Profile
Annie Abbott
Annie is the designer behind Australian shoe brand, habbot.
When contemplating your responsibility as a designer, what comes to mind and why?
Presenting an original collection that excites my customers is my main focus. I am careful not to be influenced by seasonal fashion trends—my aim is for customers to fall in love with a shoe that will stay with them for years to come, rather than tiring of something that is tied to a passing fad. I want my designs to be unexpected, yet easy to understand. I challenge myself to put forward a new interpretation of a classic shoe style by sourcing unconventional leather colours and materials. The best compliment we can receive from new customers is that they haven’t found a shoe brand that blends contemporary styling with quality craftsmanship like we do.
How have your personal values shaped your work?
Coming from a retailing family I understand the concept of being ‘sold to’. As a result, habbot has always been about the product first and marketing second. We’ve seen slow but steady growth in the six years since we started. I am a firm believer in staying true to your values when it comes to quality and production. The reason I sought out an Italian maker was that I believed the production levels would stand the test of time compared to other more economical shoe-making regions.
I also personally place great importance on friendship, laughter, and generosity—I am overly optimistic about most aspects of life. My parents brought me up to throw myself into projects and to have faith that hard work and determination would get me across the line. So I suppose there is a lot of this positive spirit in my shoes. I don’t do moody-angry-sexy well at all! It’s important to maintain a level of sophistication, but I always try to inject a hint of fun and humour into my collections and the way we present them to our customers.
I love the team I work with and wouldn’t continue employing a team member if they didn’t share these values of authenticity, kindness, and teamwork. I don’t expect everyone to be as glass-half-full as I am, but my team needs to respect and enjoy the people they work with, otherwise the business suffers.
Has your attitude towards fashion changed as you’ve aged?
My attitude towards fashion is centred on originality and practicality. This hasn’t really changed over time, and it’s why I still wear pieces that I acquired in my 20s. Now though, I definitely pay more attention to who is behind the products I’m wearing, and how they are made. I think this comes from an increasing appreciation of quality, but also as a result of being a founder of a fashion brand myself. I like to know who I’m supporting.
I see fashion as a costume department for life, and I love it when people pick and choose the elements that suit them rather than following a set of instructions prescribed by someone else. It’s wonderful to see people set their style and attitude towards fashion for life without feeling compelled to dress to suit their age. I plan to be wearing slouchy trousers, bright shoes and big necklaces in my 90s.
Annie Abbott
"I have come to disagree with the concept of set seasons, which implies that if a garment is not new season it is somehow inferior to the current range—despite the fact that the materials and making processes may have been identical. I think it encourages people to discard and move on too quickly, which has resulted in a society that over-consumes and wastes resources."
Producing in Italy is part of habbot’s DNA; how do you ensure that you maintain strong relationships with makers and that they are working in ethical conditions?
I spend quite a bit of time working in Italy with my makers. The processes all occur under the one family-run roof, so I am reassured each time I visit that our shoes come from a very fair workplace. At capacity the workrooms employ about fifteen workers, and two-thirds of those workers are relatives of the father-son owners who live above the small factory.
We have good communication via email and Skype, but the best and most efficient results are achieved when I’m there in person, working closely with the people who handle each and every one of the shoes we sell. Before the birth of our son a few months ago, I’d always make these trips solo, with the family welcoming me into their life while I was there working alongside them. They are quite traditional and are still a little surprised when I arrive each season with new plans to push the boundaries of classic Italian shoemaking with my material choices, but they tell me they now look forward to the challenge each time.
With all my dealings in Italy I find there are some different cultural approaches to doing business, mainly relating to differing appreciation for meeting deadlines. Despite that, we have developed a great respect for each other, and by upholding simple business concepts that we take for granted here in Australia—such as being paid on time—I expect to maintain a solid working relationship with them for years to come.
How is habbot currently engaging in lower impact practices, and in what ways would you like to improve going forward?
Obviously producing my collections overseas means that my carbon footprint is not as good as a local producer, so I try to take measures to minimise it in other ways. I generally finalise a collection from start to finish in one trip to Italy to avoid the need to send numerous samples back and forth. I choose quality materials that wear well to justify the energy expended in preparing them, and generally source these from the same region in Italy that my makers are located, providing both environmental and practical benefits. I make a habit of using a lot of the same last shapes (moulds) each season, but reinvigorate them each time by applying different materials and patterns. To start a new set of ‘lasts’ is the most resource-intensive process in shoemaking, so I only do this when the situation really calls for it. I regularly use lasts that my makers have been using for 20 or 30 years.
Something that interests us at Intent is the psychology of fashion and people’s relationships with clothing. How would you describe your own relationship with clothing; has it evolved over the years?
For me clothing plays a supporting role to accessories, so I am attracted to simple blank canvas-style pieces and let a statement necklace, pair of shoes, bangle or glasses create the focal point. I like to dress as an individual and express my personality through my outfits, but it’s not my intention to shock people—just to give the impression that I’m a creative thinker. I also like to be comfortable and free to move in my clothes while also looking smart. I’m sure this is why I favour flat shoes over heels. The lace-up style in particular allows me to run around madly without feeling sloppy or dishevelled.
I have become much better at recognising fabrics that wear well and cuts that suit my body shape, so I shop with these factors in mind rather than brand names these days. When I was younger I would be swayed by the label on a garment and associated a high price tag with high quality, but I now know that not all quality fabrics are expensive to produce and if the construction is simple that can often be reflected in the price tag. This doesn’t apply to all materials however, and I’ve developed a habit of allocating funds where the garment category calls for it, such as knitwear or tailored coats and pants. I believe footwear is another one of these instances, as there isn’t really a substitute for quality leather and finishing in the structured shoe category.
habbot is currently inviting people to customise their own pair of classic derby brogues. Tell us a bit more about this offer. Do you believe customisation leads to greater love and respect for a product and thus a longer lifespan?
The derby is a style I’ve been having fun reinventing each season, and is actually the cornerstone of the habbot range. I love the challenge of coming up with several new combinations each season and personally know a group of long-term habbot customers that would love the opportunity to develop their own custom design. The majority of habbot customers like the fact that I do the creating for them, but it’s the would-be designer clients who have motivated me to trial this project.
I chose the derby because it’s a personal favourite of mine and quintessentially habbot, but also because it has the highest number of pattern pieces—and is therefore the most ‘customisable’ of all the styles we make. By offering 14 different leather colours, and ability to alter stitching and broguing (patterned hole-punching) details, the shoe can potentially take on both a flamboyant appearance, or a completely minimalist look. I definitely feel the results will be unique to the individual, and therefore will hold a special place in their shoe collection for years to come.
Annie Abbott
"I’m excited by customisation and short-run ordering, as these business models have the potential to prompt the market towards pausing and making better purchasing choices. I would like to see brands being encouraged and rewarded for embracing these alternative, more traditional business models."
When looking at the current fashion system, what do you believe needs to change and why?
I have come to disagree with the concept of set seasons, which implies that if a garment is not new season it is somehow inferior to the current range—despite the fact that the materials and making processes may have been identical. I think it encourages people to discard and move on too quickly, which has resulted in a society that over-consumes and wastes resources. I’m not opposed to creating newness and exciting customers with fresh choices, I just don’t agree with the idea that there are set cut-off dates associated with seasons that result in brands having to clear old stock by slashing prices to make room for the new just because the market demands it.
I would like fashion companies to challenge this consumer expectation and break down the seasonal framework by introducing smaller collections to reduce waste and releasing them at their own pace. I understand this is a frightening prospect to businesses who may stand to miss potential sales of sold-out items. In my mind however, retaining profit by avoiding the need to discount stock and the opportunity to place calculated repeat orders, while also minimising waste, serves to mitigate these concerns.
The business model is such an important key to driving long term change in companies and the way that they operate. Which business models or ways of approaching sustainability do you find particularly interesting and why?
We have always offered our products in small quantities to maintain a level of exclusivity, and to minimise wasted resources. It sometimes causes frustration at the store level, but it’s an important part of our big-picture plan. Once we explain it to customers they generally understand the logic behind our decisions to make small runs and only repeat occasionally, and they tend to love their shoes even more for it. My decisions to trial a customisable shoe takes this idea a step further and is the best way I can think to embrace a more sustainable future.
It’s not a simple change for us, as there is more work creating a customised shoe—particularly in the cutting and stitching stages—and it does require the customer to wait longer to take it home with them. It does show, however, that a win-win solution can be achieved if both parties are willing to cooperate and make a business model change for the better. The #myhabbot ‘customise a classic’ project is customer-focused, in that it provides an opportunity to create your ideal shoe, but behind the scenes it serves to generate less waste, and helps us allocate resources and ensure a more sustainable future for the business.
What have been the greatest lessons you have learned since beginning your career?
As a new brand, I felt I needed to give the impression I was more established than I was for the market to take me seriously. I spent countless hours trying to find a tone that instilled trust and confidence as a new player in the competitive fashion market. Progress was slow, and it wasn’t until a successful business friend advised me to just tell it like it was that people started to sit up and listen. I worked all day every day in my stores during the first few years, and had many wonderful conversations with new customers about the business I was building. It was these genuine conversations that kept me going and helped me shape the brand into the successful small business it is today. I still take on their feedback directly, or through my amazing and very involved team of employees as we continue to develop the business plan.
With the birth of our first baby four months ago, I’m now relying on my team more than ever to help me shape the future of habbot. It’s wonderful to have found a group of individuals who are so keen to be involved in habbot’s evolution. It’s important to me that they continue to gain skills and values that they can carry on throughout their careers. I’m learning to be more collaborative in my workings, while making sure I don’t let go of the ethos and aesthetic that habbot has been built on. Finding and maintaining the right team for your business is a lesson I’m still learning, and one that I think will continue for the life of the business, but ensuring the value similarities are evident is the best advice I can offer to date.
What excites and/or daunts you about the future of the garment industry and why?
I’m excited by customisation and short-run ordering, as these business models have the potential to prompt the market towards pausing and making better purchasing choices. I would like to see brands being encouraged and rewarded for embracing these alternative, more traditional business models. I appreciate progress and experiencing new ideas, but I also see value in learning from the past—I view this as a positive step back to a time when manufacturing worked on a slower ‘pull’ system rather than a mass produced ‘push’ model.
Photography Claire Summers
Customise your own habbot brogue
