Freed of London Ltd
Legendary Ballet and Theatrical Shoe Manufacturer
If ballet is about precision of form, artistry and personal expression, the same can be said about Freed of London’s ballet shoes.
They are produced in an unassuming building on Well Street and are worn by prima ballerinas all over the world. Freed of London was founded by cobbler Frederick Freed and his wife Dora in 1929, in St Martin’s Lane where the company still has its flagship store. Mr Freed brought international success to the company by inventing the “turn-side” method. The shoe is built inside out, allowing the maker to customize size, width and other different components to fit an individual dancer’s foot. This invention revolutionized the dance shoe industry where, before, only standard sizes where available.
“No two feet are the same - a shoe needs to fit a dancers foot.” This was Frederick Freed’s philosophy then and it is still lived by at the factory every day.
Freed’s moved their factory to Well Street in 1971 when Hackney was a hub of shoe manufacturing. While all other shoe producers have since disappeared, Freed of London is still going strong. They produce 250’000 pairs of pointe ballet shoes per year and supply more than 90% of the world’s professional ballet companies. Two thirds of all the pointe shoes produced at the company are made to the specific requirements of a dancer, which makes Freed’s shoes the preferred choice for many of them.
shoe lasts
Each maker – there are about 30 of them working at the Well St. factory – shapes their shoes a bit differently. They sit at their benches, meticulously crafting the so-called “block” part of the shoe – the hard part at the tip that encases the toes. The “block” contains no wood or plastic. It’s built with layers of paper, card, hessian and a paste made from flour and water, as well as some secret ingredients. Every maker and can be identified by a symbol on the soles of the shoes – such as an anchor or a crown – and ballerinas tend to have their favourite makers who they often stay with for their entire dance career.
Once the shoe with its finished block is wrapped into a pink satin blank it goes into the oven to be hardened overnight. In the binding room, the additional pieces are sewed on, the shoe is cleaned, polished and then paired up. All the different work steps have a quickness and rhythm to them. The patience and dedication of the craftsmen is striking.
A pair of fitted, specified pointe shoes costs around £40 - a surprisingly low price considering the fact that every part of the shoe is fashioned and guided by the human hand and human eye - and the fact that Freed has kept its production in England.
Inside the "binding room"
“A shoe, whether it is for the principal dancer at the Royal Ballet or for a ten-year-old aspiring ballerina, costs the same. That is a really beautiful thing, “ says Freed’s James Scanlan.
Besides the Ballet Department, the factory also houses a Theatrical Department where ballroom, Latin and shoes for musical theatre are made. Here you find a designer and pattern cutter, “clickers” who cut out the leather, people who sew the pieces together and workers who assemble the different elements to complete the shoes.
Many of the men and women who work for Freed come from long lines of shoemakers, with skills passed down from one generation to the next. The specialisation of the production makes the contribution of every member of the team important to the quality of the finished product and it is trough this loyal team of craftsmen that Freed has built such a proud heritage.
This article appeared in the October 2016 issue of Love East Magazine