Why I created FYP
When I transitioned from sports to the footwear industry, I wished there had been a course like this — practical, clear, and built around real production knowledge. One that could have saved me time, energy, and costly mistakes.
That's why I created FYP – Follow Your Passion: to ensure you won't have to say "I wish I had known this earlier".
Over the last decade, I've worked with over 100 footwear brands — founders, designers, students and creatives — helping them turn initial ideas into real products made in Portugal. But before that, I was doing everything on my own. It was overwhelming. I didn't know where to start or who to trust.
Launching my first store in 2010, then building my own brand Namorarte in 2013, gave me the firsthand experience of what works — and what doesn't. A year later, I started helping other brands through my sourcing agency, Portugal Production, simplifying the path to production and offering real, on-the-ground support.
Throughout this journey, one thing became crystal clear: most people struggle not because they lack talent, but because they don't understand the process or what questions they should ask.
With FYP, much more than just a course of footwear production, I've taken everything I've learned — the sampling strategies, the production phases, the manufacturing systems, the sourcing experience, the communication with the factories, the decision-making framework, the bottlenecks identification, and many other learnings over the years — and put it into a step-by-step course designed to give you clarity, structure and control.
Whether you're launching your first pair or scaling an existing line, my goal is the same: give you the confidence you need to launch and grow your shoe brand.
— Nancy Oliveira, Portugal Production
