Published at 09:47, Friday, 07 May 2010
BRINGING funky footwear to the streets of Tynedale is a fashion designer from the west end of Hexham.
Zoe Gilbertson (36) has opened shoe customisation business Sneakart in Bearl Farm, in Stocksfield, with husband Ollie.
The former designer for global sports brand adidas has been busy developing her first business venture, hoping the craze for designing your own trainers will catch on.
The business has developed a material called “sneakskin†â€" a self-adhesive graphic film â€" which can be easily applied to trainers, or sneakers as Americans call them.
In addition, sneakskin can be placed on various other items, such as wallets, purses, drinks bottles and bags.
The material is waterproof, durable and flexible which means it will stay on a product for a number of months, and, in some instances, years.
Zoe (right) is aiming the product at young adults and teenagers as she believes they will enjoy the creativity it allows.
She said: “We think it is a popular product for the younger consumers because kids these days love to make their own choices and be able to change.â€
Running her own business is a world apart from being a designer, but she is already relishing the challenge.
“I wasn’t prepared for it at all and I had to learn everything about running a business from scratch.
“It has been a very steep learning curve over the past two years and I still have a lot to learn, but it has been really good and you have to be prepared for all the hard work, even though you are not really earning the money you are used to!â€
Zoe hopes to expand the business worldwide in the near future, and an agreement with footwear giants Footlocker to trial its products in 50-200 stores in Europe will help her achieve this goal.
“We just need to grow and get into more retailers. It is not really a product which can support us so we need to sell a lot in volume because it is a fairly low value product,†she said.
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk
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