your host Rosemary Miller and I have the pleasure of speaking with luxury shoe designer
00:13 Sophia Webster.
00:15 Thank you so much for joining me today.
00:16 Thanks for having me.
00:17 Absolutely.
00:18 So you wrote this beautiful emphasis on beautiful book.
00:22 Oh my gosh.
00:23 I love your shoes.
00:26 What inspired you to write this book at this time in your life?
00:30 Well I didn't set out to write a book.
00:33 I had set myself a challenge on New Year's Eve 2020 to sketch a shoe a day from my archive
00:44 because the pace of fashion is very fast.
00:46 You know it's there's a real thirst for newness.
00:49 It's one season to the next and I have an art background.
00:54 I didn't come into fashion.
00:55 I didn't grow up loving fashion.
00:58 It was more art and I sort of fell into shoes.
01:01 So for me my shoes are like little works of art and I approach them as I would a pain
01:06 and you know piece of art.
01:08 So sketching a sketch in each shoe a day was like a I started as a bit of a mindfulness
01:16 challenge.
01:17 But as I as I was going and drawing these shoes different memories just kept coming
01:23 to me memories of inspiration stories behind the shoes you know just the experience of
01:30 being a young entrepreneur and the roller coaster of what that is.
01:38 Yeah all these memories just started popping up and it was almost like putting a bit of
01:42 a jigsaw together and I guess that book is like the whole picture of my journey.
01:49 And before we get into that roller coaster because I am yeah I want to talk about you
01:53 sketching these shoes.
01:54 I saw the sketches you have it somewhere.
01:56 Yes like a pull out.
01:57 Yes.
01:58 Yeah.
01:59 There's 365.
02:00 365.
02:01 Sophia you would wake up at midnight you just wake up and go sketch shoes.
02:12 Yeah.
02:13 So the realities of like running a business takes you quite far away from the like I said
02:27 I started in art so the designing part for me is my favorite part of the process.
02:33 But the realities of running a business almost takes you away from that a lot.
02:38 So for me it was finding time each day to get back to the part that I really love which
02:44 is the you know the sketching and the creative part.
02:48 So it was meant to be an enjoyable challenge but obviously I have four children so was
02:56 finding like an hour a day and it was in during lockdown as well so it was homeschooling you
03:00 know different bits involved.
03:01 So sometimes I would fall asleep putting my twin toddlers at the time putting the twins
03:08 to bed and then I would wake up at like 10 p.m. having fallen asleep at bedtime and had
03:12 to start furiously sketching this shoe because the rule was I had to post by midnight.
03:19 So I set up a private Instagram account so my friends and family could track my progress
03:24 and also so I couldn't cheat because those people you know I had to post this sketch
03:28 by midnight.
03:30 So yeah I mean it was it was a bit of like a daily dose of like midnight madness I say
03:37 but it was a really great thing to kind of go back through my archive and really take
03:44 a pause and see how far I'd come and how far the brand had come.
03:49 So tell us how far you've come give us an overview of your background.
03:53 Okay so as a child I was very creative and I loved art.
04:03 A lot of the other subjects at school I'd find them a bit boring I would be a daydreamer
04:08 you know when I was in high school I used to go and hide in the art room because I didn't
04:13 like my other subjects.
04:14 So it was always art and dancing I loved dancing as well I was a disco dancer for many years
04:22 a competitive freestyle disco dancer.
04:24 I actually went to Len Goodman's dance school you know the he sadly passed away early this
04:30 year he was the head judge of Dancing with the Stars.
04:33 So his dance school was near where I live so I went to his so he was my dance teacher
04:37 it was before he was famous but it was an amazing dance school to go to and I did lots
04:43 of different dancing competitions all around the country.
04:47 But that particular type of dance is the costumes that you wear are very embellished there's
04:53 sequins, sparkles you know you have to stand out on the dance floor so we're always thinking
04:58 about what color do I want my dancing costume to be and so from very young age I was very
05:03 aware of details and thinking about ways to combine colors to make them stand out.
05:11 So I think that definitely had an impact on me.
05:14 Is this like a in hindsight thing like you realize now that like you know I've always
05:18 kind of been this way or did you know it then?
05:23 I think I knew then that I was I really wanted to follow a creative path I didn't I had a
05:32 lot of jobs as a teenager you know I did like telesales you know like selling double glazing
05:40 on the phone and I used to work on like the shop floor of you know I worked in a shoe
05:46 shop I used to waitress at Indian weddings and I did lots of different jobs and I knew
05:53 that I really wanted to have a job that I enjoyed and I got a lot out of you know in
05:57 my future like that was my goal was to go into something creative because that everything
06:05 else kind of I would get distracted or get bored easily and that was the one thing that
06:11 kept my focus was was being able to be creative so that was definitely the path that I knew
06:17 I had to to follow.
06:19 So you knew it had to be something creative but you weren't quite sure what it was?
06:24 Yeah I wasn't quite sure what it was and then when I when it came to finishing high school
06:30 and having to choose a course at college I knew I loved sculpture and I thought what
06:39 I wanted to do was like special effects makeup because I liked you know it's just been Halloween
06:45 here and I used to like doing prosthetics and cuts and different things on people and
06:51 I thought that would be quite exciting thing to be part of like creating that kind of drama
06:56 for the screen and but I applied to that course and I didn't get in and so I was like well
07:02 what you know what now like that was my that was my plan and but my you know my dad always
07:09 taught us like not to you need to like take knockbacks on the chin and you know you win
07:14 some you lose some he was that sort of person he was like you know get get on with it like
07:18 you know that was sort of what he was like.
07:20 I get that, I started to realize in life like sometimes closed doors are a blessing.
07:25 Yes definitely definitely I definitely see rejection as an opportunity to to like recalibrate
07:34 I guess and reconfigure your goals and also a test of resilience to see what it is you
07:39 actually really want to do you know that is a real test of resilience when you get a no
07:43 or you've a closed door.
07:46 So so my dad was not was never very he didn't have a career plan he was like a real wild
07:53 card so he worked in like betting shops for a long time and I believe it's the same here
08:00 but it's like horse racing and people would go and place bets and different things and
08:03 then then he was a delivery driver and so he didn't really have career goals let's say
08:10 he just kind of just rolled with the punches a bit he was a DJ at weekend so he loved music
08:18 like music was his real passion that he's got the biggest record collection I've ever
08:24 seen in my entire life and he that was what he got a lot of passion out of so he would
08:29 DJ at the weekends but my mum was a teacher so from my mum I really saw like a real work
08:37 ethic and I saw her go through the ranks at school she when I was young she was a English
08:42 teacher and then I saw her go to being like a head of English a deputy head and she used
08:47 to she really set her goals and set her sights on what she wanted and just relentlessly kind
08:54 of went for it and when she was applying for headship roles she she went for lots of positions
09:03 that she didn't get and it was really great to see her get knockbacks and you know she
09:09 would let you know what so sometimes your face doesn't fit but you have to keep you
09:12 have to keep going you know you have to try again and then eventually she went for a headship
09:18 that she that she got and it was it was actually the perfect school for her because it had
09:23 an art specialism so it was dancing and acting and that's what my mum really loves and and
09:29 when she went for that interview I remember the night before I was like what are you going
09:32 to wear and she's like oh I don't know but I know I'm gonna wear my leopard print pumps
09:37 because if I get this job I'm gonna get it being a hundred percent me and I was like
09:42 that you know that for me was was magic because it was like she taught me that you have to
09:49 go into things being 100% authentic like yourself and just don't be afraid to fail you know
09:56 just go for it yeah I don't know if I answered the question. I'm just thinking right now
10:03 I know your mum is so proud you're on Forbes and you're giving her your shout out like
10:08 okay mama okay but I want to know some of the challenges you had to face you talked
10:14 about it being a roller coaster as being a young entrepreneur what are some of the challenges
10:19 you faced and how did you overcome them? I think even right back at college I had a lot
10:24 of challenges so I went to the London College of Fashion so I didn't like I said I didn't
10:32 get into the special effects makeup course and then what I did was I did a year's foundation
10:38 course so it's a course where you do a year in art and you work out which direction is
10:43 that you want to go to but I applied for two other colleges and I didn't get accepted into
10:47 either of them so I ended up going to this college in South London called Camberwell
10:52 College and it was a great place to go because what it did was one day we were there we had
10:59 a life drawing class and I just found myself really focused on the shoes because it was
11:04 life drawing with a fashion model so she was changing outfits and we had to do really quick
11:08 sketches and I was just like so focused on the shoes and I really got a lot of enjoyment
11:13 out of drawing these shoes and one of my tutors there said oh you know there's a college in
11:20 East London where you can learn how to make shoes it's called Cordwainers College so straight
11:25 away I knew that that's where I wanted to apply and I did a degree there at London College
11:30 of Fashion in footwear but on that degree you know there's I think in fashion in general
11:36 and there's a lot of people that want to tell you like how hard things are to do you know
11:42 and how there's a lot of like jaded hierarchies and doors you know that you have to get past
11:49 and I knew that I wanted to have my own shoe brand I just knew it I believed it I knew
11:56 it that was just my my goal and I remember in my final year the you could in your final
12:04 year you could do whatever you wanted to do it was the first time we actually got our
12:08 opportunity to design our own shoes so I my collection was a red carpet collection that
12:15 was the theme so it was lots of crystals, satins, you know really like sparkly embellishments
12:21 that would flash with a red on a red carpet and I remember as part of the coursework you
12:29 had to do like a customer profile so age, where they live, what do they like and my
12:35 customer profile was Beyonce and my tutor was like just looked at me she was like exasperated
12:42 with me because you know I was a debt obviously I was like a bit of a dreamer but she was
12:46 like come on Sophia like you need to live in the real world but I just had this unwavering
12:51 belief that Beyonce was gonna wear my shoes and somehow some way I was gonna make it happen
12:57 you know and like here we are and Beyonce has worn my shoes you know so it's like there's
13:02 a lot of people that are that will offer you up you know advice let's say but even you
13:12 have to just believe in yourself like you know really you don't need their approval
13:16 like the only person who has to believe in you is you and that's sort of what I learned
13:20 at college.
13:21 That's scary to be the only one believing in you especially at a young age.
13:28 Yeah I know.
13:29 How did you manage that?
13:35 I don't know I think I'm naturally quite a resilient person you know I grew up surrounded
13:42 by strong women my grandma was a refugee like I said my mom was you know I saw my mom really
13:51 have like real aspirational career goals and an amazing work ethic and my nan my nanny
13:59 Peggy she was an amazing lady she like suffered so much like heartbreak and such sadness in
14:08 her life and she still sort of got up every day and her style was so fantastic that was
14:15 she was like pure glam she really inspired that in me like she had fluffy slippers and
14:21 she would put her makeup on even she was like peeling potatoes you know she wouldn't answer
14:25 the door until she'd put her you know drawn her eyebrows on she was she was like pure
14:32 glam every Christmas day she would wear this glitter suit and like you know my dad would
14:38 joke that you have to hoover up after every boxing day so yeah I feel very lucky that
14:44 I grew up surrounded by really resilient strong women so that was kind of instilled in me
14:49 from a young age.
14:50 Wait wait so stop right there I want to go back to when you said you believed you just
14:57 knew it you knew that going to the shoe school was what you wanted to do a school that would
15:02 help you design shoes you knew that's what you wanted to do.
15:06 How did you what was the feeling what was the difference in the feeling of knowing that
15:11 that's what you wanted to do versus when you thought you knew that special effects makeup
15:16 yeah that's what you wanted to do because I don't know there are a lot of people out
15:19 here kind of wondering aimlessly or thinking maybe I should be doing this but you knew
15:25 yeah that this was the thing.
15:26 Makes sense?
15:27 Yeah that makes sense yeah I think it's like just a gut feeling you know and obviously
15:32 a lot of my shoes are butterfly details but it really was I really it really gave me butterflies
15:38 like thinking about having shoes as my career and doing that and strangely enough it was
15:44 in the same prospectus the makeup course and the shoe course at London College of Fashion
15:49 and I did always used to just fall on that page sometimes I think oh you know that but
15:55 yeah and then once I'd started drawing shoes and then I would go into the workshop and
16:00 I would do some like carvings that almost look like heels and I just yeah I don't know
16:05 I went to the library at school and I would just research all different shoe designers
16:09 I just was like a dog with a bone like once I've got it in my head that I want to do something
16:14 that was it I was like learning all about shoes and different shoe designers and I found
16:18 this one shoe designer who did these amazing sketches he was called he's called Edmundo
16:25 Castillo and at the time he was the creative director for Sergio Rossi and I would go on
16:31 their website and look at his sketches and they were just so incredible the way he would
16:36 draw a shoe it was like complete confidence you know the lines everything was and that
16:41 that's when I was like I want to be that good I want to be able to draw a shoe that good
16:45 and then from that day I just drew shoes every day I just wanted to I wanted it to be like
16:51 second nature you know.
16:52 And is that the first time in your life you ever wanted to be that good at something?
17:01 Yeah I think so yeah I do yeah I think so yeah.
17:05 You're inspiring me right now.
17:10 When was the moment that you knew I made it?
17:18 I think there's probably different moments in different ways like obviously it's absolutely
17:23 amazing to see celebrities and superstars wearing something that I've designed and knowing
17:29 that their foot is like touching my name that is really kind of mind-blowing to me so I've
17:34 been very fortunate that I've had some really amazing celebrity moments and probably my
17:40 biggest moment is Oprah wearing a pair of my Cocoa pumps for her historic Me Too speech
17:47 that that was a real moment in history and to be a tiny part of that was super special
17:54 but having said that I would also say seeing my customers in the street spotting someone
18:02 on the train or in a restaurant wearing my shoes that's really special because you know
18:08 I design them to make people smile when they wear them when they open them and then when
18:13 I see women wearing them that really makes me smile so it feels like a bit of a full
18:17 circle moment and then I would also say back at the beginning just the first time I saw
18:24 my shoes in store or online that was there was a moment actually for my very first collection
18:34 and because I used to do silver service waitressing and when in the evenings after college and
18:40 I did an event at Stella McCartney's first I think it was the first birthday of her store
18:47 opening and I remember like walking around with a plate of canapes and just following
18:54 like Stella McCartney around this party and thinking I want to have this one day you know
18:58 I want to have my own brand and my own store this would be amazing and it didn't even dawn
19:04 on me that like well her dad's the one in the Beatles and your dad's like a delivery
19:09 driver that didn't I don't think like I'm like I said I'm some people would sound a
19:15 bit delusional and a bit you know like I have these like crazy dreams and that but that
19:20 for me I was like I'm gonna I'm really I'm gonna do this you know and then the first
19:26 season I sold to Net-a-porter and I remember when the shoes landed online I couldn't wait
19:32 to like scroll through the list of designers and then I saw myself there next to Stella
19:37 McCartney and I was like wow you know that for me was a moment I was like wow so if you
19:42 like you know you actually did it you know but that was right at the start obviously
19:47 that was you know I got there and then there's still lots more to do it's very there's a
19:51 lot of ups and downs of running a business but that moment for me then it was like you
19:54 know you went from waitressing at a party to being you know and side by side on a store
20:02 in a store so that was a bit that was a very proud moment for me.
20:07 Well let's get into the money.
20:10 How did you learn how to manage your money?
20:15 Well being a startup the money just you put it back into the business you know so for
20:22 a long time we would do that and when I say we it's me and my husband so it's our company
20:28 and for a long time we you know every penny would go back into the company and we wouldn't
20:33 pay ourselves very much we didn't pay ourselves at all in the first few years so it's definitely
20:40 been a real journey for us and going from a startup to then being a more established
20:47 brand you know at every stage there's there's different obstacles and there's different
20:52 challenges it doesn't really matter how much money you have or when you get investment
20:57 and things like that it's just you just have the next set of like challenges so it's really
21:01 a sort of a journey I would say.
21:05 Well who taught you this how did you learn that this is the way that this has to be?
21:10 I don't know if anyone actually taught me I do I like we we would definitely wing in
21:15 it for a really long time and it's only really now that I've been doing it for a decade you
21:19 know this year is my 10th year it's a 10th anniversary of the brand that I can actually
21:24 sit here with any sort of wisdom I would say and say well you know well this is what I
21:29 did you know this is how I did it I don't know whether it's like a the best framework
21:34 for anyone else but you you you kind of have to just take one step at a time and my business
21:40 has grown with me so when I started it I was you know I started it with my then boy it
21:46 was my you know he was my boyfriend then then we got engaged then we got married then I
21:51 added in a bridal line you know then I had my first baby girl then I added in mini shoes
21:57 you know and it's kind of the brand and the product categories and the growth has has
22:02 gone hand in hand with my life it's been very sort of organic and it's been about making
22:08 sense of that as we go along okay so what's the biggest money mistake you've made and
22:14 what are some lessons you've learned from it I don't know if it was necessarily a mistake
22:20 but I think having we you know we opened up a couple of our own stores and I had when
22:27 I opened a store it was on Mount Street which is an amazing shopping street in Mayfair and
22:35 it was amazing to have you know my own little piece of that of that road with one of the
22:40 most exclusive postcodes in London that was really incredible and I love that store and
22:46 I put so much of myself into the decor and everything and then there's so much there's
22:53 so many things that you just can't predict happening and then when Covid happened you
22:57 know I've got a store in the most expensive postcode in London that absolutely nobody
23:02 can go inside you know so there's definitely been some things that may have like started
23:08 out as really amazing opportunities and then throughout free things that you can't control
23:15 have turned into real you know a real drain on the on the business so we were very lucky
23:21 that our lease came up with that we managed to get out of that because we just didn't
23:26 know how long that scenario was gonna was gonna last and and as a business creating
23:35 you know primarily high heels and event shoes that was that was quite frightening and that's
23:43 why I almost pivoted a bit then as well and started doing you know I do a lot of boots
23:47 a lot of different categories we do trainers you know there's that for me was a point where
23:53 we really had to adapt and sort of look around and I'm so glad that I did that because even
23:58 now post Covid women aren't wearing shoes in the same way so it was almost like we sort
24:05 of saw that happening and we were quite a small business or we were able to react and
24:12 be very agile in in that time. So what are some of your biggest investments if you don't
24:19 mind me asking? So my biggest investment personally would be our house and for me and my husband
24:26 you know we weren't we weren't born with silver spoons in our mouth so to be able to
24:33 create a business and then we took an investment and then we we we bought our house that for
24:38 us was was a really incredible moment because we have a big family you know like I said
24:46 between us we have five kids I have a 17 year old stepson and then a nine year old daughter
24:53 five year old twin girls and a one year old so for us to have a home and that's ours that's
24:58 my little piece of London you know that for me is incredible and then like I said we're
25:05 growing our company so when you're growing a company you you have to keep reinvesting
25:09 in that company so a lot of the money goes back into the company to grow it. You know
25:15 I'm curious your shoe is in major stores like Saks how did that happen? So for my first
25:22 collection in 2013 I applied to the British Fashion Council for they offer a scheme called
25:29 New Gen Sponsorships so if you're a young designer you can go to them and they will
25:33 give you a small amount of funding and you get a slot at London Fashion Week so I would
25:40 try and put on these most immersive presentations at London Fashion Week where I really would
25:48 have opportunity to show showcase my world and the world that I would envisage my shoes
25:57 and my designs living in and you know it presentations are great because they slot them in between
26:03 the shows and location wise you choose a venue that might be on route from one show to the
26:08 next and then you'll have press and buyers and different people coming to your presentation
26:14 and so yeah I'm quite thankful to the British Fashion Council because that gave that really
26:20 gave me a platform for press, buyers, stylists you know it was it was then that Rihanna's
26:28 stylist got in touch with me after after that very first show and said oh can I it was and
26:34 a pair of shoes was called Riri so it was like I'd named them that it was like I was
26:38 you know manifesting that she was going to wear them and they her stylist Abigail contacted
26:43 me and actually asked for a pair and if we could send a pair to Rihanna while she was
26:48 in London so which of course I was like oh my god yes of course so yeah that was was
26:55 a great platform because it gave me a real exposure to lots of different buyers that
27:01 were in town for Fashion Week. So what three pieces of advice do you have for young up
27:07 and coming designers? So my my number one bit of advice would be to a student wanting
27:15 to forge a career in fashion would be to get as much experience as you can and to get out
27:22 there and if you don't if you know what you want and you know where you want to get to
27:28 but you don't know how to get there then you need proximity you need to be in the room
27:34 with somebody that is doing what you want to do and be near them even if it's just making
27:41 tea like the amount of cups of tea I've made for people but then you make a cup of tea
27:45 and then you might have a conversation it's like oh I really like you know I really actually
27:50 wanted I'm in this department but I would love to be in that department and that's how
27:54 you can can progress. Just be in there. Just be in there and I used to the very first placement
28:02 I had was with the designer called Georgina Goodman and she designed the shoes for Alexander
28:08 McQueen and I was completely in awe of her and I used to go home at the weekends and
28:15 just draw so many shoes and I used to give her these piles of drawings even though I
28:20 wasn't in the design I wasn't interning in the design department I would just give her
28:24 these drawings and be like George if you have 10 minutes please can you have a look and
28:28 just you know I wanted to learn how to create a great shoe and she was very generous with
28:34 her time you know people are generous if you if you're really eager to learn and you know
28:41 and she would say to me Sophia you're doing what every student does you're designing 10
28:45 shoes in one simplify it pair it back you know and and she would actually give me great
28:50 advice you'd be like take that one shoe and design 10 shoes out of that one shoe and that
28:55 was really good advice because from from really early on I was understanding that you don't
29:01 need to go crazy and throw everything at a shoe you know you can there's there has to
29:04 be a balance and I think probably the other pieces of advice that I would say that was
29:12 like to every every competition that would come up at college because lots of brands
29:25 come to the come to fashion colleges you know with bursaries or competitions that you can
29:30 enter and I entered absolutely everything I entered everything I just wanted to get
29:35 my name out there I wanted people to see what I could do and I entered a competition that
29:40 was the prize was you got to design your own collection for a high high so UK high street
29:48 company called River Island and I grew up loving River Island I was you know that was
29:53 the highest I was high street girl so to be able to design my own collection for them
29:58 was just incredible and I went on to win that bursary and then when I was there that was
30:05 just invaluable learning because I learn how I was already interning at the time with a
30:12 luxury designer luxury shoe designer so I was seeing from their perspective the the
30:19 real craftsmanship and you know the detail of that real elevated part of the market but
30:26 then also at River Island I was learning how every stitch every every single component
30:34 and technique has an impact on the costing of a shoe so I had a really wide breadth of
30:43 like experience that I had learned and that was whilst I was at college so I think it's
30:48 really important to start early and get yourself out there getting that experience and then
30:54 my third bit of advice would be to not DM or email you know you need to pick up the
31:02 phone every gen Z needs I just read something the other day like people are having a hard
31:10 time getting like what the consensus or something yeah pick up the phone but go ahead because
31:20 when I did my collection for River Island I really wanted it to be in Grazia but that
31:26 magazine was where I wanted to be because it's a really good magazine that sort of spans
31:30 designer high street and my mom used to love that magazine she always bought it so I really
31:35 wanted to be in Grazia and I just rung up the the you know switchboard and I found out
31:45 who was the junior features editor and I rang up and asked to speak to her and then it was
31:50 kind of out of my comfort zone to do that but I think you really have to push yourself
31:54 out of your comfort zone and have that very personal interaction and and take the opportunity
32:01 to explain about yourself explain what you do and I got around the phone and I told her
32:06 all about my collection and what I've done at college and I'd won this bursary and this
32:10 collections going to be in stores like nationwide I'm so excited about it and then I had an
32:16 amazing piece in Grazia you know from that one phone call so you really have to make
32:20 yourself vulnerable and and put yourself out there and talk to people and be or be your
32:26 authentic self and because DMS and emails are the easiest things to to ignore you know
32:33 you don't even have to open it yes you know that's true well what's next for Sophia Webster
32:39 the designer Sophia Webster person so I think what's next for the brand is to expand our
32:47 handbags category because we've been seeing some great success with that and I really
32:53 love doing other categories beyond shoes you know I do mini shoes I do bridal range I do
33:00 handbags now and that's really exciting and exciting to see people use my products in
33:07 different ways and even for me as well because with ham and as a retailer as well with handbags
33:11 you don't have the same problems with like sizing and things like that so so that's great
33:18 and I love collaborating as well I'd love to do more collaborations that's one of my
33:23 favorite things to do I've been able to collaborate with some amazing brands over the years from
33:29 J.Crew to Puma you know I really enjoyed doing a sportswear collaboration with Puma that
33:34 I did for two years that was really fun so I want to expand my sneakers categories and
33:41 do some more really fun collaborations as well I just recently did one with LOL dolls
33:45 and do you have them here in the US LOL dolls that sounds familiar yeah I think I think
33:52 you probably do they're really cute so I did they're like really cute little sassy dolls
33:57 that come in balls and so I did a collaboration with with them which was so cute especially
34:02 I've got three daughters yeah that went down really well at home and yeah I don't know
34:06 I'd love to do some more I'd love to do like a collaboration with like a celebrity or something
34:12 I'd love to do one with Mariah Carey the queen of butterflies speak it into existence hey
34:19 yeah and what's next for Sophia the person so for me personally I just gonna keep I just
34:26 want to keep doing what I'm doing and enjoying making and designing shoes and this book has
34:33 been a great way to like just wrap up the last 10 years and really get some perspective
34:40 on all of that and it's made me really excited for the next 10 you know because even though
34:45 we've come this far I still feel like I'm just getting started so yeah I'm excited for
34:51 the future well thank you so much for joining me today so thank you for having me absolutely
34:56 you.
34:57 Thank you for watching!
34:59 Please subscribe!
35:01 Thank you for watching!
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