I’ve been on FaceTime with the factory crew in Brazil nearly every week since starting Noskin. Watching shoes get put together through a screen. Zooming in on stitching, asking a million questions, trying to explain how I didn’t care what it cost to make - it just needed to be as good as it could be.

But this was the first time I stood on the floor where it all happens.

We’ve been working with this factory since day one. But we’ve grown. We’ve got new ideas. Bigger plans. So I flew over. I needed to see it all in person. And to be honest, I wanted to get away from my desk and feel like I got into this business to actually do cool shit.

I wanted to feel the materials. Hear the machines. Smell the glue.

I went to the supplier factories. Watched soles being built from raw rubber. Learned how the lasts are made. Browsed catalogues of all of the tiny details that can change the entire silhouette. I thought I knew shoes. Now I know enough to know I’ve got years to go.

I never studied footwear design. Didn’t plan to get into fashion. I was just a punk kid messing with stencils and making my own clothes. After getting kicked out of a band, losing my US visa and leaving behind a music career in LA - I tried the 9-5 game back in London, then Melbourne. It ain’t for me. I needed something creative, whether it’s a song or a shoe, I need to bring things to life.

This trip felt like a full circle. Like I got to press reset and feel properly connected to this creative venture.

Every day, I’d learn something new. I’d hand the team a sketch. They’d huddle up, problem-solve, trial, test, and reshape it into something real. One sketch took three of them half a day just to sample a custom sole. That’s not production line stuff. That’s collaboration. That’s craft.

Truth is, they’re not just making what I design. They are the designers too. I give them an idea. They give it life.
I watched every stage. Hand-cutting materials. Stitching. Assembly. The tiny pins used to hold each shoe mid-build. You hear “handmade” a lot in fashion. But it’s different when you see it up close. It’s slower. Messier. More human. It’s fucking cool.

And at the end of each day, we’d hit some old-school salsa bar, drink cheap beer, watch the soccer, get an idea then take it back to the factory early the next morning and work on a sample. A weird, perfect blur of hard work and late nights.

If you were there, you’d get it.
You’d see why our shoes aren’t cheap.
You’d see the fingerprints in every pair.
You’d understand why a slightly crooked stitch isn’t a flaw - it’s a mark that someone made this for you. With their hands. Not a machine.

This trip gave me a stack of ideas for the next collection. From new soles to more adventurous silhouettes to materials I’ve never worked with. It made me want to slow things down, yet do more. Do better.

Preorders are open now for the next restock.
Every pair will be built the same way:
By hand.
By people who care about creating with intention.
For people who do too.