Coming of age in the early 1980s, Alison Hastie always knew she was different from the conventional young people around her. One night a voice spoke to her in a dream, telling her to ‘make shoes’, and this is how she spent forty years of her working life.
Living on Dartmoor, travelling between the countercultural town of Totnes and the surrounding villages, Alison made a home and a life for herself based on the principles of second-wave feminism, the idea that small is beautiful, and a deep immersive commitment to craft. Her company, Green Shoes, was featured in the national and international press, and making shoes took her travelling as far as the north of Finland, but she remained rooted in her environment, family and the women’s collective which, like the Ship of Theseus, was consistent in its values despite many changes of personnel.
Through personal tragedies, romantic relationships, motherhood, friendship, fire, flood and professional highs and lows, Alison describes her place in the long line of West Country radicals, teaches us how to hand-make a shoe, traces the history of shoemaking in politics and religion, and above all shows us the importance of being centred in place, time and community.
Praise
‘What is it to swim against the tide of mass production, mass consumption and the conventions of suburban capitalism? Alison Hastie’s wonderful story of her working life shows us how to embrace the good stuff – adventure, romance, the countryside and thinking with our hands. This lovely, down-to-earth book shows us that small really is beautiful.’
—Patrick Barkham, author of The Swimmer – the Wild Life of Roger Deakin
‘The Green Shoes story, told by its co-founder and leading light Alison Hastie, is an inspiring and uplifting celebration of enterprise, feminism, conscience and creativity.’
— Terence Blacker, author and columnist
‘Hardworking, brightly coloured, ethically produced and ideal for walking your talk, the footwear Hastie crafted in her four decades at Green Shoes structures this fascinating life story and social history of a community of female makers. I relished this read, which provides a unique inside view on what it takes to work with your hands in an increasingly automated world.’
— Annebella Pollen, author of Dress History
