Fairfax & Favor: How one boot made a multi-million pound leather empire

Fairfax & Favor’s digs in rural Norfolk have a grandeur befitting a far more established business. Sprawling converted stables, a smart showroom and even a corner for wax-sealing their correspondence, it’s hard to believe it’s a shoe brand that’s only been around for three years.

Indeed the two young men behind it, childhood friends Felix Parker and Marcus Fountaine, are just 26 years old.

But in that time they’ve created a £3m-a-year enterprise and have just been invited by a Harrods buyer to stock their wares.

Fairfax & Favor are also worn by celebrities like Made in Chelsea’s Josh Patterson and Claire Balding – but the boys have ambitions to heel A-listers all over the world and, of course, most aspiring British designers’ dream: Kate Middleton.

Their boots are beautiful. Classic, luxurious and special. Their most popular, and original, is the Regina, a knee-length Spanish riding boot ‘stripped down and made slicker’ with elasticated panels and their trademark detachable tassels. The heeled Regina boot soon followed and is their most popular product to date.

Their range is relatively small: the Regina boots, Chelsea boots and loafers – but that just means it’s easier to have the whole collection!

Felix and Marcus were 16 when they came up with Fairfax & Favor (their middle names) and aspired to own a luxury leather brand. Quite unusual ambitions for teenagers, surely, but it’s that ambition that has got them where they are now.

‘We’re all about creating classics. Nothing on trend or ‘this season’ – we want our products to be wearable for up to 10 years’, Marcus said.

‘We’re all about a chilled lifestyle vibe and if there was any brand we’d like to emulate, it’s Ralph Lauren. That’s who we aspire to be like,’ he added.

During Yahoo Style’s tour of their premises, next to Narford Hall, close to Kings Lynn, we didn’t expect to be greeted with G&Ts and a gaggle of their mates trying to get in all the pictures. But that’s probably another reason why they’re such a success. Laid-back, fun and charming but capable of selling you a boot or 10 before you’ve even blinked.

Though neither Marcus or Felix are fashion designers, Felix oversees the aesthetics aspect of the business while Marcus deals with the supply side.

And as Felix put it: ‘Girls look hot in long boots!’

Marcus added: ‘I always wanted to make shoes that I would want to wear… quintessentially British, luxury footwear and accessories.’

Marcus and Felix are local to Norfolk and even live together in a house near their offices and showroom, which houses thousands of smartly boxed boots and shoes.

Felix says: ‘All we’ve done or the past three years is live, eat and breathe shoes.

‘We decided to go into business together when we were both 21 and one of the reasons that we’ve succeed where a lot of other start ups haven’t is because we were both able to live at our parents houses which was vital as it allows you not to take money out of the business and keep reinvesting in products.

‘We were strong believers in every pound that left in the company, you could turn it into £3 and so we didn’t take salaries for a long time.’

‘All our friends were at university having fun or living in London and we lived at home till last year.

‘We couldn’t have done this without our families. But we put every single penny we had into shoes – and it’s a huge gamble.’

Marcus adds: ‘We both worked two jobs. We worked at a pub and a marble fireplace makers and would deliver them all over the country.

‘The hardest things to begin with were cashflow because its difficult to get any momentum going and people asking us when we were going to get real jobs.’

Now employing 10 people, they shift about 10,000 pairs of footwear a year – a far cry from the 400 pairs they scrimped for in 2012 that they had to store in Felix’s parents’ attic.

Marcus said: ‘The first order we did, we contacted a factory in Spain – with Felix’s dodgy Spanish – and told them were looking to order some shoes. They obviously wanted a minimum order and we could only afford a certain amount.

‘So in the end we just went to Spain and just turned up with all our savings in cash and spent every single penny on as many pairs of boots as we could…430 in total. They wanted the £9,000 up front.’

The pair are unabashedly ambitious and though they acknowledge that the support of their families was vital to their success, they say they knew they wouldn’t fail.

Felix says: ‘We never doubted ourselves, we saw this happening 100 per cent. We’re only three per cent of where we want to be.

‘From 430 pairs of shoes we’re now a £3m business – and hoping to get to £6m this year.

‘We’re about to be stocked in Harrods, it’s so awesome. There’s no better shop in the UK to have your shoes in.

‘They came to one of our shows and liked what we were doing and asked if they could do an exclusive boot with us.’

The boots – as well as their bags, belts and purses – are stocked in about 60 shops throughout the UK – department stories and independent country lifestyle shops mainly – and the plan is to get an airport shop because people are ‘bloody bored and guaranteed to wander in’, jokes Felix.

But their bread and butter is their pop-up shops at big shows like Badminton and Burghley where they sometimes even run out of stock. They started with a little stall at Holkham Country Fair in north Norfolk – where they had to beg for a pitch – now they have prime position at some of the most prestigious events in the country.

Neither Marcus or Felix have any formal business or design training but they’ve learned on the job, and both have worked on previous start ups.

The next stop for them is to get involved in the European show circuit, selling their boots at Luhmuhlen and CHIO Achen Horse Trials.

We finish the tour slightly squiffy and clutching a pair of beauteous chocolate brown Explorer boots (so perfect for winter because of their excellent grip).

Marcus and Felix are fine hosts, joking constantly that they’re ‘like a married couple’ but always touching, fixing, and examining their products as they go.

‘Have some tassels!’ says Felix, awash with bonhomie (and a little bit of gin) now the interview is over. ‘We’re going to be a £100m empire!’

You may laugh – but you know what? They probably will.

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You can buy Fairfax & Favor products here or you can arrange a private viewing – or just show up, they’re too polite to turn you away.

And if you need somewhere to stay while you shop, the nearby Bedingfield Arms is splendid.