Not Your Basic Leather Flatties

Ever wonder where to get comfy, elegant, leather ballet flats these days?

It’s hard.  For one thing, local stores doesn’t want to sell them anymore because the price point for their SRP is already too high for their clients so they tend to get more synthetic slip-ons because more end consumers tend to buy cheaper shoes. It’s sad, but that is the fact.

Sometimes it is good for the business, but it doesn't serve the market segment that wants more than these synthetic, poor quality flats and most of the time China produced items with bad fitting that one tend to throw away after a couple of months (if you’re lucky) which retailers have been feeding the market.

What if you want more value for your money? What if you want a pair of ballet flats that you want to wear for a few years, create memories with it because it’s durable and only requires a little polishing and you’re good to go? Something basic yet elegant to look at your feet, something that is so comfy and priced just right? What if you want ballet flats in black patent leather? Or even color flashing ones?

I had a client who wanted something classic, elegant, comfortable and made in kid leather, which has a beautiful fine grain. But the kid leather in the Marikina open market is steep at php130/sq ft, so we gave her something like these beautiful soft Napa cow leather flatties, and she launched her line successfully, too.

You’ll be proud to wear these to the office or school, or just cruising because it’s versatile. You’d surely get glimpses your way together with a pair of shorts, pants, jeans, skirts... you get the picture :).

I would say that this is a premium item, not because we produce it but because we used soft Nappa cow leather, interlining for super comfort & used leather for the insole.  Everything is leather except for the outsole. It is also unbelievably lightweight (no more tired and aching feet).

Interested to order? We continuously produce this staple, sizes currently available are  6, 7, 8, 9 while available colors  are Tomato (red), Coal (black), Syrup (beige), Eggshell (tan), Silver. We’ve marked this item down, at 50% off selling price is now only php900.00 plus parcel delivery. Send me a message at cla.Treadline@gmail.com. Who knows,  you might get lucky and get a much bigger discount :). 

This is also the perfect partner for the leather wallet on sale. (link)

I’d like to know what you want for a ballet flat. Send me your thoughts, ladies. I’d really appreciate it.

No Ordinary School Shoes Here

The school season is one of the busiest and most advertised seasons for the footwear industry either in the manufacturing side or the retail side of the business.  On the design and product development end, designs has to be ready by the fourth quarter of the previous year and samples has to be done before the year ends. On the retailer’s end, stock for the school shoes has to be in as early as March, and launching of new products by the first week of April, with a second wave of incoming deliveries between April and May. This involves countless meetings for specifications, approval and coordination with manufacturers which drives my merchandisers crazy which also drives me crazy while continuously planning for product line up. The sales force has to be oriented with the new collections and monitoring of sales is paramount to check if my collections were effective. Footwear manufacturers should be busy from January to February with full swing productions by March which may last till the month of May and tapering off to a slow pace. 

I always have a very different view of school shoes because I’ve always believed that it doesn’t have to be boring, it doesn’t have to be so utilitarian.

Shoes, for me is all about sexiness, so I always find a way to incorporate this principle to an everyday wear such as the school shoes. Even when I was still working with Disney’s footwear brands for kids such as Minnie, Mickey, Pooh, HSM or Pirates of the Caribbean (the license is owned by Office Depot), one of the top selling ones in the local market (because I never got Barbie out of the number one spot).

                                     

During my one year stay with Office Depot, heading their R&D department, me and my team of artists laid down a new trend for the kid’s shoes by adding prints and emboss on the upper lining and the insole lining making it really attractive even if the upper material were all back. Producing great contrast with the black uppers (sorry, I wasn’t able to keep paictures). It was a hit. The Barbie brand of Ritchwell caught on fast, joined by other brands such as Hello Kitty, Disney Princess, etc. 

Two years ago, this was the school shoes collection I launched for Effegi, which is a footwear line for ladies category available at SM department stores. Still sticking to my principle, I used the red lining for the upper and toned it down with gray insole lining that was metallic matte; basic black on the outside and eye-popping color on the inside which does not come across as trying too hard, unlike the school shoes of other brands.

Still not your ordinary looking school shoes, a sporty look with great choices from a simple slip-on to Mary Janes and slip-on with ankle strap. And of course comfort and fitting is a priority as much as the design. The sales forecast exceeded our stock appropriations that I computed for the sales projection, the owner was too conservative to approve such quantity, which was a sad thing because then we missed some sales by not stocking up.

Look out for my next features on the basic school and office heeled and wedge pumps.