Anna, 37, illustrator
Brighton

My studio's the back bedroom of our flat, about ten minutes from the sea.

The mornings I'm working from home, I'll wear these from the moment I get out of bed, through coffee, through the first hour at the desk, and then out to the park with the dog when I need to think.

The same pair, the whole day. I used to have a pair of slippers and a pair of trainers I'd swap into. Now I just wear these.

The dog's worked out that reaching for the lead means walk, every time.

Joanna, 52, bookshop owner Falmouth

We live above the shop, so the walk to work is about twelve stairs. I've tried all sorts of slippers over the years and always ended up putting proper shoes back on by ten.

These I just forget I'm wearing. I'll step out to the post office in them, or down to the harbour for a coffee on my break, and not even realise I haven't changed. Whatever I'm wearing needs to get me through the shop, up the stairs, out to the bins, and back behind the till.

These do all of it without complaint.

Tom, 34, composer
Margate

The writing happens late, but the thinking happens on walks.

Kitchen lamp on, work until about eleven, then out along the front for half an hour to sort through what's coming next. 

These are what I wear for both. I got my first pair not long after we moved to the coast, and I'd been looking for something I didn't have to swap out of when the ideas dried up and I needed some air.

My partner calls them my thinking shoes. But the work tends to happen when I'm wearing them

Michael, 58, potter
Yorkshire Dales

First thing, I walk out to the studio with a flask. It's about twenty feet across the yard, cold most mornings, sometimes wet.

These are what I have on. Not a slipper, not a boot. Something in between that's happy on the kitchen floor and on the gravel. 

I spend the morning on the wheel, come back in for lunch, take the dog up the lane, keep them on the whole time. By the time I've washed up and sat down with a book, they've been on my feet since six.

I used to change shoes about four times a day. Now I just wear these.