This week I was lucky enough to spend some time chatting to well known blogger, style champion, and designer, Sam Squire.
Sam is pretty much living the dream; a young guy, running a popular (and excellent) style blog and launching his own footwear brand, Squire Footwear, over the coming months.
We caught up with Sam to discuss his recent endeavor and even managed to get you a glimpse of the designs we can expect from his brand…
Hi Sam, its good to have you here on Gallous Lad.
Why don’t we start by you telling us a little about yourself? What’s your background? How have you got to where you are now?
Sure, I’m Sam – I am a 20 year old male blogger. I started my blog a little under 2 years ago, since then I have had some really amazing opportunities that have enabled me to create a really promising brand, a lot of hard work has gone in to it so it’s really exciting to see things taking shape!
I’m glad it’s all going well. I have been a regular reader for a while now. I was wondering where you initially got your passion for menswear?
I think I’ve always really been in to style and fashion and I guess it is something that really evolved into what I do now. I think it’s the same for anything, if you’ve got an interest for it and you work hard then you’ll get some wicked opportunities along the way!
Now you’ve had the opportunity to launch your own brand! What was your inspiration behind launching the Squire brand?
I think when it comes to blogging you’ve got to have something different and be able to fit in to a niche area. There’s so many great male bloggers out there and I wanted something different. I think the brand over all is about quality and passion be it for style, travel or all the bits in between and I try to reflect this in quality writing and photography. My blog isn’t all about being suited and booted, there’s so many great guys that do that already I felt I wanted to take a more casual approach, I guess I aim to appeal to the 16-30 market with it really.
I totally agree. My instagram feed is full of guys who can pull off the blazer and tie look. I actually find it more impressive now when someone can catch my eye with a simple hoodie and jeans combination. So, for the launch of the Squire Brand, was there a reason you have moved into footwear exclusively? Are you perhaps looking to expand the brand into clothing or accessories at a later stage?
I had this really awesome opportunity to work with an Italian shoe manufacturer to expand my brand into footwear. It was one I definitely didn’t want to turn down as they’ve worked with Christian Louboutin and other huge footwear designers. The plan has always been to create really high quality handmade Italian leather shoes that fit style and comfort needs, all for under £100! I obviously have loads of new things I am working on to develop the brand and do something new, that could be clothing…who knows?!
That’s brilliant, can’t really miss an opportunity that great when it comes around! … it must have been a bit daunting though, is it something you have done before? Where did you learn your design skills?
I have always been a really creative person and design has been something I have done all my life. I guess it was just transferring my web and digital design skills to shoes, it was pretty simple, really!
What’s your process for designing your shoes?
It all starts with a concept, once I have a slight idea I work with the development team to make the idea a reality, they draw up concepts and we work together to approve them. All of the ideas are by me, it makes it a very authentic brand as I would personally wear all of the collection.
How much do you pay attention to trends? Do you attempt to bring relevant trends into your designs?
I think looking at trends is a fundamental part of the process, I don’t want to release something that isn’t relevant to the current season, for example this Autumn we know white soles are really popular, so we have been striving to create really cool shoes with these really cool white soles. Everything I do has got to be right, because I want this to work and appeal to people!
Well the designs you have released to the public so far definitely appear to have appealed to your followers. I can’t wait to see more. What’s your personal favourite piece from the collection so far?
I have SO many pieces that are my favourite because after all I designed them so I definitely would wear them myself. I have some cool hightop sneakers that I am a real fan of so they are probably my current favourites – they feature monochrome black and white and it just goes really well!
Monochrome black and white is timeless. Always goes well and can pretty much be matched with everything! I look forward to seeing that design. I’ll pick them up for sure! When you are creating your designs you must take inspiration from all manner of sources. Who would you say is your style icon at the moment?
I don’t have one particular icon, I have guys that I appreciate their style for different reasons. David Gandy brings a really sophisticated approach to style and I am loving what he is doing right now, Oliver Cheshire adds a youthful and fun style to some really key on-trend pieces that I think is really great and really appeals to my age group. David Beckham really rocks some amazing style, he’s another I’d say definitely goes to influencing my style choices on a whole!
Can you share any shopping secrets you have discovered with our readers? Any advice or shopping hacks that our audience should know or may not have thought of?
Look at the mannequins! Visual merchandisers tend to be pretty good at pairing items of clothing and ensuring the mannequins are super on trend, often they work to what their HQ has decided is trending. If you take a look at the mannequins you can definitely be inspired to create an outfit that will keep your style current, knowing what pieces go together is super important!
Finally, when will we see the launch of the Squire Footwear range?
…and how do I go about getting a free pair?!
The collection will be dropping soon…that’s about as much as I am giving you right now! We’re working on some exciting things and I’m not going to spill it all right now am I, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for a launch date in the coming weeks! As for free pairs, we make the shoes as and when we get orders to make sure they are bespoke to each customer, we can’t sample them just yet but I’ll shoot you over an exclusive discount code!
That’s what I like to hear! I knew there was a reason we interviewed you…
Listen, thanks for taking the time to speak to us and we look forward to the launch of Squire Footwear!
Sam was kind enough to give us a preview of one of Squire Footwear’s designs for their launch…
I love them, I’ll definitely be picking them up. What do you think?
Gallus Lad 