Sole man

Newcastle-based couture footwear firm Terry de Havilland has grown from its 1970s London rock ’n’ roll celebrity roots to supplying shoes for today’s stars, including Cher in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. As the business looks to step into new markets, Jane Hall speaks to MD Darren Spurling

Fashion is a fickle thing. Few trends stay the course, though there is, of course, the odd exception; enduring pieces that even in today’s fast-fashion society continue to stand the test of time; the little black dress, a crisp white shirt a worn leather biker’s jacket, a Barbour coat. And a pair of Terry de Havilland shoes.

The brand’s signature Margaux shoe with its tradmark curved 5” wedge heel has been a bestseller for 45 years, gracing the feet of everyone from singer Marianne Faifthfull to pop star Paloma Faith and model Kate Moss.

The Zia block heel platform sandal is another ageless success, as is the Ava stiletto with its metallic detail and glitter accents.

Over the years, the colourways and sometimes freaky embellishments have changed, but the basic design of the core collection has remained reassuringly recognisable, and nearly 50 years after the footwear company was founded in London, there is no mistaking a pair of Terry de Havilland show-stoppers.

Not everything has remained unchanged, however. To misquote Nancy Sinatra, these towering design classics (the V&A has a number of pairs in its textiles and fashion collection) are, despite appearances to the contrary, very much made for walkin’, and they have marched right out of London and up the A1 to the North East.

The company founded by de Havilland in the early 1970s is now in the hands of his nephew, Darren Spurling, who last year moved the operation to Hoults Yard in Newcastle. It is from this on-trend business village that Spurling is looking to grow the venture as he strives to ensure that de Havilland’s impractically high, idiosyncratic ‘look at me’ shoes continue to be on every woman’s (and man’s) fashion wish list.

de Havilland himself is no longer involved with the brand. Now in his 80s, he bowed out, not necessarily gracefully, when Spurling bought the company outright two years ago having been a part-owner since 2011 with Simon Bentley, former chair of Sports Direct. But the de Havilland spirit lives on in the core collection alongside new additions conceived by the brand's South Shields-born chief designer, Stevie Cape.

Spurling actually describes himself as a “sort of nephew” of de Havilland, who had an affair in the 1960s with his aunt, the result of which was a son. De Havilland had little to do with the family, however, and Spurling became involved with the company after it was featured in a BBC documentary.

Terry de Havilland’s history – the company and the person - is complicated and, given the hedonistic circles he moved in during the 70s and 80s, not easy to piece together. Certainly, his father had a shoe factory in the East End of London, and Terry started designing shoes in the 60s. His big break came when the editor of the now defunct Queen magazine featured a pair of block heels. They were an instant hit. The famed Margaux wedge was born in 1973, designed around his dad’s 1940s shoe lasts. De Havilland made shoes for The Beatles, David Bowie, Marc Bolan and Cher – who half a century on can now be seen sporting a pair of the brand’s Shard boots in the second Mamma Mia movie. She has since bought more designs for her personal use.

De Havilland opened his own shop in Chelsea in the 70s and, according to Spurling, “a good time was had by all.” The brand was a reasonable success, but by the 80s Terry had lost interest. "Punk had come to the fore. Terry carried on making punk shoes, but he didn’t put his name to them. He’d still make bespoke shoes if asked, but I think the fun had gone out of it for him,” says Spurling.

Then in the early noughties de Havilland received a call congratulating him on his shoe design for the designer label Miu Miu. “Basically, they had taken one of his 1970s designs and copied it,” Spurling says. De Havilland was incensed, and featured on the BBC’s Trouble at the Top programme over the Miu Miu case. But with no licensing agreement, coupled with the fact the design dated back to the 70s, de Havilland didn’t have a stiletto heel to stand on.

The next few years saw de Havilland make some poor business and licensing decisions, and in 2010 Spurling rode to the rescue. “I knew of Terry because of the family connection. He hadn’t seen his son for a long time, but after the TV programme he had contacted his dad. I met Terry a few times and became aware there were a lot of issues.”

Spurling’s background includes main board director of Black Leisure Group and a director of the sports brand O’Neill - roles which brought him to the North East. He could see the potential of the de Havilland brand and brought in a designer to work with the man himself. It was, Spurling admits, “a challenge; Terry didn’t like anybody else being involved, which I can sort of understand. When you work with an artist they are driven by creativity. Once Terry has done a shoe he almost loses interest in it. He is always looking to create.”

It's a cut-throat business and I really don't want the competition to know the details

Stevie Cape has moved things on in terms of the designs, “but we always try to ensure the brand’s DNA remains,” Spurling says. “We want people to look at a shoe and know it is a Terry de Havilland. Nearly all Terry’s shoes were snakeskin. We have moved into faux skins with some real ones, and revitalised the wedge and the platform. The original DNA is still there, we have just made it relevant for today’s market.”

There are no longer any Terry de Havilland shops on the high street as the brand focuses on global online sales. The new marketing strategy will see a Terry de Havilland pop-up shop open in London’s Selfridges in November and there is a presence at the London, Milan, New York and Paris fashion weeks.

Spurling is especially pleased about the Selfridges tie-in. “It is very top-end. Selfridges has a massive shoe department and we will be in the super brand area, Chanel on one side and Louboutin on the other.” But given Terry de Havilland’s iconic status and price tag (the most expensive shoe at the moment is an £800 five tier python skin wedge), Spurling says there are few retailers, especially in the UK, which would be a comfortable fit. But he refuses to compromise, hence the focus on selling direct to de Havilland’s customers, helped along by the firm’s A-list fans such as Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman.

Globally, there are opportunities aplenty, one of the reasons the company recently became a member of North East England Chamber of Commerce as it looks to gain support for its international sales drive. “Being able to tap into the knowledge base and the Chamber’s resources is good for us. I know if I need any advice I can just pick up the phone,” says Spurling. Thanks to online marketing, turnover has doubled in the past 12 months. What it has doubled from he is not at liberty to say, however. “I don’t tell people. It’s a cut-throat market and I really don’t want the competition to know details like that.” All he will say is that in terms of awareness the brand is in a much better place than he thought it would be, adding that de Havilland has the unique advantage of having a tremendous back catalogue and heritage.

The shoes are currently handmade in Spain, given there is little or no womens footwear manufacturing left here in the UK. It is labour intensive, with up to 30 people involved in each pair, but it ensures quality and craftsmanship remain high, justifying the price tag.

There is no ‘average’ customer in terms of age, although earning power tends to exclude the younger end of the market. “People of any age who are interested in fashion buy into de Havilland,” Spurling says. “Age is only a number these days.”