After nearly five years operating from home Southland's Mismatched Shoes has moved to its first office and storage space on the outskirts of Winton.

Husband and wife duo Suzan and Craig Campbell have gone from small airfreight deliveries of their funky, mismatched, women's shoes to huge bulk orders, to keep up with the demand.

"If you told me when I started that I would be buying in 20-foot [shipping] containers and going to China to design my own shoes [for her own brand Miss Lily] and going to the world's biggest trade fair of shoes I would've been like 'no way, there's absolutely no way'."

But, with the business' growth booming Mrs Campbell said it was no longer suitable to work from home.

Originally they planned to sell the shoes at market days and fairs, but within a few months of their first delivery Mrs Campbell said everything "snowballed" and they couldn't order the shoes fast enough.

Within 18 months they went from a distributor/retailer to a wholesaler/retailer and then shortly after that Mrs Campbell resigned from her part time job as a pharmacy technician. There weren't enough hours in the day to do both jobs, alongside full time mum duties to two kids, she said.

The Campbells first came up with the idea after buying a pair of the shoes on holiday overseas – when they got back to New Zealand Mrs Campbell was stopped on the street constantly and asked about her unique "mismatched shoes" – in colour and/or design. 

From there they got in touch with the Venezuelan company, Hot Chocolate Designs, and got the ball rolling to become the company's first official international distributor. 

Some things haven't changed – their new space is not a retail store and shoppers can only visit the space and try on the shoes by pre-booked appointment with Mrs Campbell.

There are three stores that sell the shoes throughout the country but the main ways they are sold are at different events/markets, which the Campbells attend, pop-up stores, and online.