Companies who make and sell small shoes in the UK:

Name: Equity Shoes Ltd    
URL: www.equityshoes.com   Email: sales@equityshoes.com
Address: 42 Western Road, Leicester LE3 0GQ
Tel: 0116 254 9313   Fax: 0116 255 3769
24-hour Answerphone: 0116 255 5636  
Size range: 2 - 8, with some styles available in half sizes too. All for wider feet.

Description:
A large range ( over 80 styles) of styles in wider fittings - from D to EEEE. Some of their styles are for the more mature, but many are elegant courts, with heel heights in the region of 1 = to 2 inches. The catalogue is 12-page, A5 glossy, and shows matching handbags where available, but no prices, as these vary between shops. On average, we have found their court shoes to be around #55 in shops. Several of their styles are available in narrow fittings now under the brand name Nil Simile, as they bought out this company in 2000, and often manufacture the same style in both narrow and wide.

Online sales now available.

Entry: May 2002. Updated Nov 2010.

 
Name: Elmdale Shoes (Was Howard & Hallam Ltd. - now part of Equity Shoes)    
URL: www.elmdaleshoes.com   Email: info@elmdaleshoes.com
Address: Elmdale Shoes, 42 Western Road, Leicester LE3 0GQ
Tel: 0116 254 9313   Fax: 0116 254 3769
Size range: 2 - 8 (some styles available in 2 =), all in wide fittings, from D to EEE

Description:
A large range of classic court shoes and sandals in many colours - the catalogue's sub-heading is 'wider fitting shoes that look anything but.'. The catalogue is glossy A5, 16 pages, featuring over 70 styles (24 available down to size 2, the rest from 3) but no prices, as these vary between shops . All Elmdale shoes are wide fitting - D is the narrowest (i.e. just wider than average), EEE is the widest. Some styles are not available smaller than 3, but there is sufficient choice to make this a tempting catalogue. The Winter 2002 catalogue includes an ankle boot in size 2, and one style of knee length boot from size 3- always difficult to track down in small sizes. If you contact them, they will send a stockist list for your area, but be aware that if the notes for a particular shop say ' very wide selection of styles' this will mean generally, not necessarily in small sizes. I visited a shop specially in Spring 2002, only to find they had ONE PAIR in a size two, and it was too big for me!

Their website still shoes "The new 2008 Collection" - in 2010 ?

Entry: May 2002. Updated November 2010.

 
Name: Nil Simile (now part of Equity Shoes)    
URL: www.nilsimile.co.uk   Email: sales@nilsimile.co.uk
Address: 42 Western Road, Leicester LE3 0GQ
Tel: 0116 254 9313   Fax: 0116 255 3769
Size range: 2 to 8, including half sizes, all B/AA fitting only (i.e. B at the front and AA at the heel)
Description:
Nil Simile have been manufacturing narrow shoes for decades, and used to offer from size 1 to size 10, but they were taken over by Equity Shoes in October 2000, and since then the range has been 'consolidated', so that now the range starts at size 2, and only 8 of their 20 styles are available in sizes under 4. The website shows all the styles, grouped by casuals/courts/dance, but they do not take online orders. You can email or phone them for a colour leaflet of the styles (without prices), and a list of stockists. The price range is around the #50 mark. They are starting to update the range (from Summer 2002) with flattish / comfort styles as well as the traditional courts, but these will not be available in the smallest sizes at first; only from size 4. We spoke to the owner of this company, Ray Spencer, at the Footwear UK trade show in August 2002, about the difficulty of finding this range in the High Street shops (along with Equity, also owned by him), and he said the public can phone direct to order shoes if they cannot find them in the shops, although they do not have a 'mail order' department as such. However, we tried this out, as there was a particular style that I wanted, and the person in Customer Services could only suggest local stockists for us to try, rather than send a pair direct (because they had no small sizes in the warehouse left in that colour), and even then she couldn't identify stockists who would have the smaller sizes in stock. Also, the colour featured in their catalogue that I really wanted wasn't available any more ! (only navy or black - story of my life !).

Nil Simile shoes are now very rare - only a few are being made, and they seem to be selling off the last of their stock [Feb. 2007].( They still show a few styles in sizes 2-8 on their website catalogue - Nov 2010.)
Entry: July 2002. Updated November 2010.

 
Name: Florida Group Ltd (make Van Dal and Brooke shoes)    
URL: www.vandalshoes.com
(N.B. This site is intended for the trade, so is quite frustrating to use, as a potential retail customer!) 		  Email:
Address: The Florida Group Ltd., Head Office, Dibden Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 4RR
Tel: 01603 426341   Fax: 01603 424354
For local stockist, ring: 0800 801909  
Size range: 2 - 9, in various fittings, depending on the range
Description:
Van Dal range: Elegant court shoes and sandals in generous D or E fittings, in many colours, with quite a young feel. 2002 Autumn/Winter collection featured in A4 glossy catalogue, 24 pages, 63 styles of shoes (13 available from size 2 - otherwise from size 3) and 9 of boots (but all of these only start from size 3. Aargh!!). Prices range from around #50 to #70 for the shoes. Matching handbags are available for some styles. I have no details of where to buy the range from (but I have recently found that Alan Mickel of Glasgow do them, amongst others - see separate entry under 'Offline shops'). Brooke range: 8 of the 27 styles featured in their catalogue are available from size 2 (whole sizes only, I think), in D, E or EE fitting. They make traditional courts, sandals, comfort shoes etc. Prices range from #50 to #60, and heel heights from 1 < to 2 < inches. Holmes range: I have not seen a catalogue for these, but apparently they come in AA, B and medium fittings. The website has a geographical store list, giving the name of the shop and the telephone number, but these shops don't necessarily stock the smaller sizes, so it would be worth ringing to check first. One annoying policy decision by Van Dal is that, although they make each style in several colours, often only the 'usual' (i.e. faster-shifting lines) of black and navy are stocked in the smaller sizes, whilst larger-footed people get to choose from the jazzy colours and interesting-textured materials as well.
Entry: May 2002. Updated September 2002.

 
Name: Riva Shoes Ltd    
URL: www.rivashoes.co.uk   Contact: [Contact form]
Address: Unit 12, Roundtree Close, Roundtree Way, Sprowston, Norwich, Norfolk NR7 8SX
Tel: 01603 488108   Fax: 01603 789639
Size range: EU size 35 upwards for most styles, but no EU half sizes. Average to wide - not specifically sold in 'fittings'.
Description:
Their website had no products on sale when I looked in November 2010
Entry: Updated Nov 2010

 
Name: Conker Shoes    
URL: www.conkershoes.com   Email: info@conkershoes.com
Address: 28 High Street, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5RY
Tel: 01803 862490   Fax:
Size range: Adults size 1 (UK) upwards, plus children's styles
Description:
Handmade casual footwear using British leathers, made on the shop premises. All shoes are flat - heel height is between a quarter and three-eighths of an inch, depending on style. Mail order catalogue is A5, 24-page, glossy. Prices range from #41 for a thong sandal, to #65 for a T-bar sandal. Large choice of leather colours. Foot measurements taken by customer and sent in with order (how to do this is described, with photos, at the back of the catalogue). P&p to UK addresses is #6.50 per pair of adult shoes (2 or more pairs #4 each).
Entry: May 2002