IT is a well-known fact that women love shoes, but a Middlesbrough woman has turned her passion for footwear into a successful business.

Sharon Williams first came across the T.Taylor range of Dr Scholl shoes in a newspaper article and was impressed by their unusual, eye-catching designs. She then realised there was a potential business opportunity and contacted the company's chief executive with her proposal to find more UK stockists.

Sharon had already set up A&S Innovations in February this year, after being appointed as distributor for a range of skincare products called Skin Salveation. A friend's son, who suffered from eczema, had benefited from the products and she was keen to make them more widely available.

She was offered the exclusive UK rights to distribute the shoes, which, until now, have only been available in a handful of London boutiques.

She has also commissioned a local artist to develop her designs that will be hand-painted on to the shoe under the label Art&Sole. Under her label, Sharon hopes to take the brand even further. Business Link's Tees Valley operation has been on hand to help Sharon in a number of other areas, including business planning, and is also helping her to explore the potential to export her Scholl designs throughout Europe as well as distributing them across the UK.