Shoes

Shoes We've Copied

As most of you ladies who buy Rocket Originals' shoes know, we have them copied (as accurately as we can) from vintage pairs; usually American shoes from the 1940’s and 1950’s. Sometimes the shoes we copy are ‘dead stock’ or ‘new old stock’ (whichever you prefer) but more often they’re very worn out and way past their best, and have probably been someone’s favourite shoes that have been repaired over and over until sadly they're no longer wearable.

We aim to have our own version to look as near to the originals as possible, from the soles right through to the buckles, so they’re like a brand new version of the vintage pair we’ve copied.  We send the original shoes to our manufacturers, so they can be taken completely apart to enable a pattern to be created from the uppers, and a last (a form or mould) made for the exact shape of the sole, heels and wedge etc.  We sometimes have several prototype pairs made before we’re 100% happy with the result, and ready to go ahead with a full order.  On occasions we decide not to go ahead with certain styles, for whatever reason, even after having several samples manufactured.

Something we do usually change is the insoles, as they were sometimes very hard on the vintage pairs, so to make them more comfortable we add a padded insole, sometimes covered in soft leather. If any of you have danced for hours, walked any distance, or stood for any length of time in a vintage pair of shoes with very hard and brittle insoles you’ll understand why we see the need for improvement, and hopefully appreciate the difference.  Also, a lot of the vintage shoes we copy aren’t lined, which is something we do with most of ours, again to add to the comfort.
 
So far, since 2006, we’ve copied well over 30 different styles of ladies vintage shoes; and they're usually made in several colourways, we’ve had some of our styles manufactured in up to 7 different colours. To distinguish between styles we usually call our ladies shoes after 1940's/50's famous ladies. 
 
For comparison, to show the likeness to the original shoes here are just a few pairs we’ve copied in the past, with the original vintage shoe shown next to the Rocket Originals’ version which we’ve had manufactured:-

The pic above shows our ‘Olivia’ style (named after Olivia de Havilland),
the original shoe is at the top in a faded pinky/peach colour. We had these
manufactured in 4 different colours -  red, black, white and mid brown.

    Our 'Judy' style, with the original vintage shoe on the right.  This style was made in 4 colours.

Our 'Esther' style (named after Esther Williams) with the original
very worn pair on the left.  We've had these made in 5 colourways
- blue/red, black/pink, black/grey, green/cream and burgundy/grey.

The original shoe is on the right, and we called this style 'Sophia'
(after Sophia Loren). Made in white, red and blue leather and also black suede.  

Our 'Georgia' style, with original shoe on the left.

'Patti' style, with the original vintage pair at the top.  These were made in 4 different colours.

As our ladies shoes are limited edition the majority of these styles shown are sold out and no longer available. We hope some of your favourites are among these few shown, and that you enjoy seeing how your shoes started out.