the swing slate interviews: slide&swing

[NB - interview from March 2017]

About a year after I'd started dancing I thought I’d get myself a proper pair of dance shoes rather than making do with old brogues or DIY suede-soled gutties (a.k.a. ‘Keds’ in non-Northern Irish parlance), and after spotting a dancer on youtube sporting a handsome pair of two-tone cap-toes I knew exactly the ones I wanted. I just had to find them...

Following some intensive googling I happened upon a company called slide&swing and very quickly spied the shoes I was seeking, but having now found the pair I desired it took considerable effort to restrain said desires and not also buy a few of their other styles. Although, that restraint completely dissolved when I was in Barcelona last year [2016] and got to visit slide&swing HQ.

In fact, it seems I am definitely not the only one to be a little taken by the slide&swing styles as none of their shoes I wear have ever failed to draw compliments or questions of their provenance (and I think I can comfortably say no other brand is more popular in my home scene of Belfast!).

However, aesthetics are only half the battle and if they aren't actually fun to dance in then, as my granny might have said, they'd be all fur coat and no knickers! But I'm more than happy to share that these shoes are an absolute joy.

The upper leather is incredibly soft, so they have a slipper-like comfort from the off, whilst the leather soles verge on the paradoxical as they are flexible enough to allow for ease of movement whilst retaining enough rigidity to ensure an even weight distribution that makes slides much smoother. Plus, they are fantastically light, especially in comparison with regular brogues or Saint Savoys which means I no longer get that 'heavy feet' sensation after a lot of dancing, and the all-leather sole definitely reduces strain on joints.

So, as no other brand has enticed me to greater expenditure over the past three years than slide&swing, I thought I would get in touch with their founder and CEO Laura Barbao to find out a bit more about the company's origins and inspiration.

Laura, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! I imagine deciding to make a niche product was a scary prospect. What was your drive behind it?
Seven years ago when I was dancing many hours every week, I didn't have any good shoes for dancing and couldn't find any good brands at a fair price. I could only find Aris Allen but after I bought a pair they only worked well for two months before the soles began to fall apart.

I also go to thinking about all of the leather shoe factories we have here in Spain and especially in Alicante, which is Spain's most important region for shoe production.

It's great that you could tap into a proud Spanish industry! Do you have a background in fashion/footwear or was this a completely new challenge?
I'd never worked on anything to do with fashion or footwear so this was/is my first experience in that world but it's amazing when you start to work in something new (and everything is new!).

And how long did it take to go from the initial idea to having a marketable product?
I started the slide&swing project six years ago after attending a lot of training courses for entrepreneurs here in Barcelona, and we produced our first collection after a year and a half.

You are obviously as passionate about the shoes as the dance - are the rest of your staff all dancers as well?
I'm the only one of the slide&swing staff who swing dances, the rest of the staff are specialists in their work! :)

Laura with a few of slide&swing's designs. Photo credit: Dacil Azulcasiverde.

Your styles are so varied and quite different from the offerings of other dance shoe companies - from where do you get your inspiration?
We mix vintage styles with modern styles, materials and colours. We have a lot of books about shoe design in the vintage era, but we also really like shoes in general! We follow some actual designers we like and we make a lot of prototypes trying different leathers and colour combinations, etc.

We believe slide&swing are a brand who can make vintage styles for the present time, for present people with present materials and colours. Just like some of the clothes we like to wear, they've been made recently but are vintage-inspired along with many other influences.

And how do you go about deciding on a new style? As Barcelona has a brilliant swing scene - do you get feedback from local dancers or international pros?
From the first moment we thought about men's and women's shoes (and only flats initially) we sought feedback from some professional dancers. Some of them are from Barcelona and others are from France, Germany or the USA.

All of these dancers have given us really important tips because they dance many hours every week and we want to ensure we can produce a great product. That said, to us it's really important to pay attention to all the comments we receive from all of our customers because they help us to improve and mature our brand.

As well as the great look of your shoes they also feel incredibly soft and supple, not to mention light - what's the secret?

All of our shoes are handmade in Sax, a small village in Alicante, in a little factory where they work with really high quality materials and professionals from the shoe world. They also work with other brands and have a lot of experience as shoemakers so they have helped us a lot from day one. When we visited we talked about what we wanted and they helped us source really good leather.

The only secret is to look for the highest quality leather and pay the price to get it; if you have great leather and employ top craftsmen, you will get a really good product, and if the price of this product is a fair price, then I think you will also have a good business.

Well now a question I personally want to know the answer to - have you any plans to make more men's boots? Because if you were to make a men's equivalent of the 'Alice' cap-toe boots in honey leather I would be overjoyed!
Yes of course. This was our first year manufacturing boots, and we think the cap-toe model could be even more popular than our men's Chukkas, so we are now working on our new products for next winter, thank you very much for your comment. We think honey leather is one of the most comfortable, soft and beautiful colours (for men and women). :)

A slightly more pragmatic question, but - what is the best way to care for your dance shoes to ensure they have a long life?
Just like our own skin, brusque changes in temperature or humidity are the greatest enemy of leather shoes and as slide&swing are entirely made of leather it is important to keep them hydrated by rubbing some moisturising lotion into them once a month. It is important to moisturize the leather sole as well so that it doesn't crack over time.

If your shoes get too damp then the best solution is to fill them with kitchen roll or newspaper and wait at least 24 hours for them to dry out completely. Once dry, remove the paper and apply a good coating of moisturising lotion all over the shoe (inside, outside and on the sole) and leave them for 24 or 48 hours so that the lotion is absorbed completely.

It's normal after a while that small abrasions or scratches may appear in the leather and for this shoe polish can be used. The leather sole may also become worn after prolonged usage, but this does not mean that the shoe needs to be thrown away. It is possible to take the shoe to a cobbler for them to add a half leather sole like the original or a rubber one if a non-slip sole is preferred.

the shoes that started my love affair, and the storefront in Barcelona

Great tips, thanks! I've seen your shoes in a number of fashion magazines - do you exclusively make dance shoes?
We have a lot of customers who aren't dancers but who love our shoes because nowadays it is very difficult find this style of shoes. A lot of brands make similar shoes but with rubber soles, or a mix of leather/glue/rubber, so some people prefer to spend a little bit more to get better quality shoes that are full leather and handmade in Spain!

And are you considering other products?
We've been considering making other leather products, but at the moment these thoughts are on standby and we're focusing exclusively on making shoes.

I've seen a number of well-known pros in slide&swing shoes! Have you a list of famous customers?
We're honoured that pros are dancing in slide&swing shoes! Some of them are:

Sonia Ortega
Héctor Artal
Laia Puig
Gustav Jakobsson
Ali Taghavi
Katja Uckerman
Alice Mei
Frida Segerdahl
Tatiana Udry
Pamela Gaizutyte
Ksenia Parkhatskaya

And finally, where's the best place to pick up a pair of slide&swing shoes?
We have our own shop in Barcelona (a very little one, hahahaha) and of course there is our website www.slideandswing.es but you can also get our shoes from a few other vendors: the French store Vinsinn now sell some of our shoes at festivals they attend, Claire Chen sells slide&swing in Berlin, Footlight stocks them in Finland and we also have a stall at Herräng Dance Camp!

Muchas gracias a Laura for taking the time to answer my questions and my best wishes for slide&swing's future!