New Shoes

A baker spends the vast majority of his working day on his feet, so comfortable footware is of prime importance.  Matthew had been wearing his everyday shoes for baking, but they were getting pretty wrecked with flour and oil splatters, so whilst the bakery refit was going on we decided that when the time came it would be new bakery, new shoes.

For us, a sustainable bakery means, not simply organic flour or wood-fired, but trying to look with concern at all aspects of supply.  We decided that for the bakery, as we do for ourselves, we should buy our shoes from Green Shoes in Devon.  Their shoes are not cheap, but they are made in Britain with concern for the environmental impact of their raw materials.  I have two pairs of their shoes - one for winter, one for summer - which I wear almost every day (sadly in Fife the winter ones get considerably more wear than the summer ones!).  They are extremely comfortable and I think they look great.  The other wonderful thing about Green Shoes shoes is that when they get a bit worn, you send them back down to Devon - they get a full service and come back looking and feeling like new.

Here are the new bakery shoes in all their glory when they arrived a few weeks ago -

They are considerably more floury now than in this picture, but with a little care and attention should last for years.