SWEAR was founded in 2001 by young entrepreneur José Neves and has become one of the most ubiquitous and iconic footwear brands from London. SWEAR is synonymous with the casual hybrid shoe, relevant within contemporary fashion footwear market, exploring its design language through playfulness of silhouettes, materials and craftsmanship, succeeding in delivering intricate design twists and modernity in traditional shapes and details. Tired of going to gigs and seeing young people wearing a mix of converse and vintage shoes with their skinny jeans, José set out to design a sneaker-shoe hybrid which would look cool with skinny jeans and t-shirt, a bold, minimal look of the early 00′s, taken to the streets by garage rock revival bands such as The Strokes, White Stripes and The Hives. SWEAR’s first original design, the ‘DEAN’ – a pointed shoe with distinctive rubber sole featuring the iconic James Dean Rebel Without a Cause graphic outsole- marked the brand’s instantly recognizable SWEAR style of the 00′s. Throughout the years, more than one hundred styles and a thousand different color ways were designed. The Dean went on to represent the look of a subculture, selling over 1 million pairs worldwide in the process, and establishing SWEAR London as a cult brand worldwide. SWEAR is one of SIX London’s brands, a London-based shoe studio that incorporates a contemporary brands’ portfolio.
