An editorial page founded by Tim Suen & Sam Le Roy during the lockdown of 2020. Hartcopy has been at the heart of sneaker narrative since its inception. Cultivating a newfound culture of knowledge, sharing the history across all brands within the industry, lifestyle stories, and unlocking many of those untold truths surrounding some of the most unknown and coveted releases.
Brimming with sneaker discovery, the ultimate literature hotspot announces the release of its second signature book – Hartcopy Vol.2 which may we add, is now available to shop in-store and online here!
Last year, we supported Hartcopy by hosting an in-store signing, being London’s exclusive stockist for their debut. We are delighted to be celebrating the Launch of Hartcopy Vol.2 through an in-store meet and greet with the brand’s creative mastermind Sam Le Roy in our very own London flagship store, with the aim to bring our community closer and provide you with a night packed with sneaker festivities.
To elevate this special event, we will be partnering with Clarks to remaster our own take on the Wallabee Boot as an exclusive custom giveaway (limited to 20 pairs), with the shoe fobs and laces taking design cues from our early 2013 Taywer FP collection. As well as some additional giveaway merchandise supplied by Jason Markks.
We caught up with Hartcopy’s Sam Le Roy to see how Hartcopy has taken off since we last caught up at the launch of their first ever publication.
Footpatrol: Sam, good to have you back! Hartcopy since we last spoke has taken off, how have you found it?
Sam Le Roy: Lovely to be back! I’ve been great. Busy, but great – it’s a good problem to have in the grand scheme of things. Hartcopy is absolutely soaring and I couldn’t be any happier with it. It’s surprising the rate at which we’re going, but I think that’s just the nature of the game; I’m sure we’ll have a slow period at some point.
FP: What’s been the biggest change?
SLR: I think with increased numbers and access to resources from brands comes a level of confidence that isn’t available through any other means. Previously I thought of Hartcopy (and by extension, myself) as this small time blog with little to no real gravity. I thought of the entity as a means to document, but without any weight or ability to influence and/or steer the industry I can now call home. These days, I can say with nothing but confidence that Hartcopy is a massive entity, one that touches millions of people every month, and with that comes a real sense of belonging and fulfillment, as well as real validation and respect from partners and industry leaders.
FP: It’s great to see you doing so well. With the recent growth over the last year, has the direction and plan for Hartcopy changed or do you plan to keep things the same?
SLR: The plan has always been to showcase and educate, really. The wider plan, at least. Of course there’s a ton of smaller peripheral goals that I’ve got to tick off along the way, but I don’t see Hartcopy diverging from that mission of educating. The only change has really been our ability and success in doing exactly that.
FP: How do you see yourselves growing?
SLR: Aside from the quantitative side of things, which has obviously grown massively, the real growth for me this year has been witnessing how many real people the account can touch. Further down the line I want to cover alot more lifestyle, and hollow out a real “Hartcopy” image, that’s always respectful to history in the same way I do with footwear. We’re still a super small team, but I’d love to eventually have a group of people in the office that all follow the same moral compass and all love the same things.
FP: How do you feel Hartcopy’s impact has been received within the industry?
SLR: I think (or I hope) that Hartcopy can be seen as a “cultural encyclopedia”, in that I hope people look at it as an objective, opinionless medium for distributing information on great products. WIthout a shadow of a doubt, we’ve shown people what’s cool and what’s trendy, but more than that I think that the way we present every pair in full context is very important. It’s not “red shoe, blue shoe”, and we actively encourage people to understand what it is that they’re really buying. Looking further down the line I hope that people have a broadened understanding of consumer habits and why it is we want to buy what we buy, and that people slow down a bit and just enjoy what they’ve got. Maybe we’re not exactly there yet, but I hope that one day I’ll be able to have that impact.
FP: With the amount of reach Hartcopy has and the insight it creates into the product, I’m surprised you haven’t got a collab in the works! With all the shoes you have documented, was there one that you looked at and went, ‘Damn I wanna do a collab on that one day’?
SLR: We actually do – I’ll leave it to your imagination, but there’s definitely a handful of pairs being worked on. We’ve already worked with Clarks Originals (on two occasions, actually) and are quite far down the line with multiple other brands. Keep an eye out later this year for the start of all that!
FP: Vol.3, are we safe to say it’s already in the works?
SLR: Absolutely – I’ve already been concepting everything and things are looking great. We just need to get a hold of all of the shoes, but that’s the fun part.
FP: We know you recently launched your book, Aesthetic Survival. Is there a plan to continue growing out the realms of which Hartcopy covers?
SLR: Aesthetic Survival was really an amazing experience for me personally and it was a great exercise for Hartcopy. Working with Aurora (who co-authored the book with me and concepted the project herself) was an immense pleasure, and it opened my eyes to the opportunities that lie out there for Hartcopy as a publisher on a wider level. It’s very important to me that we continue making these books with creatives around the world, and it’s definitely something I want to do more and more down the line. Who knows, we might already have one in the works with someone else!
