shoemaker who opened his own shoe repair shop in England. During World War I, Freed was
around 16 years old and thought of becoming an engineer. But instead he fell in love with making
pointe shoes and started out at a firm in London's West End.
In 1979, on his eightieth birthday he said, "I went into a room where I saw rolls and rolls of satin
and bits of leather; and you know the old saying, if you see a girl you fall in love with, it clicks right
away and you don't want to know anything else..."
Freed is credited with inventing a method of pleating pointe shoes that required only 3 nails instead
of the 7 to 9 the veteran makers were using at the time. After learning all he could from his collegues,
Freed decided to open his own retail store. He was joined by his wife and an assistant from Gamba.
Together they opened the doors of the first Freed retail shop on St. Martin's Lane.
While stock shoes are available in the Freed brand, special order remains a skill and service that
remain their claim to fame. From the vamp layering, and insoles, to the material used to make the
boxes-every part of the shoe can be constructed to the individual dancer's needs.
In 1987 Freed was bought by Chacott. In 1990 a Japanese company named Onward Kashiyama
bought them both.
All of the Freed Pointe shoe and ballet shoe models are available through special order. Here are some vintage ads and shoes.
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