Équipement De Vie: The 21st-Century Boat Shoe Arrives at Selfridges
For Jamie Barshall, Co-Founder & CEO of Équipement De Vie, the starting point for the brand was straightforward. “The founders of EdeV are passionate sailors and adventurers and saw that there was an opportunity to bring much higher levels of specialised technical performance to the deck shoe space. Our aim is to rewrite this category in the same way that some of the disruptor brands have done in the running and trail running space. New levels of quality, performance and yes — considered styling that makes our shoes as wearable in the most extreme conditions on the water as on the streets.”
That dual purpose sits at the heart of the brand’s design philosophy. “For us everything starts with function and pinnacle technical performance. But good shoe design is like architecture for feet and it’s fundamental for us that form follows function. Just as the most beautiful sailing boats or cars reconcile the beauty of their function in all layers of their design.”
Innovation, Barshall notes, is constant and rigorous. “It's a complex process — every component goes through rigorous testing both in the lab and in super demanding conditions on the water. Nat Lemieux who still competes professionally in a number of classes, will then sea trial shoes over weeks and months and do everything he can to destroy them. Any issues become apparent if they haven’t been spotted in the lab and then we will take whatever steps necessary to make improvements.”
Feedback comes from every corner of the EdeV world. “We also have an incredible team of brand ambassadors, many of them world class competitive sailors so we get great feedback from them on an ongoing basis and the next generation of products will be shaped by their feedback. We also have a number of incredibly stylish customers and friends of the brand who will give their feedback on design/comfort/wearability and all of this gets thrown into the mix.”
Credibility among elite sailors was essential from the start. “Our aim was simple — build the best technical deck shoes on the planet and we also want them to look great. We were also really lucky to catch the attention of some incredible crews and professional yachtsmen early on as I think that they immediately recognised this was something different.”
Every aspect of the brand draws on the team’s combined backgrounds. “There are so many layers and components in creating great looking functional shoes and the brand story behind it. Our team brings a wealth and lifetimes of experience in various fields and all of this goes into the cauldron to make us what we are and what we will be. Our journey has just started as we launched in Spring 2025 so this is just the start and we aim to keep pushing, surprising and delighting our customers around the world.”
Looking ahead, EdeV is already expanding its universe. “For Spring 26 we have split the collections into two distinct categories — Deck and Drive. Deck will continue to be our pinnacle performance product while the Drive collection extends our reach beyond the water onto the road and beyond as a full performance lifestyle brand.”