So excited that today our award winning soft soled kids footwear brand Amy & Ivor is joining forces with our accessories Hedley Field.  

We are finally joining up the dots and linking both of our product collections and brand names under the one Hedley Field umbrella. Here is the low down on why we are making the switch.

As many of you know we have been making Amy & Ivor baby moccasins and footwear since 2013.  The business started pretty much accidentally when I made my two baby daughters some little soft red leather moccasins. I did not have the plan to sell to them but when their shoes started attracting so much attention I thought 'ok let's see what happens...'  at that point there is no way I could have imagined how much we would achieve in these 5 years or even that so many people could love something I had made with my two hands.

We had a trademark complication two years ago with the name Amy & Ivor (although we do now own the trademark). We were in a position where we could not expand in the natural direction we would have wanted to take with the brand because of being blocked by another company who hold a very similar trademark.  So the decision was made that we would need a new name. 

We set up Hedley Field a second company one year ago, in our family name.  The idea (aside from wanting to make myself a buttery soft handbag) was to give us the scope to expand our product offering while supporting the Amy & Ivor business.  Both of the product areas we make support each other. Because we are very fussy about the leather we use to make our baby shoes, it works well to have both products being made in harmony. 

We can make perfect accessories from the slightly tougher parts of the leather hide that are not perfect for our tiny shoes. Our shoes are preferably made in the finer grained more supple parts of the hide.  And vice versa.  In terms of handmade production and minimising waste, it is really a match made in heaven.

We started Hedley Field very slowly, using a slightly different business model to Amy & Ivor, where still every shoe is handmade to order. With Hedley Field, we make small batches of product which is then personalised to order.  Hedley Field accessories have been very well received by all who have bought them so far - which has been amazing!  And I have been enjoying having a new business which has allowed me to work once again on a very small scale handcraft business model.

I have loved having the chance to be very present in all of the processes and in close contact personally with my customers. When you have a small handmade business to hear genuine reactions and feedback first hand is the most rewarding thing. It is something that feeds back into the creative process and adds fuel and momentum. When the chips are down this part has always kept me going.

SO this feels like we are at the start of something new. We are very excited where this next leg of our business journey takes us.  We hope you enjoy being able to find all of our products to buy in one place.

Thank you all so much for always cheering us along and for all of your support of both of our brands.

Big Love!
Alice, the Hedley Field family, and the Amy & Ivor team xx