Supporting British Industry & Craftsmanship
Freed of London is the world's leading designer and manufacturer of professional dance shoes and the only company that handmakes pointe shoes for the mass market. It also custom-makes shoes for individual dancers.
Established in 1929, by cobbler Frederick Freed in his Covent Garden basement, the company revolutionised the dance shoe industry by tailoring shoes to a dancer's individual needs. Freed's main production site has been in Well Street in Hackney since the 1970s where the pointe-shoes are still made by hand, using traditional manufacturing methods. Each maker is able to produce around forty pairs a day, the construction and fit vary slightly from maker to maker. Each maker has their own symbol, which they are given when they start at Freed, and each is assigned their ballerinas, who generally stay with them throughout their dancing careers. Next to the pointe-shoe workshop is a bigger space where ballroom, Latin, tap, character and stage shoes are made. In 1993 the business was sold to the large Japanese retail company Onward Kashiyama, which allowed Freed to continue with its traditional manufacturing methods.
"I was surprised that Freed still made so many of their shoes in east London - a large, unassuming building on a busy residential street in central Hackney. Another Tardis-like factory that revealed a labyrinth of workrooms. I loved the personal nature of the work and how the craftsmen made bespoke shoes for specific dancers, knowing their measurements and preferences so they can make them the perfect shoe." Carmel King photographed the Freed factory in July 2021 for Made in London.
