A fashion forward designer is taking great strides with her new brand of luxury footwear.

Sarah-Jayne Newey of Weymouth has created a one block colour trainer called Neon which is being manufactured in a British factory.

She worked her way up from apprentice to designer at New Look and went solo as a designer after the Weymouth-based fashion chain relocated jobs to London.

Neon is the second shoe design Sarah-Jayne has had manufactured after creating some shoes which were worn by X Factor contestant Tamera Foster in last year’s series of the TV singing show.

Sarah-Jayne said: “This is what I’ve dreamed of doing.

“It takes a long time to build a brand and as a new brand it’s important for people to find out about us.

“I came up with the idea because trainers are a massive fashion trend at the moment.

“They’ve gone from being worn by people who play sports and teenagers to people wearing them with blazers and jeans.

“When I started looking at what was out there, there were sports trainers which were multi-coloured and I thought why not make them a one block colour?”

A one-colour trainer is gaining popularity with celebrities Sarah-Jayne said, with singer Pharrell Williams recently seen in a pair and this season’s autumn and winter collection focusing on bold pops of colour and metallics.

Neon was launched on Kickstarter, with £2,076 pledged and pledges coming from as far afield as New York and Germany.

Although it fell short of its £7,000 goal, Sarah-Jayne said her main aim was to spread awareness of the brand and will re-submit the project on the crowd-funding website in the spring.

A priority for the product was for it to be British-manufactured, Sarah-Jayne said.

She met with a factory in Northamptonshire which agreed to do the manufacturing which, at first, would have put a £270 price tag on the trainers.

Sarah-Jayne then went back to the drawing board and changed some of the materials to get the cost down to £150 for the standard trainers and £180 for the limited edition trainers.

She said: “The Northampton-based, family-run factory that manufactures Neons dates back to 1908 and is part of Britain’s fashion history.

“It’s great that these are being made in a British factory because they’re helping to keep British people in jobs.

“Each pair of trainers goes through the hands of 32 different people.”

The mum-of-two works from home and said Weymouth is an ideal location as a creative design base.

“As a designer I think Dorset is a great place to base yourself in.

“With technology you can be anywhere so you get the best of both worlds living by the sea.”

She is keen to encourage more youngsters to be able to pursue their artistic dreams.

“I feel really passionate about children being guided in the right way.

“I wish someone had told me at the age of 10 that I could have been a fashion designer.

“One of my main missions is to inspire children to go into creative fields.”

Sarah-Jayne’s business partner is Jan Biggs, who she knows from her time at New Look.

There are 11 different colours in the Neon range and proving most popular so far are the gold and black shades, Sarah-Jayne said.

As well as men’s and women’s trainers, there are plans to launch a children’s range of Neons.

She said: “I know fashion and am confident that we’re onto something big with the one colour trainer.

“Backing a British made product is key, our trainers are beautifully crafted and bang on trend and perfect for the fashion market.

“I’m looking forward to reaching our goal, receiving 100 per cent funding and finally getting our trainers out into the world.”

  • See neonfootwear.com for information on how to order a pair.