The trainers have been uniquely engineered to be eco-friendly, lightweight, and breathable – all whilst still looking fresh on your feet!

But it’s not just the product which has us bouncing on our toes, it is the journey behind the brand creation – which was inspired by the Founders own personal heartbreaking journey when their beautiful daughter Mia was diagnosed with infantile acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and given a 50:50 survival rate of reaching the age of five. 

Simon left his much-loved job – where he was predominately based in the Far East – to care for Mia through her journey, allowing Anjna to keep growing her career locally. The experience took a severe toll on Simon’s mental health and personal independence – and ultimately, he was diagnosed with PTSD.

Poignantly it was those moments staying in the Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham where Simon would put on his trainers, stare at his feet, not knowing what the day would hold for his family – he would take a deep breath and then take that ‘One Step’ towards the door to take on his day.

The journey has not been easy either side, yet Mia took her first steps out of hospital and toward health in her One’s Trainers and since then the brand has received backing from Birmingham City University’s STEAMhouse Incubator (@mybcu) and launched three new styles.

We are seriously rooting for this brand – and we hope all of our Members will take their #MyOneStepJourney too. There is a unique offer for V&V Members – so please quote your membership number upon purchasing via @Ones_Lesiure_Trainers or DM us direct. 

10% of all One’s Trainers profits goes toward @BloodCancer_UK.

Visit and order now from https://ones.co.uk/ and use discount code VAAL10 to get 10% off all purchases (Vaal & Vaal members only).

For those in possession of a Matka Token all you have to do is simply request your bill before 6pm on any weekday, present your Matka Token, and you will be given a roll of the Matka dice. If you roll a 6, Dishoom pays for your entire bill – “Che dallo, Free Kallo!”

Harper Gill, Founder of Vaal & Vaal comments: “I have long been a fan of Dishoom and its desire to keep a part of Indian heritage alive – paying homage to the old husting & bustling Irani cafes of 20^th Century Bombay – a little-known aspect of Indian culture synonymous with diversity, cosmopolitanism and cultural fusion.

“My first visit to Dishoom nearing 10 years ago really struck a chord with me and I absolutely loved how the brand had found a way to represent Indian culture in the UK without being cliché. Needless to say, Dishoom has been and continues to be one of my biggest aspirations when it comes to the vision for Vaal & Vaal and so I am honoured to be partnering up with them for our first major milestone.”

To enter into the draw simply email info@vaalandvaal.co.uk with your full name and membership number.

What happened over the course of 24 months is something quite phenomenal – from visiting the Adidas HQ in Germany, unearthing shoes that were not even listed in the manufacturers archive, and uncovering the very last pair of Olympic Adidas shoes from 1972 Munich Games.

With no financial backing, publisher, or advertising budget Neil published the sell-out book – From Past to Present – A Timeline of the Three Stripes – and received a raft of personal messages of congratulation and gratitude from some of the most iconic shoe designers that have worked for Adidas.

With a growing waiting list of orders, and regularly referenced in the work of fashion students around the globe, our Founder Raps Gill caught up with Neil to find out more about the book.

Tell us a bit about the book and what inspired you to undertake the project?

From Past to Present – A Timeline of the Three Stripes is a visual history of the Adidas training shoe from early classics such as the Rom, Superstar and Gazelle to contemporary releases such as Boost, Yeezy and FutureCraft.

It tells the story of how Adidas evolved from a small family run business to the giant global corporation it is today – charting everything from the technological innovations in shoe design, business decisions which made the brand the number one choice for athletes, and how training shoes have become a staple of the fashion industry and everyday wear.

It is a hardcover bound coffee table book, 250 pages, 25,000 plus words of text and is illustrated throughout with photographs of over 1,200 trainers from the archives of over 60 of the worlds most renowned adidas collectors.

The project came about through my own passion for the Three Stripes. Over the many years I have been collecting, I have met people from all of the world who are just as obsessed as me and to the put their collections into a single volume was an amazing experience and opportunity.

Where did you start?

I was approached by a collector from Hong Kong who wanted to put together a book about Adidas collectors. As I had already written articles for magazines and websites on the subject, he asked me if I could add historical writing about the shoes, and we enlisted another Adidas fan who is a magazine designer to help with the layout. Originally, we started out with just twelve collectors but as the project grew so did the number of passionate collectors involved.

Some shoes had to be in the book because they are significant from a technological, cultural, or aesthetic point of view. So, the first thing I had to draw up was a list of the key models from the brand.

However, those shoes only told part of the story. We are talking about a company with seventy years of production history, who made shoes for pretty much every conceivable sport and sold their products to the far reaches of the globe. In fact, they have made so many shoes, not even Adidas know many different models they’ve produced!

I wanted to present an eclectic mix, so sitting next to classics such as the Gazelle, Stan Smith and Samba are a pair of canoeing shoes worn by an athlete at the Munich Games, shoes produced under licence in New Zealand and shoes so rare that only a single pair are known to still exist.

Did you set out with a vision of what you wanted the finished article to look like?

I always knew what type of book I wanted to produce, but it evolved over time. We kept turning up new shoes and we were like “that has to go in the book!”

It is impossible to put every single Adidas shoe ever produced into a single volume, but we wanted to give the customer good value for money, so we kept packing in more and more shoes and information. I didn’t want to produce a book which you could look through in half an hour and say “that was nice”, but never pick it up again. It is a reference manual that you can keep coming back to again and again.

How long did the project take?

The project took two years from concept to print to put together. When your working with 70 people it is never going to be quick. I didn’t think it would take that long; I’d initially thought maybe a year. We could have put something out a lot quicker, but we wanted to do a proper job and leave a lasting impression, so we kept working at it.

What was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome?

The biggest hurdle was probably sourcing all the shoes. Some shoes are so incredibly rare. We are talking about shoes that are maybe 40 or 50 years old, so sourcing a pair is a task in itself.

Then you have to get the shoe photographed and research and write about it, it’s very time consuming. I would have loved to travel around the globe taking photos of trainers, but time and money constraints meant I had to rely at times on others to photograph their collections.

As a hobby project no-one is working to a strict deadline and people have all sorts of commitments in life, so sometimes it was just a case of waiting!

What was the most defining moment of this project?

I didn’t really feel there was a turning point until near the end when I was at the designers house and we are going through the final page layouts and I’m thinking wow this is really happening, this is going to print!

Then you have to print it, promote it, set up an ordering system, set up a website and deal with parcel couriers. This was 100% a hobby project, no financial backing, no publisher, no advertising budget, no staff to help, no warehouse to store the books in. It was a case of learning as you went along!

What role did Adidas play in the project?

I visited Adidas in Germany a few years before I started this project to try and sell them a similar concept. They were very nice to me, but ultimately talks didn’t lead anywhere. I guess they got a lot of requests for collaboration work.

Still, being an Adidas obsessive it was an amazing experience to visit their HQ and see how they work and I also got a tour of their archives where they have shoes signed by the world’s best athletes and prototype models – I saw so many amazing shoes.

After the book went to print, we have had orders from Adidas managers in Germany, the UK, USA, France and Hong Kong. We’ve had some very heart-warming compliments about the quality of our work from people like Gary Aspden who co-ordinates the Spezial range for Adidas, Chris Severn who helped create the famous Superstar shoe and Jacques Chassaing who designed the ZX running shoe range for Adidas France in the 1980s.

What was your lowlight and highlight?

Lowlight, definitely would be the amount of time I’ve worked on this project. As a hobby project, I would come home from my day job and spend all night working on the book. A massive chunk of my leisure time for two years was completely taken up.

But that leads to the highlight, because once you have done something this like this, it is there forever, no-one can take it away from you. I feel immensely proud of it as a product and to get emails from fans from all over the world telling you how much they love the book – that definitely makes up for all the lowlights and hard work.

What has the response been like since publishing, key learnings for yourself?

The response has been amazing, we’ve nearly sold out and so many people have contacted us telling us how much they’ve enjoyed it. We’ve sold copies to fans in Australia, the USA, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Italy, Malaysia, all over the world really.

We even have copies in academic libraries at universities. I never wrote it as an academic book, but when you get messages from people saying they have used the images or text for reference in their fashion design course that makes you feel pretty proud.

I definitely learnt a lot from the experience, there are aspects that went well and aspects that didn’t work well. If I did it again, I know I would approach it from a better perspective and not make the same mistakes.

Any plans for future books?

I don’t think you can achieve much in life without putting some hard graft in. There were times when I could have quit, as the project was incredibly time consuming. But I’m so glad that I saw it through to completion. I’m not the first to write a book about sports shoes but I always knew we could put out an amazing product if we worked hard at it and we knew there were plenty of people out there that wanted this type of book. So my advice would be; know your target audience and set out what you want to achieve, set the highest possible standards you can meet, work hard and don’t give in.

I honestly wanted to take a break for a bit, but I’ve already finished a new project in collaboration with adidas for the 50^th anniversary of the Superstar basketball shoe. I’m also working with a colleague on a new project and have plans for a title celebrating the European Football Championships in 2021.

The book is now sold out.  Due to this we have closed down our order website.  However if any Vaal & Vaal Member would like to purchase a copy they can message me directly at adidasbook@hotmail.com.

We hope you and your family and friends are safe and well.

On on Saturday 4th July we are back in business!

Making an appointment

To help with social distancing, please phone, email or message us via our social media platforms if you would like to make an appointment.

Please bear with us as we try to get everyone booked in. We will also be operating a cancellation and waiting list.

Extra health & safety measures we are taking:

1. Our team will greet you without close contact (no handshakes, hugs etc.).
2. On arrival, you will be asked to wash your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitiser. We will provide these facilities.
3. Our team is following strict hygiene guidelines and we ask you to do the same – please place any used paper towels and tissues straight in the bin after use. Sanitize or wash your hands after coughing or sneezing.
4. There will be no magazines or newspapers to share between clients.
5. Team members will be sanitizing all stations, door handles and bathrooms regularly.
6. Team members will be washing their hands thoroughly between clients and appointments.
7. We ask you not to touch any of our retail products unless you are definitely purchasing the item.
8. Please pay with a card (preferably contactless) where possible instead of cash.
9. All of our stylists are required to and will be wearing protective visors and PPE.
10. You are not required to wear a face mask, but you may wish to do so in order to help stop spreading.
11. All of our tools and equipment will be correctly sanitized between appointments.
12. All refreshments (where possible) will be served in disposable cups.
13. Although we have a socially distanced waiting area, please arrive at the time of your appointment to reduce the length of your visit.
14. The length of your appointments will be longer than usual due to (a) We would like extra time on your hair due to this being your first appointment back and (b) so that we have enough time to sanitize between clients.

Thank you for supporting us during this time and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Our Founder Raps Gill caught up with Vaal & Vaal member Gopi Dhaliwal – Chief Executive of the £200m master franchise group SK Group.

Known for its pivotal role in the expansion of the UK’s no.1 high street pizza chain – now owning 250 stores nationwide – SK Group are the masterminds behind bringing Canada’s most infamous coffee chain to the UK in 2017.

With 2020 originally poised for aggressive expansion, Gopi shares his thoughts on what this time means for companies like his.

With the future of high street restaurant chains in doubt, and some announcing permanent closures, will now be the time for challenger brands?

I think for challenger brands to truly make a noise the obstacle is often in the number of site locations.

Whilst in Canada 80% of the population visit the coffee chain at least once a month, with just 25 restaurant sites in the UK we are unable to hit these numbers yet.

Challenger brands thrive on visibility and so the number of outlets and marketing budgets is key for us to be able to ‘challenge’ the likes of Costa or Starbucks.

The high street is in a precarious position at the moment, providing challenger brands a unique opportunity for property acquisition.

Whilst larger chains with bigger overheads will be looking at ways to consolidate costs, smaller outlets can grow their physical footprint before having to necessarily increase headcount.

Previously smaller brands would not be on strategic corner sites or in major cities as they simply could not afford the rent and rates – but the tide could be turning. The market is already showing signs of being ‘tenant-driven’ – whereby demand for outlets is shrinking, putting landlords in a weaker position to dictate rent costs.

We have already seen somewhat of a reset regarding rents & rates, but I predict a much more significant one to come as major high street chains continue to collapse, close, or shrink.

If ever there was a time for high street challenger brands to increase visibility, it would be now.

Months-long shutdown of the hospitality & leisure industry has forced behavioural change – will consumer behaviour change long term?

An important observation any newly established, emerging or challenger brand should be aware of is the power of customer loyalty, and how it really comes into play during times of uncertainty.

By nature during this period, consumers become risk-averse and more cautious. Over the next 18-24 months consumers will ‘stick to what they know’ and brands that they are familiar with as a way of being safer with money.

Less experimentation makes it a tough market for challenger brands, and this is where marketing becomes critical. Excessive noise and creating familiarity is important, but so is the messaging – for challengers it is important to evoke feelings of trust and credibility.

In addition, if there is one thing the 2008 financial crisis taught me is that in times of economic uncertainty or downturn (much like what we are expecting to happen now), consumers ‘trade down’ – e.g. people went from going out to restaurants to have pizza to then having it delivered to their homes.

What advice would you give to business owners and industry heads in your industry for the future?

Try to really understand this new world that we are living in and apply those impacts to every aspect of your business – modelling scenarios is key. For example:

1. Marketing: understand the purchasing behaviour of today and tailor your messages accordingly. Are you a challenger – if so, build credibility. Are you a necessary purchase – if so, reward loyalty. Are you a want – if so, remind people why they need that treat.
2. Health & Safety: take the time to truly understand the changes that are required and spend money on modifying operations that will truly make a difference to operations, efficiency and safety – it will be more cost-effective in the long run.
3. Change is key: whether you are established or a new business, now is not the time to dwell on the ideas or plans you had pre-pandemic. We are all in the same boat, the sooner we accept that things have changed the quicker we will be able to adapt and thrive.

Vaal & Vaal Co-Founder Harper Gill created the private members club based on her own desire to have a creative and aspirational space to work, play and pamper around a community of like-minded individuals. Her launch campaign ‘Believe Become Belong’ was centred around the concept of community building. Harper shares her top three reasons as to why community building is important for company growth.

A SENSE OF BELONGING

The saying “it’s lonely at the top” is something I can relate too! In my early days of business I found it hard to find people that I could relate too. My friends in careers didn’t understand my working hours, financial pressures, and staffing issues. For me, community provides a support network for businesses (and individuals) and a feeling that we all look for as humans: a sense of belonging. Vaal & Vaal was established for this exact reason – to allow people on a similar journey and with similar aspirations to have somewhere they can belong. A space (or ‘community’) where our members can connect, share and feel accepted by their peers. By feeling like you belong, you have the confidence to take risks and try new things – a recipe for growth.

AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN

Companies do market research to help come up with new ideas or solutions. The same approach should be taken with yourself – do research, put yourself out there! Keeping your circle small limits thinking. When you participate in a community, you can benefit from a wealth of specialised knowledge and experience. For example – going to fitness classes teaches you about health, museums teach you history, and business events give you valuable insight. Human nature means we learn from each other much easier than we learn from a book. By broadening your community, you broaden your mind and diversify your thinking.

Last year, we launched VaalWOMEN (a platform for females to access advice, contacts and experiences from successful and aspirational women) and VaalASPIRE (a platform for pioneers, game changers and challengers) as a way of helping our members have access to a broad range of knowledge. Speakers and themes vary, but one thing that remains consistent is that the Vaal & Vaal ‘community’ provides an opportunity to learn.

BRAND AWARENESS

People are natural talkers – we just love a chat! If you can tap into this, then it has the power to be a powerful marketing tool. Advertising and social media allows you to send your message to thousands (if not millions) of people, but nothing is quite remembered like a personal recommendation. Forbes reckons 84% of people are more likely to trust a recommendation if it comes from a friend – meaning the community can be a very powerful tool.

One mistake I made in my early days is that I didn’t use my own voice. Had I attended networking events or spoke about my business more, it would have meant that one more person in the community knew about my business. Imagine – if on average each customer recommends you to three people and one of those people act upon it and then recommends to three more people, then the return on investment is better than any PR or advertising campaign you can do! Give people a reason to talk about and recommend your business – our impeccable customer service and level of quality in everything we deliver provides a memorable experience worth talking about. Honestly, the amount of people that have joined up as members from a recommendation from someone else speaks for itself.

The community is powerful – use it to your advantage.