When a Pair of Sneakers Flew Into My Inbox 👟

Sometimes the next chapter finds you before you even know what you're looking for.

At the beginning of 2025, I was closing my sewing school in Brisbane after eight years.  My little shop was closing, I didn't have anywhere to take my studio, and I knew a huge chapter of my creative life was coming to an end.

I was ready for a new adventure. I just didn't know what it was yet.

And then, in February 2025, these little sneakers flew into my inbox.

They combined three things I absolutely loved:

Fabric. Sewing. Shoes.

I was hooked.

Down the sneaker rabbit hole

What started as curiosity quickly became a deep dive.

I wanted to know everything about these shoes. How did they work? Who created them? Could people really sew their own sneakers?

That search led me to SneakerKit and its creator, Dutch footwear designer Roderick Pieters.

As we shared in Part 1, Roderick had created a specially designed sneaker sole with perfectly positioned, pre-punched holes that allowed makers to stitch their own uppers directly onto the sole.

And I could immediately see the possibilities.

I'd spent eight years teaching people to sew. I love dressmaking, wearables, fabric and creating, and I've always come from a crafty family.

This felt like the creative outlet I'd been looking for.

Bringing SneakerKit Down Under 🇦🇺

I was watching what makers were creating across Europe, the UK and America and thinking:

Australian makers are going to love this.

Things moved pretty quickly from there.  By the middle of 2025, our first sneaker soles were on the water and heading to Australia.

Sneaker Stitch was becoming real.

But I didn't want to simply bring sneaker soles to Australia.  I wanted to create a whole maker experience around them.

We developed our own Sneaker Stitch Maker's Guide, curated our tool sets and started putting together all those fabulous finishing touches.

Different coloured eyelets and grommets. Shoelaces. Tools. Colour choices.

All the little details that help turn a pair of handmade sneakers into your pair of handmade sneakers.

Because if you're going to make something from fabric you've chosen and stitch it yourself, why should it look like everyone else's?

A new creative chapter

Throughout the process, Roderick has been incredibly generous with his knowledge and guidance as we've brought SneakerKit to Australia.

We've also found wonderful support within the sewing and making community.

And that's exactly the kind of creative community I want Sneaker Stitch to be part of.

People sharing ideas. Supporting each other. Making quality things. Trying something different.

Looking back, it's funny to think that at a time when one big creative chapter of my life was closing, a pair of sneakers arriving in my inbox opened another.

They gave me a newfound sense of passion and enjoyment and the opportunity to bring something completely different to Australian makers.

And we were only getting started.

Because once we started looking at these sneakers through the eyes of sewists and fabric lovers, another question appeared...

What happens when you combine sneakers with quilting? 🧵👟

Well, that's where things get really interesting.

Next: The Sneaker Stitch Story, Part 3: When Sewing Met Sneakers.