A CHANCE meeting in a school playground has helped to launch a new organic clothing range for children in York.

When Eva Temple’s sons started school, little did she know that she would soon be forging a successful career creating handmade leather shoes and stylish organic jersey cotton clothes.

A few years ago she became frustrated at not being able to find comfortable leather shoes for her boys, so she sourced soft leather from her home country of Germany to make her own. Friends quickly started asking for shoes for their own children and soon her business, Kinder Feet, was born.

With quirky animal motifs on the toes, her shoes soon needed clothes to complement them. Then, by chance, after chatting to one of the new dads in the school playground, she knew she had found just the person to design her an exclusive range of fabrics.

Dan Savage, who normally creates artworks for healthcare interiors and public spaces, including the newt trail at Monks Cross Vangarde, designed a range of fabrics in collaboration with Mrs Temple, all based on her shoe motifs. The new fabric designs range from woodland creatures to pandas.

“I got to know Dan in the school playground. Not only is he now my fabric designer, he has also become a wonderful friend,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to offer my fabric designs without him.”

The traceability of the whole production process is vitally important. The shoe leather is still sourced from Germany, where every stage of the leather making and dying is controlled, with chemicals being replaced with natural substances.

The characterful fabric designs are printed by a small company in the West Midlands on soft jersey made from 100 per cent GOTS - the Global Organic Textile Standard - cotton. By making all of her clothes and shoes herself, she also ensures no child labour is involved at any stage in the process.

One of her first customers was Helen Nacey, who has now become her photographer, and first saw a pair of Mrs Temple’s shoes being worn by a friend’s daughter.

“I contacted Eva to ask if she could produce a customised pair for my new daughter, a pair of rainbow shoes for my rainbow baby. I was so impressed by her friendly service and the quality of her shoes that I immediately ordered another pair customised with a little mouse.”

Mrs Temple’s latest products are on her website, kinderfeet.co.uk