Comfort Club Spring 2011

Spring 2011

club Your hotter poems

View our Royal Shoe Design inspirations revealed!

Enter our

exclusive reader competitions inside

Welcome

Spring is on its way – hurray! No more gloom and doom and chills and ills – I can’t wait.

We’ve been busy little bees at Hotter HQ with a new TV campaign launching this month and a very special shoe for a very British occasion designed and manufactured just in the nick of time for the Royal Wedding. And that’s without mentioning the new store we’ve opened in Worthing and something very special that’s coming soon to Southport (more of that in the next edition).

In the past you’ve shared lots of ideas and inspiration with us; from photos of cats in shoe boxes and flowers planted in our shoes to healthy walks and comforting recipes – in this edition we’re hoping to stimulate your creative juices again! After we published ‘Poetry Corner’ in our last Comfort Club we received lots of your literary efforts, so we hunted out a Hotter-loving professional poet to quiz for tips – read more about Ian McMillan on p10 & p11 and enter our great Hottershire poetry competition. Turn to p4 for a test of your imagination.

I hope these challenges keep you busy, but make sure you find time to browse our fabulous new shoes and sandals – they’ll keep your feet happy and on your toes while you get out and enjoy life!

Looking forward to hearing all your Hottershire ideas...

Kind regards Melanie Killilea Editor, Comfort Club

Wi n

a shopping spre e by recommending your friends at www.hotter.com

Hurray for Bournemouth!

Debbie Marsh has managed our Bournemouth Store since it opened in 2007

Congratulations to the hardworking team at our Bournemouth store on winning the British Tourism Award for Best Shopping Experience of the Year.

With the help of customer votes and fantastic reviews from mystery shoppers the store beat eight other nominees in their category. Stewart Houlgrave, Managing Director said “Well done to Debbie and her team for winning this award, we are extremely proud that Bournemouth shoppers voted our store first for outstanding customer service. The staff in all of our stores work hard to stand out on the high street and really do go that extra mile to make customers happy, making sure our comfy shoes give the perfect fit every time .”

2 All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com

Share Hotter comfort with

friends

Kath Whitemoss from North Shields was the happy winner of a Hotter shopping spree simply by sharing the comfort of Hotter shoes with her best friends.

Whilst working in a shoe department, which didn’t stock Hotter Shoes, Kath was surprised at the amount of customers looking to buy them. She decided to find out what the excitement was all about and was amazed at what she found. Kath soon fell in love with the comfort and style of Hotter shoes and has since become the proud owner of nine pairs. “When you first put them on the feeling is ahhhhh and doesn’t go away until you take them off at the end of the day, because unfortunately you can’t wear them to bed!” said Kath. She knew this feeling was something she had to share!

For your chance to win a Hotter shopping spree, simply recommend your friends to Hotter by completing and returning the enclosed leaflet or by visiting www.hotter.com. You will then be entered into a free prize draw for your chance to win a Hotter shopping spree. Terms and conditions apply.

A British shoe for a

Royal celebration Our stylish Royal Shoe really does fly the flag – quite literally! Inspired by the impending nuptials of Prince William of Wales and Miss Catherine Middleton, our design team have created a patriotic shoe with its own very British pedigree.

We think demand will be high for this limited edition shoe, which ticks the boxes for fashion, for comfort and for pride in our national celebrations. The ‘penny loafer’ style of moccasin Etna has been transformed with a fantastically wearable palette of nautical red, white and blue shades and a subtle Union Jack emboss, offering long lasting style and elegance for your spring and summer outfits for years to come. Uplifting decorative insoles really set our Royal Shoe apart – and the beauty is that the Royal Shoe comes with a spare pair of everyday insoles to keep your shoes in tip-top condition.

EXTRA WIDE FIT also available

Each of the 1,400 pairs of our Royal Shoes , which are made in our UK factory, come with a certificate of authenticity and a unique Union Jack keepsake shoe box. The Royal Shoe is not just the perfect accompaniment to your regal celebrations; it’s a perfect marriage of comfortable features and long lasting style.

win

Our Hotter design team with our Limited Edition Royal Shoe.

Would you like to win a pair of your very own Royal Shoes?

We’re giving one lucky reader a right royal treat, simply complete this sentence in 12 words or less and send to the usual Hotter address.

Hotter shoes are a royal treat for my feet because...

Limited Edition Etna - £65

We’ll select our favourite from all those received to win a pair of our Royal Shoes - so don’t forget to mention your shoe size and if you need standard or extra fit.

The closing date for this competition is April 8th 2011.

Did you k now...?

Penn

y loafer style shoe s are moccasin cutout sha s that feature a pe o the front – n the bar across coined in the name was people lod the 1950s when g cutout as a ed pennies in the fashion sta tement.

All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com 3

Dance your way to

comfort

With Hotter Shoes back on your small screen this season we’ve been thinking happy thoughts of comfy feet.

Inspired by our customers’ love of our shoes and the hundreds of tales we been told of ‘Hotter moments’ created when people try on a new pair, our advertising agency set about recreating the feeling of fun and light heartedness that our shoes create – we hope you like the advert, and if you’ve not seen it yet have a look at www.hotter.com You can meet the face behind the talented feet that created the dance moves in our advert in our story on page 5. Emma and a team of five models danced, shimmied and jumped their way through a whole collection of our shoes and sandals to inspire that ‘oohhh’ moment so many of you have experienced.

Stars of the show...

Now we’re looking for your help to create a world of Hotter comfort where people love their shoes, where they float along on millions of tiny air bubbles, skipping lightly on their feet all day, wiggling their toes in ultra soft leather. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to visit this land of ultra smooth comfyness. It should be somewhere you book through your local travel agent! We’ve got a name for this land of Hotter loveliness it’s ‘Hottershire’ but that’s as far as we’ve got so far, so it’s over to you ....

Kiwi - £55

win

Drop us a line to tell us your vision of the comfy world of Hottershire – would you like to see scrumptious hot chocolate on tap; comfy armchairs at bus stops or maybe feather beds in shopping centres for a quick forty winks between stores.

Post your entries or email us at weloveshoes@hotter.com and we’ll pick our favourite to win any pair of shoes from our advert.

Nirvana - £62

4 All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com

Etna - £59

Starshine - £59

Navajo - £65

Ghost busters

Dancing feet and fancy fingers Meet working mum Emma Moore, the face behind the feet of our Hotter advert!

A quartet of ghost hunting Hotter advisors are looking for spirits this St Georges Day – but it’s all for a good cause.

Emma with son Henry

Busy Emma is more than just a pair of happy feet though, because not only does she run a successful dance shoe business and ‘The Great British Salsa Experience’ with sister Kate, she also has her own graphic design company – in fact if you’ve signed up to our online newsletters you’ve undoubtedly received an email designed by Emma!

This busy 41-year-old was introduced to Hotter when an out-of-the-blue phone call from a casting director saw her auditioning for a part in our ‘Dancing feet’ TV advert. “She had tracked down my salsa class and wanted to come along to film us practising,” explained Emma, whose performance danced her into our Hotter commercial.

With a lifelong interest in dance Emma’s fancy footwork has taken her around the world on cruises, on stage and on TV – with a highlight performing on the same stage as Whitney Houston in Hong Kong.

Having added health club marketing and management to her CV in her twenties, Emma eventually decided that creative marketing was her vocation, training at night and dancing by day!

Helping keep her on her feet, and keeping her up to speed with one-year-old son Henry, Emma has fallen in love with Hotter shoes and is now the proud owner of the first of what could become many pairs – Kiwi. “I’d not heard of Hotter before that first phone call, but having skipped, danced and jumped my way through nearly every pair in the TV advert I’ve fallen in love with the way they make my feet even happier,” she added.

Walk this way...

The intrepid ladies from our call centre are being sponsored to seek out the ghost of highwayman George Lyon at a local public house to raise money for Help the Heroes. The notorious villain was remembered as a latter-day Robin Hood, for stealing from the rich to give to the poor, but was caught and hanged in 1815 and later buried in a nearby graveyard.

“Mysterious things have happened in and around the pub such as objects moving about in cars whilst customers are inside and a shadow figure being seen walking around the pub” said organiser Lisa Macdonald (pictured bottom left with Lyndsay Swarbrick, Amy Davis and Gemma Forsyth). “We’re hoping to witness this for ourselves, however none of the group has done anything like this before, so I’m sure we’ll be very excited and a little nervous too”. Good luck ladies!

Our ghost hunting sales advisors

A team of Hotter walkers are hanging up the phones and putting on their comfy walking boots in a bid to raise money for local charity Twinkle House.

The six walkers from our call centre are planning to complete a 65 mile walk from Kendal to Hotter HQ in March. The group are fundraising for Twinkle House as one of the team, Jason Holmes (pictured bottom left), currently volunteers for the charity. “This walk will be a challenge for all of us and we hope to take lots of photos along the way to remember the event.” Joining him along the way are John Raison, Adam Clammer, Iain Humphreys, Martyn Saint and Dominic Citerella.

Aiming to raise £3,000, the walk is just one of a series of fund raising challenges the team have set themselves and we wish them the best of luck.

To make sure their feet are kept in tip top condition the team will be wearing boots from our GORE-TEX® range to put a spring in their step and keep toes dry whatever the weather!

walkers Our call centre

All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com 5

Denim Canvas

Khaki/Beige Canvas

Story of a

hotter shoe

Grey Textile

Green Floral Canvas

Yellow Floral Canvas

cool Lulworth the perfect Soft, light and comfortable, canvas makes prints are fashion news this choice for summer weekends. Floral comes in 2 pretty vintage season. So this fun, summery style now team with leisure wear. blooms, as well as new Grey jersey to

Lulworth

Bright, comfy canvas

• Foam cushioned footbed • Long lace adjustability • Heel height: ž inches, 20mm 9 Sizes: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, colours EXTRA WIDE FIT: also available in all

ÂŁ35

Call for comfort

0800 525 893

Colour co-ordinating soles not only add to the style of Lulworth but also give good grip.

Visit www.hotter.com

Pretty, cool and deliciously lightweight. Our stylish canvas collection boasts all the season’s pretty pastel shades with adjustable laces or quick and easy straps. With soft touch uppers in fun colours for casual day comfort with underfoot cushioning.

Carolyn Irvine Hotter Designer All our products are crafted from the finest quality canvas and textiles.

12

When our Hotter catalogue drops on your doormat you know it’ll be crammed with comfy shoes, bright colours and brand new designs. Turn the pages and you’ll see we’ve carefully co-ordinated styles, marrying classic and contemporary shoes or sandals to help you make your Spring wardrobe selection as simple as possible. But have you ever considered the inspiration behind the collection... how do we decide on colour, design, fashionable details and on trend twists to make you look as good as your feet will feel? We’d like to introduce you to the team behind our newest collection, who’ll walk you through the story of a Hotter shoe ...

Colour trends set the scene

“The first thing we do with our blank canvas for a new season is look at colour – every lady knows it’s important to match shoes to outfits, so it’s vital we offer shoe colours which reflect high street trends,� commented Carolyn Irvine, who has worked at Hotter for four years. “It takes at least two years to develop a range so it is essential that we speak with the colour experts who are influencing fashion leaders and who in turn will make their mark on high street fashions.� mer 2011

Spring Sum

Sahara

Spring Summer

2011

Urban Prairie

Spring Summer 2011

Provence

Spring Summer 2011

What’s hot – and what’s not!

The designers next have to check out what’s selling in the fashion capitals of the world – New York, Milan, London. “Although high fashion trends will not translate straight to the Hotter catalogue, it’s important to see what influences the fashionistas,� said Kim Denton, who studied fashion at University where a work experience stint at Cordwainers College inspired her interest in shoes. “This season, for example, we’ve seen trends in metallic shades, gladiator sandals and ethnic detailing – and you can see where we’ve picked up these elements in styles such as Surabaya, Livia and Aztec, but as you’d expect from Hotter each one includes as many comfort features as practically possible.�

Seasonal sales find winners

Spring Brights

Another key factor – and one which answers an often asked customer question – is why a shoe appears one season and disappears the next. Over to Product and Range Director Paul Sayers who explains: “Sales figures give us a picture of what our customers like.

A new shoe which has great sales is likely to make it into a new season

6 All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com

collection with additional colour options, but a style that simply doesn’t sell could be dropped. It’s my job to work with my team to ensure that all this data is examined, gaps in categories are filled and customer feedback taken on board. For a new season we’ll design more new styles than we need so we have a good choice and can create a complimentary range of shoes and sandals for every wardrobe option.�

Back to the drawing board

With inspiration for colour and design, and with specific styles needed to complete a collection, the designers can begin the magic of creating new shoes. They start with drawings, some on paper and some straight to computer where colour can be added immediately. “We are also able to draw straight onto paper covered shoe moulds which help us create scale and give insight for the technical teams,� added Kim.

If the shoe fits

“All ladies shoe samples are historically made in size 4 for the right foot,� continued Carolyn, “we work closely

Gree n ca nvas floral Co-ordi ey elet natin g pin k

Pi nk log o block

Meet the team...

Name: Carolyn Irvine Job: Looks after casual and classic footwear Born: Runcorn Pets: Used to have a Manx cat Hobbies: Yoga, sewing Favourite Designer: Coco Chanel Favourite Colour: Black or Red Which style will you be wearing: New cork wedge - Hepburn, perfect for evenings out.

Lulworth Rated 5 stars online by you 4/3/2011

with our technical team to develop and cut patterns for initial samples, which once correct can be created to our colour specification.” The next step is to test our shoes with designers calling upon the services of long serving size 4 Hotter employees to give initial feedback. Once the fit is agreed patterns are graded to different sizes and more testing takes place before full production is agreed and the new shoes can wing their way to your doorstep!

Hepburn

Valerie

Top tips for shoe buying

Carolyn says “If the shoe fits, buy it in every colour” whilst Andy sugg ests “When they feel good first time, buy them!”

Lulworth

Men’s styles in Andy’s hands With career highlights including dinner with Mary Quant and meeting his hero Pierre Cardin, men’s designer Andy Taylor has been fusing men’s fashion with Hotter comfort for three years. With new styles this season including boot Desert, slip on Link and lace-up Rig and introducing the fabulously rugged Grey colourway for best seller Energise, Andy has revamped our Hotter men’s collection.

Name: Kim Denton Job: Looks after sporty and contemporary footwear and slippers Born: Dewsbury Pets: A sphinx cat called Kojak Hobbies: Snowboarding, running Favourite Designer: Jimmy Choo, Manola Blahnik Favourite Colour: Black or Teal Which style will you be wearing: On trend Valerie will keep me in casual comfort Name: Karen Peace Job: Looks after handbags and accessories Born: Leicester Pets: An Utonagan named Alfie Hobbies: Running – she’s training for the Great North Run Favourite Designer: Alexandar McQueen Favourite Colour: White Which style will you be wearing: I will be using our new Milan handbag and I love the fresh florals of Lulworth

Name: Andy Taylor Born: Kendal Hobbies: Collecting ceramics, antiques, art Favourite Designer: Oliver Sweeney Favourite Colour: Black Which style will you be wearing: New Desert is perfect for everyday comfort Desert

All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com

7

© Tim Anott, University college, London

Health focus: Osteoporosis

Your health,

ou r shoe s

For the 3 million people estimated to be living with osteoporosis in the UK, footwear may not be the first issue to consider, but with almost 1 in 2 women over 50 breaking a bone, mainly due to osteoporosis, footwear stability and good support can be crucial.

Osteoporosis is the fragile bone disease which occurs when the inner ‘honeycomb’ of bone within the thick outer shell becomes fragile, making it easy to break. According to the National Osteoporosis Society it is commonly linked to post menopausal women, however, it can affect younger women, men and children.

In our body, two types of cell are constantly at work, building new bones and breaking down old bone. Up to our mid 20s the construction cells work harder, giving strength to our skeleton; from 40 onwards the demolition cells become more active and bones gradually lose their density.

Women lose bone density faster in the years following the menopause when oestrogen levels drop – which can lead to osteoporosis. Whilst having osteoporosis doesn’t automatically mean that your bones will break, it means that you have a greater risk of fractures. Thin, fragile bones are not in themselves painful, but the broken bones that can result may cause pain and lead to other problems.

The National Osteoporosis Society aims to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and offers help and advice on everything from where to get support to what to wear.

Shake

“We often get calls from people enquiring about suitable footwear,” said National Osteoporosis Society helpline Nurse Janet Bowman. “Essentially shoes should be comfortable and fit well ; they should be light and should not ride up and down on your heel when you walk nor should your toes feel squashed. In addition, choose a shoe with a smallish heel with a good grip on the sole.

Some people may have medical problems that can result in painful swollen feet and therefore require shoes which are easily adjustable to accommodate the changes in the size of the feet. For people at risk of falling and those who are less stable on their feet, the features below may help to reduce the risk of a slip or a trip.”

• Laces or other fastenings to ensure the shoe ‘holds’ onto your foot when walking • A thin, firm midsole so you can ‘feel’ the ground • A textured sole to prevent slipping • A firm heel collar to provide stability • A broad heel to maximise contact with the ground • A textured sole to prevent slipping Find the National Osteoporosis Society at www.nos.org.uk or call 0845 450 0230.

Healthy lifestyle Our genes are the key to deciding the potential size and strength of our skeleton, but the way we live can also play a part. A healthy, balanced diet provides vitamins, minerals and energy to keep bones healthy; with calcium a key source of bone strength and rigidity and vitamin D helping the body to absorb this vital mineral. Regular weight bearing exercise can also help your skeleton grow stronger; whilst exercises such as swimming, gardening, golf and Tai Chi may help maintain balance and co-ordination and help reduce your risk of falling.

8 All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com

Did you k now...?

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ow fat o products h r fat free dairy av more, calc e as much, if not ium as th fat version eir full s

A Taste of

Rosé

Sydney handbag and Penelope in Rose Pink

By Graham Gendall Norton

Spring is in the air, and there’s something about rosé wine which puts a cheering spring in the step. First, I think, it’s the range of colours that can be in the glass, from the palest of pinks to the lightest of rubies. Then, there’s the wide selection of styles from bone dry to subtly sophisticated sweetness.

In the last decade, rosé has advanced from being thought of as a mere low-grade postscript to good whites and reds to become considered a wine of distinction in its own right made by most of the main international brands. As that accent suggests, rosé originated in France, in Anjou. Uniquely, they make wine by first drawing off the white juice which comes from the weight of the pile of ripe black grapes waiting in the vat. These grapes are then squeezed separately, with the pressure on the skins giving a concentrated red juice. Afterwards, the two are blended together to create the sweet Rosé d’Anjou – which for many was our first Rosé experience.

However, most pinks are made not by blending, but by lightly pressing the black grapes and then allowing a short time on the skins to absorb flavours and colour - from a few hours to a couple of days.

For a French rosé I’d recommend one from the South of France, Pays d’Oc, from just under a fiver for Sainsburys Cotes de Provence 2009 (£7.99). Look out for its unique skimpy labels, pasted bikini-like on a curvaceous bottle. It’s invigoratingly dry, with rounded fruit flavours. Its grapes will come from classic red regionals.

Another from Sainsburys that I liked was their Chilean from the Colchagua Valley.(£5.99). Rosés are best drunk young, so this, made in Spring 2010, from Cabernet Sauvignon is refreshing, full of red fruit, strawberries and cherries and shows the advantage that the Southern Hemisphere has in this regard.

The old Anjou way - white juice blended with a concentrated red pressing - is now rarely used, however, there is one magnificent exception: pink champagne, first marketed in 1777! Such champagne, or any sparkling wine using its time-honoured method, more usually adds still red wine to the blend, chosen from two of the permitted varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier. The other Chardonnay, is white. They can thus get the shade of pink they want, every time.

England now produces some of the best sparkling wine, champagne-style, in the world. So we are offering as one of our prizes a bottle of Ridgeview’s Merret Fitzrovia Rosé (available Waitrose £19.99) made in Sussex using all three varieties. I had a chat with Ridgeview, and was told that for their 2007 vintage they added rich, late-ripened red juice separately to the blend, but for 2008 they got their pink from pressing the black grapes in the first stage. I tasted the 2007: delicious. The nose had light toasty aromas, married on the palate with strawberry and raspberry fruit hints.

win Win a bottle of wine, pair of shoes and handbag - all rosé!

Q: At this time of the year, from which part of the world can you get the freshest and youngest still Rosés?

All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com 9

Inspiring words for

would-be poets...

“I was struck by a phrase from one commuter who said ‘Put me on the first train north” – such a simply expressed phrase gave me a rich vein of material,” said Ian, 55, the ’Bard of Barnsley’ (his northern hometown).

Ian attributes his successful writing career to the revolutionary teaching methods of his youth in the West Riding of Yorkshire where, he says, the local authority made sure that children were encouraged to allow their creative talents to flourish. “I believe that everyone has the innate ability to create poetry, you can see it in everyday life when people write special verses for friend’s birthdays or colleague’s leaving parties,” explained Ian, who has been publishing anthologies of his work since 1980.

“My creativity was nurtured from an early age at school and initially I wanted to become a novelist.

My teenage years were spent writing constantly but I

it I a n ’s top wr

in g tip s

d p ro s e o f poet ry a n ty n le p d a e sp irin g •R – t h e y’re in le p o e p to • L ist e n u s e it bo o k – a n d e t o n a y rr !

• Ca n e ca n d o it o y n a – o g • H a ve a

10 All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com

Photographer: Des Willie

Ian McMillan’s latest inspiration came from an overheard comment on a train journey returning from presenting his weekly BBC Radio 3 show ‘The Verb’.

had no idea how I would make a living from it!”

Combining his love of words with a love of music, which he compares to the skill of the historical ‘troubadour’, Ian left Staffordshire Polytechnic in 1978 with a degree in Modern Studies and a hankering for a career as a writer and performer.

After spells on a building site and in a tennis-ball factory, in 1981 he decided to sample the life of a freelance poet and has never looked back.

Honing his skills in poetry performance groups, Ian soon branched out into solo work, publishing several tomes of mainly autobiographical verse. “My friends say my recurring themes are nostalgia and sentimentality”, commented Ian, and with titles such as ‘The 12 Yorkshire Days of Christmas’ and ‘Two Nil’ – a eulogy to the day his beloved Barnsley Football Club lost to Bristol City – it’s easy to see the truth of their appraisal. In fact some years ago season ticket holder Ian was the official poet in residence at the Yorkshire club: “Fans still turn to me in the stands and say ‘I bet you’re going to write about that’ after a particular winning, or losing, move on the pitch!”

Who would have known that a football club would have a poet in residence... but think that’s strange and you’ll be amazed at some of the descriptions on Ian’s poetry CV, where you’ll find stints of poetry writing for Northern Spirit Trains and even Humberside Police! “I got that position following a chance conversation with the Chief Constable, who agreed I could tour the county with a film crew and

turn into verse the events and incidents that I came across.”

Nowadays, Ian is Poet in Residence for the National Opera and is also the BBC’s ‘Digital Switchover Bard’ charged with the challenge of injecting interest and humour into the digital switchover – a challenge indeed! He regularly performs his poetry with the Ian McMillan Orchestra, where the trial of impromptu performance poetry boosts his adrenalin. You can catch Ian’s regular radio programme devoted to investigating the spoken word around the globe ‘The Verb’ each Ian with his Orchestra Friday evening on BBC Radio 3.

Poetry

corner

Our Poetry corner inspired more of you to send us your rhyming testaments to our shoes - here’s another small selection of the hidden talents of our Hotter customers. Thank you for all your contributions.

My Hott er shoes I love to wear, I know my feet will have no care I take my dog o’er field s and hills In ‘Terra ’ boots agai nst the chills.

But if we get a sunn y day Then in ‘Joy’ sand als, out to play If it’s so wet you need your flippe rs Then stay at home in Shetl and slippe rs.

But for my walk s when it’s not mud dy My Hott er ‘Tone ’ shoes are my buddies Whatever shoes I wear long time My Hott er Comforts are subli me.

Jenny Brew, Foxton, Cambridgeshire

Photographer: Nigel Bark lie

Well, bless my soul, you ’ve done it again, And made me grab my electric pen, Your shoes are balm to my tender feet, As I stagger along the uneven street.

I went for red Vana, so cheery and bright , With snazzy grey tro users a wonderful sig ht, And ancient old bid dies can’t slow down the clock, So it’s time to go tra wling through all of you r stock!

I may not go balmy like Ivana Trump, But one thing is cer tain – I won’t look a frump!

Anne Salter - via email Shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, The only things to cure the blues!

Dial the number, through in a trice – “Have you ordered before?”- “Yes once or twice!”

And when they arrive in box of green They’re the loveliest things I’ve ever seen!

They’re comfy, fun and oh so smart, Even the box then plays its part – For grandson serving far away, A ‘goody box’ just makes his day.

So Hotter thanks for all you send And shoes we never have to mend!

Mrs Jan Aylett, Eastbourne

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for me, Hotter sho es are the ones ully utif bea The y fit my feet so ur With the cho ice of colo And the fit so wide y side .

My feet look love ly on ever il Mrs C Maltson - via ema

We’d like all the budding poets out there to be inspired by our theme of ‘Hottershire’ (see story p4).

Send in your poems and we’ll pick our favourite to win a special comfy prize!

All shoes featured are available at www.hotter.com 11

Readers’ letters “Comfo rt, style an d qu ality”

Send us your poems and letters to weloveshoes@hotter.com or upload them to our facebook page.

win Fan us on Facebook!

As a Hotter customer I read with interest customers’ comments s. concerning your high quality shoe my view to like ld wou you I thought s of Hotter delights, including very own collection of fifteen pair h were the very first pair I whic als boots, slippers and the sand Hotter means three tely. edia purchased - I was hooked imm quality” – may your and style fort, “com me to s little word s sincerely company continue to do well, your Mrs Holohan, Hampshire.

Our Facebook fans are keeping us busy with questions and suggestions, and we’re keeping them busy too with updates on new products, gossip from Hotter HQ and chances to win prizes!

Why not find us on Facebook and we’ll select a random fan who writes “I love Hotter Comfort Concept Shoes” in their status to receive a £20 Hotter gift voucher.

Great service and a perfect fit Just a short note to say what a pleasure it was going to your shop in York.

The service I received from a lady called Lin was excellent: you did not have my shoe size so she found another style which fitted me, then she organised to have my first choice sent direct to my home. I did thank her when I was in the shop but I do think she deserves a special mention, yours faithfully

Mrs J Davidson, Hull.

Customer Service: 0800 525 893 Personal Shoppers: 0800 083 3083

E: weloveshoes@hotter.com W: www.hotter.com Hotter Comfort Concept Shoes @hottershoes

Send in your stories, photos and competition entries to Melanie Killilea, Editor, Comfort Club, Hotter Shoes, 2 Peel Road, Skelmersdale, WN8 9PT or email weloveshoes@hotter.com.

Unless otherwise stated competitions in this edition will close on 30th April 2011 – winners details will be printed in our online Comfort Club at www.hotter.com or contact the Editor for a full list.