The new shoe label you need on your radar

There’s a new fashion label in town and it’s bringing new meaning to the term ‘exclusive’. Francia UYS is the latest luxury footwear brand that designs and produces 55 pairs of each style, ever. Promising wardrobe exclusivity and individuality, the brand prides itself in creating covetable footwear for the fashion-conscious woman. Pronounced “France-ia Ace”, the label is the brainchild of Francia Tolson and Rebecca Trembath who sketch and design shoes in their offices across the ditch from one another – in NZ and Australia.

Remix caught up with Francia and Rebecca about how their childhood friendship and obsession with the Spice Girls turned into an entrepreneurial venture.

How did you guys meet?

R: At intermediate. We were 11 years old. Now we are 31. 20 years later!

Why shoes?

R: Well, originally, we were going to be the next Spice Girls (laughs). We dedicated our lives as children to being pop stars. We had a recording studio come to our house and we gave them a demo tape. Never heard back. We found out later that we have the worst voices you can possibly imagine, but our parents were so supportive and I think that we kind of had no idea. I guess that we kind of just started thinking that we were going to do something with our lives and we have always been quite creative.

What was the “eureka” moment?

F: Rebecca started a swimwear business in 2013 and I started the shoe thing in 2014. Then we combined forces…

R: Hence why it’s named after her.

F: Yeah. When I had my first child, I was just like, ‘That’s it. I am not working for someone else. I want to do my own business and it was shoes. Shoes have always been a passion for us, or fashion at least.’

Do you both design?

Both: Yes!

What’s coming up then?

F: We’ve got these awesome slides that are jewelled up.

How many shoes are in the new collection?

R: To start with, what did we have? Like 12 between us that we were working on. We narrowed it down to maybe four or five.

F: But now we’ve got about six or seven.

What’s the inspiration for the new collection?

F: Mexican culture. Just the vibe and the colours.

R: So, basically we started our inspiration with colours and different areas in Mexico. Also the sand and all of the colour and the beauty. That was kind of how we started our vision. Then, we started working from there.

F: I went there for my honeymoon like three, four, five years ago. I just fell in love with it.

Our pick? Check out these gilt bad boys... 

View the full collection here.