How To Get Your Correct Footwear Size or FOOTPRINT For Jac&JamFITTED

In order for you to be correctly fitted for Jac&Jam, these are the things you have to do.  Let me just say that you need to be patient when doing this because I promise, it will pay off.

You will  need the following:

• 2 pcs of Long bond paper
• Pair of scissors
• Pencil or ballpen
• Ruler
• Tape measure
• Chair
• A friend

HOW  TO  GET  THE  CORRECT  LENGTH  OF  YOUR  FOOT 

    Sit on the chair, place your bare RIGHT FOOT on top of the paper, you should not be wearing anything, not even socks & do not put weight on your foot.  Ask your friend to trace your foot all the way around on the piece of paper.

Label the paper with RIGHT FOOT.

Flip the paper to use the clean side & do this again for the LEFT FOOT  

When done, label the paper LEFT FOOT.

Now, place your paper with your footprint on a table. 

With the use of a ruler, make a straight line from the heel to the tip of your big toe.

Get your RIGHT FOOT length by measuring with a tape measure using MILLIMETERS.

Write your RIGHT FOOT length on the paper.

Do this again for the LEFT FOOT.

HOW  TO  GET  THE  CORRECT  BALL GIRTH  OF  YOUR  FOOT 

Now get the width (BALL OF YOUR FEET) of your RIGHT FOOT by drawing parallel lines on the sides & measure it in MILLIMETERS.  

Write the measurement on the paper.

Do this again for the LEFT FOOT.

HOW  TO  GET  YOUR  SLIDE  STRAP  MEASUREMENTS

Get your scissors & cut two strips of paper from your second long bond paper.

Label the strip of paper SLIDE STRAP RIGHT FOOT & the other SLIDE STRAP LEFT FOOT.

Sit on the chair, you should not be wearing anything, not even socks & do not put weight on your foot.  With the use of a strip of paper, ask your friend to get your slide strap measurement. 

Put the strip of paper on top of the ball of your feet, fold the paper on both sides where the  feet touches the floor to get the impressions.  Do this on both the RIGHT & LEFT FOOT.

Now get your pencil or ballpen & trace the SLIDE STRAP impressions.

Now  measure the SIDE A & B for each strip of paper using a tape measure or ruler in MILLIMETERS. 

Write the slide strap measurements on the strip of paper for the RIGHT & LEFT FOOT respectively.

HOW  TO  GET  THE  YOUR  INSTEP  STRAP  MEASUREMENTS

Get your scissors & cut two strips of paper from your second long bond paper.

Label the strips of paper INSTEP STRAP RIGHT FOOT & the other INSTEP STRAP LEFT FOOT, respectively.

Sit on the chair, you should not be wearing anything, not even socks & do not put weight on your foot.  

With the use of a strip of paper, ask your friend to get your instep strap measurement.

Put the strip of paper on top of the instep of your feet, fold the paper on both sides where the  feet touches the floor to get the impressions.  

Do this on both the RIGHT & LEFT FOOT.

Now get your pencil or ballpen & trace the instep strap impressions.

Now  measure the SIDE A & B (just like what you did for the slide strap) for each strip of paper using a tape measure or ruler in MILLIMETERS. 

Write the measurements on the strip of paper for the RIGHT & LEFT FOOT respectively.

Just to be sure, please send a picture of each of the measurements you've taken.

Chanel Wannabe Collexion Fun Lifestyle Photoshoot

Just a couple of days ago we had our photoshoot at the Marikina Shoe Museum.  I chose the location because of the granite walls of the granary building of the Shoe Museum & the cobblestones. Thought it would be an interesting contrast to the colors of our Jac&Jam’s Chanel Wannabe Collection.

I called it as Chanel Wannabe because it is not a knock-off from The Chanel. Our designs are totally original, it is only the accessories that are not, hence the name for the collection – Chanel Wannabe, no pun intended. 

The accessory is actually available at a couple of shoe supply stores in Marikina, so I thought “Why not?”. 

This collection turned out to be one of our best sellers, since it is totally affordable & classy with softly padded insoles so it's really comfy.

This collection comprises of a toe strap sandal, a thong, a double strap & a slide strap. 

All styles has its own sophistication to it. 

It is great for a casual day out, but can easily be worn with dressy outfits, too! 

Choosing which style is your fave & what color is not easy.

For the complete array of our Chanel Wannabe Collection, check our Fan Page, Chanel Wannabe album or our Jac&Jam website. 

Rope Collection: Our Beach-Ready H2 Low Wedge Sandals

As an enterprising designer, I plan my product lines well & our Summer Resort Wear sandals collection were done as early as December 2014. December is actually a busy month not just for sales but as well as for product developments for the 2nd & 3rd quarter of the following year.

So, our summer collections for 2015 are all set for the coming months of poolside & beach OOTD’s. 

We love ForeverSummer at Jac&Jam, which is why this Rope Collection is a true ode to this fact. With braided Abaca uppers & super comfy footbed, the result is a sophisticated summer resort wear that you can use not just at the beach or pool, but just about anywhere.

Glam up your bikinis, shorts & dresses with these H2 low wedge Abaca casual sandals. 

Wear it from day to night. Curl your toes with white sand & slip into your Jac&Jam sandals after. 

Check more of our Rope Collection here or Jac&Jam's other yummy styles at Jac&Jam Facebook Page or our temporary Jac&Jam website.

Jac&Jam .....New Beginnings.

Yep, it has been a year since I’ve posted a blog, I was busy with my new business partner preparing our business plan for our new footwear factory: Amici Footwear Industries. It took us three months to finalize everything, but it only took me a few minutes to convince Cha to join me so we can create shoes that we both will love. She only said yes without fully realizing what that yes entails & that was for the best :)

Setting up a footwear factory is not an easy business to dive into. My first try didn’t went well & so heartbreaking, so this is my second, much smaller than the first one, but well-thought of, well-planned. We started producing & supplying low wedge sandals around November last year for local brands & so far we’re good. We didn’t import workers from Marikina, instead we got apprentices with zero knowledge on footwear making & trained them the basics. At the same time helping in our own small way our community in Cainta Green Park.

I am thankful for my long time friend who has become the wind beneath my wings :), who allowed me to  realize my visions as well as my shoe obsessions.

Jumar, our Professional Footwear Pattern Maker, trained by Mr. Noel Box has agreed to join our small team.

For now, we’ve only launched our low end brand  I’ve called Jac&Jam, after two little girls who calls me “Ninang” J.

Everything is casual, yet sexy & chic. I categorize it as our low end brand because our price points is not expensive, but our materials are all standard so is the fit. We’ve made sure that it is also comfy, with good quality. So far, all the feedbacks from our clients are extremely good. They are all   #HappyJacnJamClients.

Geta Collection: Fiona Flat Sandals

These flat sandals have a unique footbed  that really resembles wood, even the surface texture.  Together with my supplier, we tried techniques how we can achieve the wooden effect for the footbed. It took us a couple of weeks before we were able to achieve the perfect look using treated PVC soles.

This collection was inspired by the Japanese thong wooden clogs known as Geta in 2009.  I added prints on the “wooden footbed” resembling  Japanese block prints. 

Japanese Geta sandals, photo by Google.

These were produced in Liliw, Laguna but were never sold in Liliw's Gat Tayaw fair. 

At that time, with Kuya Noel and Kuya Hermie's help we developed several suppliers from Liliw, Binan and Gapan areas to supply our increasing demand for Hoc Yan’s (a company under the Unitop Group) Fiona footwear line through our advocacy of teaching correct footwear processing & manufacturing.

It really sold well. At 1,200 pairs per design as our minimum quantity which was more than what most of the big players are ordering from footwear manufacturers.

I made sure that the patterns were made only by the pattern maker that we endorse to make sure that fitting & construction will be close to ideal. Since most of the manufacturers in these areas are not applying scientific principles in creating their patterns which logically results to bad construction and fitting. 

I cannot vouch that all the shoes sold in the Gat Tayaw Fair in Liliw are well constructed, hence with good fitting. I will only vouch for the products that I had ordered & my team has overseen its production.

Hopefully I could redo this collection sometime soon in a more ideal factory setting & competent workers.

Covet These Office Pumps!

Admittedly, a corporate woman needs something a little more sophisticated. That was exactly what I had in mind when I developed this collection for Effegi together with my supplier. Heel height is reasonable at 7 cms to 9 cms which translates to 2 ¾ inches and 3 ½  inches.

Elegant, sophisticated yet very comfortable office pumps. These were also made available in different classic colors such as brown, beige, navy, tan, red to give ladies more choices.

The only drawback for me was that the material used are all synthetic, I would have preferred leather, but I had to create a product line for this market that is within the limits of affordable price points.

So this is how it all starts, suppliers present to me their shoelasts and other components and I start to make design complete with the type of materials to use and where to buy them. 

On an ordinary day this is how my working table looks like :D It's busy, busy, busy! Thanks to my Angels who cleans up after me.

Fits Like A Glove: Foldable Satin driving shoes

This is a project that we did for a local brand in 2012, who was starting their first boutique in Greenbelt, Makati. 

We just developed & perfected the real foldable driving shoes, also known as pocket shoes. My product development team consisting of my pattern maker Cindy, upper maker Marina, laster Ding & technical consultant Noel Box, toiled for almost a week just for the foldable prototype.  We’ve repeated the patterns, creating superb techniques in extracting the perfect fit from the shoelast so that the foldable driving shoes will fit like a glove. 

This was also an important part of Cindy’s training for court shoe footwear pattern making because this was the first time that Noel Box taught this technique.

The construction of the sample prototype was repeated numerous times, trying all possible techniques in constructing the foldable shoes with a perfect fit & at the same time easy on the production line.  

I tried not to notice all the wasted materials and hours of work, but the result really paid off since we’ve made the foldable driving shoes so much more comfortable close to what Salvatore Ferragamo has developed, thanks to Kuya Noel.

Our client, the owner of the brand chose satin fabrics from the selection of the materials that we used, & she made a very good choice, too.