The Story

The original French Sole was founded by British shoe designer Jane Winkworth in 1989. Jane was an aspiring ballet dancer when a little girl and later was devoted to wearing only ballet style flat footwear for every day. With a background of art and design, a passion for fashion and a canny shopper's instinct - Jane found buying ballet flats with a street sole was an almost impossible task. Holidays in St Tropez always meant a buying spree at Daniel Pelliou buying up every colour of French ballets and filling suitcases of them to bring home and on one occasion some had to be sold to friends as the sizes Jane bought did not fit her. Instantly they were a sell out and Jane knew she had hit on a brilliant idea. Start a business supplying only ballet flats!! The original idea was born.

By 1989 Jane was buying from Repetto, Hirica, Labelle, Ballerines de Provence - only from France as there were no other ballet flats being produced anywhere else at that time. Initially Jane sold only for charity and at tabletop sales events for charity where her ballet flats had queues at the tables and were sold out by lunchtime.

A chance meeting with a shoe salesman for the Hirigoyen family - friends of her first ever employee Chloe Saxby at the Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch, led Jane directly to her first and still her foremost supplier of traditional French ballet flats ( or "pumps" as they should really be called). The salesman, elderly and dressed head to toe in black motorbike leathers agreed her idea was a good one, loved the chosen name of "The French Sole "and immediately returned to France and informed the Hirigoyen family of his meeting with Jane and her unusual idea.

The family owned company decided to support Jane with her idea and agreed to sell small orders of ballet flats made in her own fabrics and colours with new designs supplied by Jane and new ideas and innovations of the ballet flat which had never been done previously. The family later sold the company on to Guy Gasparian who remains today, twenty two years later a great friend to Jane Winkworth and to French Sole and the company who made ballet flats famous since 1950 throughout France are now still supplying the original French Sole with Jane's unique colour combinations and ideas.

From 1989 until 1993 French Sole was operated as a Mail Order only company and then followed the first shop in Fulham, a second in Sloane Square, then the Kings Road, Chelsea, Marylebone village and the most famous store at 26 Brook Street where French Sole occupy the entire building of five floors where David and Elizabeth Emanuel famously made the late Princess of Wale's beautiful wedding gown. Here, French Sole showcase their entire collection of ballet flats, flat footwear, bespoke designs and new collections to a wide section of the Press, media and their global wholesale buyers and distributors. Jane has a beautiful office and Parisien style showroom, complete with Swarovski chandeliers and a gentle pink decor to tempt visitors into staying long into the evening, when pink champagne is always served at 6.30pm!

French Sole are regarded as the absolute original and number one for Ballet Flats and although now much copied, their shoes have won many awards and are regarded by all the fashion press, fashionistas, celebrity and Royal clients as the complete original, the "real deal" and the only ballet flat worth buying.

"Head over heels for French Sole"