All About Alice
Published :
09/02/2024 15:30:05
Categories :
Latest News
Meet Alice, founder and owner of World Secrets, a very colourful neighbour at some of the shows we attend each year :)
World Secrets don't do boring and don't do fast fashion. They use traditional textiles and bright coloured fabrics to create beautifully handcrafted, light hearted collections that make you smile.
Find out more about Alice and the story behind World Secrets.
Alice, please tell us a bit about yourself, what do you do, where are you from?
Hey, I’m Alice, the founder and owner of World Secrets. We make shoes & accessories with sunshine soul, where the rules don’t apply! My day can range from designing shoes, to the accounts, to packing boxes, to travelling out to our factories and event planning. Often with a sausage dog in tow!
I grew up in South Wales on our family farm, and now live in Devon with my husband who is a pig farmer. I think customers are sometimes surprised when they turn up to the colourful oasis that is our headquarters, in the middle of the farm!
What inspired you to set up World Secret Shoes and how did it all begin?
I didn’t have a conventional background in fashion design and despite initially attending art college in Cheltenham (mainly so I could watch the racing easily), I graduated from the Royal Agricultural College and qualified as a rural chartered surveyor. It sounded like a “proper job” however it soon became obvious that auctioning sheep and selling farms perhaps wasn’t what I wanted to do forever.
I love to travel whenever I can and whilst I was travelling around Asia and South America (on one of my many surveying sabbaticals!!!), I would send my treasure hunting finds back to my mum who has a shop in South Wales. By the time I got home she had sold everything. I then went to Morocco and bought suitcases full of belts and sold them out of my car boot… quite literally. The colours and textures were amazing, however the products often lacked quality and style because they were made for tourist gifts, not longevity.
It was at this point I did a lot of research into traditional textiles and their origins. Skip forward a few months and I was meeting our factory manager in a bus stop in Istanbul. We still work with the same family business 12 years later.
Initially I started World Secrets as an imports business (hence the name), but soon this inspired a range of shoes, bags and interiors. Now everything is designed in house in Devon and made by our trusted team in Turkey. Our team in Turkey has become family. I speak to them every day, whether it is about shoes, what’s going on at the moment, or the guys asking whether I can take a Barbour Jacket over to Turkey next time I go!
The relationship we have with our team is hugely important to me. We share the same belief in quality, craftsmanship and passion about the materials we use.
You are well known for your amazing vibrant footwear, do you make and sell anything else and do you have any plans to add anything else to the range?
Our core range of products is predominantly made up of footwear, however we make a lot of handbags and accessories as well as homeware. I always wanted to be an interior designer growing up, so I particularly love the furniture element of the business. From sourcing the antique furniture to choosing a kilim rug to upholster it in, it is always the best feeling when it is finished and has a huge colourful impact on the room.
We have so many plans this spring. A lot of limited-edition collections playing around with different textiles on sneakers as well as some re vamps of classics! We also have a lot of new shapes to launch ready for summer weddings and parties which I’m very excited about.
Can we visit you and see your amazing shoes and accessories or are you just online?
We have a studio and show rooms in Devon which everyone is welcome to visit. It is complete with a carousel horse, rainbow walls and golden pineapple lights. Someone once said it is a bit like falling down a rabbit hole and ending up in wonderland! We also attend a range of shows from Cheltenham Festival and Badminton Horse Trials to Chelsea Flower Show… usually with Hiho Silver as our neighbours, providing us with a G & T at the end of the day!
www.worldsecrets.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/worldsecretsshoes/
What do you do in your spare time & what do you get up to offline?
In my spare time….. I don’t have a lot of spare time ha ha! But I like to go racing, skiing & travel…and I love a party! I try to walk the dogs every day to a podcast (Dish is my current favourite) to make sure I don’t lose my mind!
What is your ultimate Hiho love (favourite piece from the Hiho collection) and why?
My favourite Hiho pieces are the friendship bracelets. I love how easy they are to wear everyday, whether it's riding a horse or out for supper, they never look or feel out of place.
And finally - what is the best piece of business advice you have received?
Best piece of business advice I’ve been given: That overnight success stories don’t exist. It doesn’t matter how many people you consult, there is no secret and there is no shortcut, but hard graft and instinct will get you through most situations.
You can find World Secrets on Instagram
@worldsecretsshoes
