Mr. Hare, the brand, was conceived at a roadside Tapas bar in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Andalucia, Spain on July 23rd 2008. I was looking at the woven leather shoes of the old gentleman sitting next to me thinking those shoes could be so awesome with a few tweaks, but who could I get to make them? Five minutes later, Mr. Hare, the brand, was born. Mr Hare, the person, was conceived in the winter of 1969 in South London, by an English Woman and a Jamaican man. Mr. Hare, the baby, was born in July 1970. Everything you need to understand about Mr. Hare, the brand, can be found on Mr. Hare, the blog. Before Mr. Hare the brand, Mr. Hare, the person, had a long and winding career, which includedworking at Lynne Franks PR in the late 80s, opening London’s only proper surf shop called Low Pressure in 1992. Being a design consultant for British outdoor company Karrimor.Being a marketing consultant for companies including Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Speedo, Caterpillar, Sebago, Dr. Martens, O’Neill, Reebok, Levi’s and Kangol. Mr. Hare also opened a ground breaking fashion boutique in London called Something, which stocked amongst other things, Balenciaga, Dior, Margiela, Raf Simons, Veronique Branquinho, AF Vandervorst, Bernhard Wilhelm, Martine Sitbon…shall I go on? Mr. Hare, the brand took 360 days to go from idea conception to shopfloor at Dover Street Market. Mr. Hare, the person’s, goal in life is to live in a beach house somewhere hot that I can surf my older days away, before I am too old to surf. Therefore, Mr. Hare, the brand, will make a small number of essential products extremely well for the people who desire them the most. Mr. Hare, the person, believes that this is the ethical way to do business by having more small pockets of great expertise instead of a few large corporations affecting a brain drain for unnecessary greedy economical gain. Mr. Hare, the shoes, are currently designed wherever I choose. They are handmade in Empoli, in Tuscany, in Italy. In future they will be made wherever the greatest manufacturer best suited to the task is located. The daily operations of Mr. Hare, the brand, the person, the blog, happen in London. Mr. Hare, the person, has no formal training in shoe design or any other form of design. He just knows what he needs and knows what he likes. He needs food and love and music and fresh air. He likes MF Doom, cooking, surfing, his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, dancing, bespoke suits, flip flops, camping, riding mountains, the Wu-Tang especially ODB, girls, White Wine and Dark Rum, but not together, Spinach and many other things, but these are the ones I have remembered today. Mr. Hare, the brand, is a black shoe company. This means my shoes are created to make the wearer look stylish and completely in control at night. This doesn’t mean they can’t be worn in the day, or come in other colours. It just means that when I designed them I was thinking about having a great time at night, outside,
