At Home With Lorraine Kelly 2017 - 64
PROMOTION OFFICIAL PARTNERS Cocorose holds collaborations with iconic British brands including The Royal Ballet and BAFTA, and creates limited edition ranges using Liberty Art Fabrics. The luxe Clapham loafers come in several colours, £105 a pair Sole desire With shoes, it's often a choice between comfort and fashion... but here's a British range that proves you can have both at the same time J anan Leo says she founded Cocorose London to stop her feet hurting. Ten years ago, as a young professional working and living in the capital, her daily commute was a never-ending challenge. 'Running for the bus, traipsing up and down escalators and standing for long periods on packed trains were all too familiar,' she recalls. 'And experiencing all this while in uncomfortable and impractical heels just added to the burden of my journey.' Yet this was her dilemma: she refused to wear shoes she felt frumpy in, no matter how comfortable they were. 'I was constantly buying new shoes in the hope the next pair would offer me the solution I needed,' she says. 'They never did. So eventually I decided to create my own range: light, comfy, well-made footwear that could fold away in a handbag if, when you got to the office, you anted to change into heels. So in 2007 Cocorose London was born, and Janan, despite having no fashiondesign background, created her first prototype - it was stitched together using a pair of lace footsies and a rubber sheet! Surprisingly, that turned out to be the easy part. The problem was then getting her project to market. 'I approached more than 100 shoe factories all over the world, but nobody was interested in working with a start-up - and, more so, a shoe that didn't conform to traditional design and production,' she says. But she was determined not to give up. 'Thankfully, I don't give up easily and, after what felt like ages, I found a manufacturing partner who was willing to help set me on the path to getting my first samples into production. Double life That was, however, only the beginning. At the time Janan still had a full-time job in New Product Development for Virgin Trains, and she couldn't afford to give it up because, not only did she have to support herself, but she also needed money to fund PR and production costs for Cocorose. 'For the next three years I was living a double life: working my day job during the week and relentlessly building Cocorose in the evenings and weekends. 'Finally my collection was ready and I launched online in May 2008. I also took a stall in Brick Lane market in East London so I could chat with customers and get the brand name out a bit more. 'There were boxes and boxes of shoes all over the house - but thankfully, my Hackney Gold and Leopard ultra-cool slip-ons, £90