Just over a decade ago, Breeze Powell was working for a company that made orthotic shoes. When the owner retired, he offered her and her business partner Myra Spencer the chance to buy his shoemaking equipment. They did just that, and Post Sole Studio was born.
Ten years later, some things have changed – Spencer has departed the business to found the childrenswear brand Shrunk Store – and some haven’t at all. Post Sole Studio is going strong, operating out of its Abbotsford headquarters to offer timelessly cool shoe designs made to order.
“We’re not really reinventing the wheel every season, or even ever – we’re making classic styles that have been in existence for many years. Some of our styles that we’re making at the moment, we’ve been making since the first collection,” Powell tells Broadsheet.
“It’s more about evolving those styles – maybe changing the leather or the laces, or coming up with a new sole option, or putting that shoe on a different last [foot-shaped form] so it has a different toe shape.”
The team is small, comprising Powell, her sister and a handful of others. The shoes are made using machinery that Powell admits is quite outdated and doesn’t come with a user manual – so everyone who works for the studio has specialist knowledge.
The process is a labour of love – the lead time for a pair is four to five weeks, and Powell estimates that she completes between three and 10 pairs of shoes each day. Every fortnight, the team collates the orders, then gets to work cutting, prepping and attaching reinforcements such as buckles and stiffeners. The stitching is outsourced, and then it comes back for further work: buckle holes, laces, making the insole.
“That’s quite time-consuming … It’s maybe a four-part process in that procedure,” Powell says of the insoles. “Then we take the shoe from being 2D to 3D after that – the insole and the upper are glued together, and the shoe is formed.”
Post Sole Studio’s warehouse is also its shopfront and office – a hive of constant activity. “It’s pretty busy and hectic in there: there are always piles of shoes at various stages of completion, and samples and prototypes everywhere,” Powell says. “It’s not a super clean environment – you’ve got dust and leather everywhere,” she adds with a laugh.
The space is shared with a few other brands and creatives, including Par Moi and Permanent Vacation. Being in close quarters with other sole traders keeps the creative spark going, Powell says. “It’s good, especially when you work for yourself … You can nut out ideas together, and you’re all in the same boat.”
Keeping it local is a big part of the Post Sole Studio ethos, from sourcing materials to labour. “I really want to do my best to continue making locally – every time I think it’s getting too hard and think about making options, I’m like, ‘What’s the point? Everyone else is doing that.’ Part of our brand is that we make it here – we’re making them direct to you.
“Most of the leathers we source from a company that’s actually just around the corner, so that’s super handy – they deal in a lot of dead stock leathers, and we get a lot from them, and we also get veg tans in from Adelaide.”
Size inclusivity (the shoes range from Euro sizes 36 to 46) and sustainability are also key considerations for Powell – she’s currently trying to use up the materials they already have on hand. Being made-to-order is another way to stay sustainable. “Not reinventing the wheel every season helps a lot, because the cost of making a whole set of lasts, the plastic they need to be moulded and shaped, and then at the end of the season that needing to be remade into something else … Whereas we’re just using the same thing we’ve been using for 10 years,” she says.
Powell not only designs these shoes – she also proudly wears them herself. She’s been rocking her trusty pair of Beat Boots for four years, and has been getting a kick out of the loafers lately at work. “I’m in the factory and everything is really functional, and I’m on my feet all day long, so I need to be standing and comfortable.”
She also works in the shop on Saturdays. Getting to meet Post Sole’s loyal customers is a great opportunity to see how the shoes fit on real people – as well as hear their feedback and tweak future designs based on their needs. “We have repeat customers for sure – I don’t know them all by name, but I definitely know lots of their faces. It’s pretty amazing being able to make the shoes then pop out to give them to the customer and see them put them on and see what they think.”
This article first appeared in Domain Review, in partnership with Broadsheet.
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