About nackt
barefoot shoes for people who'd rather be naked
We believe that the best things in life happen when we are open, candid and vulnerable - naked. By minimising the barrier between ourselves and the outside world, we can explore its contours in more depth.
Shoemaking has been in our family for five generations. In that time, we've developed a sensitivity to certain qualities - the nap of a suede; the sweep of a last. nackt is our own expression of that inheritance. Shoes still, but pared down to something freer.
Informed by our admiration for jazz music and by the folk tradition that surrounds it, nackt is for those who wish to feel just a little bit more.
The inheritance
Shoes were already in the house.
Before nackt had a name, shoes were part of the family vocabulary: lasts, leather, factories, leather swatches on the kitchen table. The brand is our own expression of that inheritance, pared back to something freer.
100+ years of shoemaking
From cobbling to F1 and back again...
-
1800s
Descended from cobblers.
Our ancestry is rooted in shoemaking, which has been in the family for generations, beginning with cobblers in Russia.
Illustration of Russian cobblers -
1970s
Our grandfather's shops.
Our grandfather owned Mr Henry Shoes, a small chain of shoe shops located in London's West End. Our dad grew up working in the shops and stock rooms surrounded by shoes. Eventually the business shrank and shut down, and our dad had to find a new way to continue the shoe legacy.
A pair of leopard print leather men's platform shoes, Mr Henry, 1973 -
1990s
A shoe agency in the house.
Our dad then started his own agency from inside our childhood home. His business connects the best European factories to the most suitable outlets and retailers. He works with the factory and advises their development direction to help them have the best chance of being relevant in the UK market.
Dad with Lurpak for scale. -
2022
We went the long way round.
Despite our dad always wanting at least one of four kids to join the shoe trade, my brother Cameron and myself (Hugo) both became engineers. I was a physics graduate working as an electro-optics and algorithms engineer in Glasgow and Cameron was an electronic and electrical design engineer at Red Bull Formula 1 in Milton Keynes. Both of us have always loved science and tinkering and these felt like dream jobs at the time.
Red Bull Racing team photo 2024 -
2023
Barefoot shoes through running.
After work and on weekends, I was running in the Scottish Highlands. But one day I realised that runners are some of the healthiest injured people I know. I read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and learnt about the communities of Mexican ultra-endurance runners running completely barefoot. Soon after I purchased my first pair of barefoot shoes and after that - I was hooked. I just needed a pair that I could wear out on the town without getting funny looks...
Running with my fiancée, Manon -
2024
We quit to build this.
We quit our day jobs, ordered 300 pairs of shoes and got to work. nackt is an expression of the many things we hold dear: free, spontaneous expression, jazz music and movement that feels good while it does you good. We've organised our lives around trying to get as many people as possible moving effortlessly and intuitively.
Our first model is named after nackt's first believer: my fiancée Manon.
Batch #1 of nackt shoes in our parents' driveway.
