As most fans of old school fashion will discover – it can be difficult to find the shoes to fit the outfit when you’re dressing in a ‘retro’ style, whether it’s 1930′s & 40′s fashion, 1950′s fashion or even as recent as 1970′s & 80′s styles.

Sadly, in some cases – once an item is out of style, you just cannot get it again. Ever! 

But luckily, some styles manage to stick around through the years and manufacturers will continue to produce them (or at least something similar) for decades beyond their time.

The Classics…..you NEED these in your wardrobe!

For example – take a look at these absolutely beautiful patent mary janes from Pleaser:

These gorgeous patent mary janes are a very versatile style because you can create an authentic retro look by teaming them up with a 1950′s style dress or a smart pencil skirt, but they’d also look stylish with a modern outfit, like jeans, trousers or a shorter skirt, so you’re not limited to only wearing them with certain items, you can share them with your whole wardrobe!

Pleaser provide a whole range of retro shoes…

Pleaser also produce a whole range of classic ‘court shoes’ which have been in style since forever and are perfect for any retro outfit…

Want smaller heeled retro shoes? 3 inch heel retro court shoes…

The heels on most of these styles are approx 6 inches and that’s fairly high! So if that’s a little too much for you – check out these gorgeous Pleaser court shoes with a 3 inch heel

Could small heels be making a comeback for punk footwear?

This is great for those of us who love the shoes but don’t love the height. It’s a fact that not everyone feels comfortable in heels at 5 or 6 inches. Perhaps you have trouble walking in them or feel uncomfortable, or you’re already pretty tall and 5 or 6 inches makes you feel like a giant! It’s such a shame to have to miss out on the great designs available.

Say hello to these beautiful small heeled styles from TUK Shoes…

» View all heels from TUK Shoes

Some really interesting designs and lively colours to choose from there including some with art prints such as the TUK Octa Alien style, the ‘Señor Musica’ shoes showing Senor Musica with his guitar – custom drawn art by Kimberley Holladay, and the peacock style print shoes with artwork by Brad Hansen.

These TUK Shoes styles have an approx. 7.5cm (2 3/4 inches) high heel. They’re comfortable to wear due to a padded foot bed and they’re made from man made materials – vegan friendly!

(Note: This style of heel fits about a 1/2 size small.)

Iron Fist

» Browse Iron Fist footwear

Iron Fist have some amazing designs on their products, they really bring something no one else does to the world of alternative footwear.

About Iron Fist

Iron Fist are a relatively new brand on the alternative clothing ‘scene’, but they’ve been active for over 10 years providing mens and womens clothing and alternative footwear.

Many of their shoe designs are outrageous and totally one of kind. They fuse punk fashion, comic book and tattoo style artwork with retro shoe styles – all combined to make gorgeous footwear! They use colour in a unique way and their designs are colourful, vibrant and exciting.

Iron Fist specialise in women’s shoes and have a wide variety of styles available such as high heels with platform soles and peep toe shoes, chunky heels with wedge platform soles (circa 1970s punk!) and also flats including canvas sneakers.

Always exciting – bright, bold and daring. Iron Fist shoes are something special!

Iron Fist are an American brand based in the USA, however, there shoes are very popular here in the UK and lots of punk, alternative outlets are stocking their products across the UK.

Shop for Iron Fist footwear

Browse our collection of Iron Fist footwear and feel free to get in touch if you’re looking for something specific and we’ll do our best to source it for you.

Shriek! Yes, we know – some skaters don’t like to hear this, but it’s true. The skate ‘style’ trainer has become a staple in many non-skater’s wardrobes and for good reason.

In general, skate shoes are:  comfortable, hard wearing, they look great and there’s such a huge selection to choose from, lots of different styles and colours, produced by lots of alternative brands.

As they’re made to withstand lots of skating action such as hard knocks to the ground and gripping the board, they’re a very durable style of shoe.

There’s so much variation when it comes to skate shoes it can be hard to pick a pair that are right for you. If you’re new to the world of skate trainers, at first glance a lot of the brands can look very similar, but to the hardened skate shoe pro there are very noticeable differences in terms of designs and in terms of quality.

A few of our personal tips about choosing your skate trainers:

1. If you’re looking for really chunky skate trainers, the type that rose to massive popularity with the ‘skate wave’ of the 1990′s and early 2000′s, – we recommend browsing the Circa, Vans, DC Shoes or World Industries shoes.

2. If you’re looking for something a bit more ‘old skool’ skate, browse this selection of  ‘old skool skate shoes‘, or how about some Vans canvas slip ons? (adult and child’s styles available)

3. If you’re looking for the 80′s style with the high ankle and the velcro straps (plus some extremely funky colours and designs!) – check out Supra skate shoes. This style is really popular with teenagers and the younger generation right now.

The most popular brands in skate trainers are:

So – which style of skate trainer is your favourite? Feel free to leave us a comment below, we’d love to hear from you.

(Personally, I like to wear Vans trainers when I’m walking the dog as they’re so comfortable with their thick soles, I can walk for hours without any kind of foot ache. Totally recommended to fellow walkers! -Ed)

Tartan Mary Janes

These mary jane shoes are perfect for casual and everyday wear but they’re fancy enough that they would also work with a special outfit or on special occassions where you want to look smart but still show off your alternative personality

Sizes are a little limited at the moment so get browsing quick before they’re all gone!:

The design is similar to the heels but not exactly the same. These shoes feature a retro, comic book / pulp fiction art print all over and have a slightly chunky platform sole, a chunky and stable heel and 2 gorgeous mary jane style straps across the front, with the design printed on them also which looks fabulous!

These sexy high heel platform shoes have a 10cm heel and a 3cm platform toe. They would look amazing as part of a modern pin-up style of outfit. Yummy!

The style is true to size and comfortable to wear due to a padded foot bed.

Made from vegan friendly, man-made materials.

If you’re looking for unusual shoes these are the heels for you. With a chunky 5cm (approx) platform sole, and a 12cm heel – it doesn’t get much higher than this!

These ‘Super platforms’ fit true to size and are very comfortable to wear due to a padded foot bed.

Made from vegan friendly, man made materials.

These high heel shoes have the ‘scarlet sin’ art print which is a retro, comic book / pulp fiction style design including a sexy red-headed ‘femme fatale’!

These sexy punk shoes have a 10cm stiletto heel and are very comfortable to wear due to a padded foot bed.

These shoes are made from Vegan friendly, man made material.

(The picture doesn’t quite do these shoes justice, they really have a bold and impressive design)

Extra info from the manufacturer: This shoe comes up slightly small so if you take a half size, the next size up would be recommended.

Lace-up purple high tops with white laces and white soles. As always, top quality shoes from Converse.

Underground Shoes are one of the leaders in alternative footwear in the UK, specialising in designing shoes based on the music subcultures in society, bringing a great selection of rockabilly creepers in classic old-school and rockin’ new-school styles!

From Underground Shoes:

“The rockin’ and rollin’ world of Underground…

The only place you will find the most R’n’R, music inspired footwear
of the future.

Whether Punk , Rock or Rockabilly our designs are strongly inspired by the music subcultures that surround us.

From the sharpest toed ballerina to toxic print platform, to the wildest animal print boot to the noisiest baseball boot we have it all right here.

We are very passionate about our product and do our most to make it as individual as possible by concentrating on the detail – the exclusive  leathers , the  graphic linings, the crazy buckle…

We hope you have as much fun wearing Underground as we do making them!”