Milly J is excited to announce that she has been shorlisted for two prestigious Drapers Footwear Awards. The Drapers awards are one of the biggest awards that recognise the industry. Being alongside some behemoths of the industry is a true honour!

She is nominated as the Footwear Designer of the Year and The Best Sustainability Initiative of the Year. The second being her campaign to reduce the footwear landfill implications.

Milly J is excited to announce that she has been shorlisted for two prestigious Drapers Footwear Awards. The Drapers awards are one of the biggest awards that recognise the industry. Being alongside some behemoths of the industry is a true honour!

She is nominated as the Footwear Designer of the Year and The Best Sustainability Initiative of the Year. The second being her campaign to reduce the footwear landfill implications.

Milly J was visited in the shop and studio by University of East Anglia, International Development students. As part of their thesis, they research the changing social perspectives towards environmental issues, including recycling and landfill. How we start to do things in different ways, in which to help the implications. Is this a changing model in that we are more aware of what happens to our waste and is this a permanent change?

Here at Milly J Shoes, I am pushing the move for the public to bring in their old shoes in order to help reduce the footwear footprint. They in turn have their shoes revitalised and turned into a new design. Most of the UK's landfill is tranferred to China or Poland and this simply isn't economically sustainable! The footwear industry is one of the biggest culprits for poor landfill management.

I am committed to trying to help the next generation find their own, unique sense of self. Doing this by creating mini projects, working on their confidence skills through speech, language, music and drama to instilling the importance of creativity.

I mentor at North Walsham High school and I organised for my group of 13 year olds to visit the East Anglia Air Ambulance. Taking them away from their phones and ipads and seeing what else lay in this world beyond social media and texting! On my day off, some of my mentees and I visited their base and were greeted by the paramedics, doctors, pilots and of course the CEO, Patrick Peal.

The stories were inspiring and they certainly managed to get through to my group. I am excited to take another lot of mentees to the base in the future.

Milly J Shoes was invited to exhibit at the HSBC head office yesterday. A pop up for trusted local businesses who have something a little bit different to offer.

Milly J Shoes is delighted to be affiliated with the UK's oldest hotel. An award winning boutique hotel in the heart of Norwich up the road from my shop. They are now exhibiting Milly J Shoes with some exciting news coming soon!

But over the weekend, some of their preferred suppliers were invited to exhibit at thier wedding open day. Included was the hotel's vintage Bentley and other talented wedding industry experts.

We always have a great time exhibiting among various other fabulous bridal suppliers at the official, Bride Magazine Wedding Show. This is held twice a year at the Norfolk Showground with it being the largest wedding show in the area. Our themes were peacock blues and sea greens. The gorgeous flower girl dress was made by my partner's sister, Tara Martin - Miluca.

To folow on from our, "Footwear Footprint" story, I was delighted to be contacted by Norfolk's Heart Radio division. The story was aired on radio and in their news feeds.

Following on from the great news in the EDP Newspaper!

I’m on the campaign to reduce the landfill implications within the footwear industry with 330 million pairs in the uk alone manufactured a year with most of these ending up in landfill. One pair takes 50 years to decompose with gases and toxins released into our atmosphere due to the manmade materials in use. The way forward is upcyling. Transforming the pairs you don’t wear or old shoes into new designs. Putting off the landfill destiny for another few years! Fast fashion is an issue.

I was invited by news anchor, Susie Fowler-watt to be interviewed on the BBC Look East news couch this week! This was in light to my new campaign - Footwear Footprint..

They filmed in the shop and then interviewed me for the evening news. I’m on the campaign to reduce the landfill implications within the footwear industry with 330 million pairs in the uk alone manufactured a year with most of these ending up in landfill. One pair takes 50 years to decompose with gases and toxins released into our atmosphere due to the manmade materials in use. The way forward is upcyling. Transforming the pairs you don’t wear or old shoes into new designs. Putting off the landfill destiny for another few years! Fast fashion is an issue.