Not necessarily. A new last and sole are among the biggest upfront costs in a first collection. We've developed our own lasts and base designs, and we can adapt them to your brand, so you get a distinctive shoe with lower tooling costs and a faster start. When the collection proves itself, you can move to fully custom lasts. For shoes that need specific comfort engineering, we usually recommend a custom last from the start.

It depends mainly on how many styles you want, your order quantities, whether you need new lasts and soles, and how many sample rounds it takes. Projects typically start from €3,000. Third-party costs such as lasts, soles and samples are passed through at cost plus a handling fee, shown openly on every invoice.

Production runs start from about 100 pairs, depending on the construction and the factory, and we can sometimes be more flexible depending on the project. That makes a first collection possible without committing to thousands of pairs.

Usually 4 to 12 months, depending on the shoe and the complexity of the project. The biggest factors are decisions and timing, not drawing: brands that know their customer, price point and style direction move fastest. If you're starting without a last or a defined brand look, plan for the longer end. Timing also depends on when in the year orders are placed with factories and suppliers.

In Italy, Portugal, Spain and Germany. We choose the factory and suppliers to fit your product, quality level and quantity, and we oversee sampling, production and quality control on your behalf.

No. Many of our clients come from outside fashion. We explain each step and each decision as we go, and Lili also teaches design process and product development at university level, so explaining the process is part of the job.

A rough idea of the styles you want, who your customer is, your target retail price, roughly how many pairs, your budget and your launch date. If you don't have all of it yet, that's fine; part of the first call is working it out.

We handle collection planning, design, technical development, sampling, factory selection, production oversight and quality control. Collection planning means making sure the shoes fit your brand: which styles, how many, and how they work together at your price point. Logistics, marketing and launch stay with you.

Yes. We'll be honest up front about what footwear involves, especially tooling costs, which are much higher than for clothing. Starting from our lasts is often the right first step for a brand testing the category.

You do. Clients own their final designs.

Yes. Fiona is American and is your main point of contact, and we work in English, German and Italian. Your shoes are made in Europe and we manage production here, so you don't have to.

Yes. Alongside footwear, we design and develop bags and small leather goods, made through the same European network and with the same process.