New York, New York!!
by JULIA
My new freind Lili and me….she doesn’t work in shoes, but she wears them! I am having a great time in NYC so far this week. To me the best Ffany show is this one. June is beautiful in this city….except for the rain today (booo). However, it’s only Tuesday and I have already visited with so many great people, including my friends at Brown Shoe who have been very nice to me. J Yesterday, I spent time with Christos D…
Matisse Sheena’s Weekly Rant-Shoes, June and New York
by Matisse Sheena
Sheena said the pic of Al Pacino in Scarface represents “motivation and perseverance” . Go on with your bad self! I cannot believe it has already been 4 months since I launched Shoebizness and Sheena was our very first weekly contributor. I gave her this topic because the Ffany tradeshow is right around the corner and I am so excited to catch up with her again since meeting her in the cafe line at WSA. Ffany is one of my favo…
Dalia from Zigi NY
by JULIA
For the second time in a month a sales rep from Zigi NY gets a mention for job WELL DONE! This time it is the brand owners daughter, Dalia Davidson who waved me down at a recent tradeshow rather than waiting for me to enter the booth on my own. Dalia’s father is the owner and designer of the company who spent his career designing private label women’s footwear for brands many international brands. I asked Dalia what sh…
Industry-Winner Booth Design WSA
by JULIA
As I mentioned in a previous post, Industry was the winner of Best Booth Design at this seasons WSA show! Nana Sananikone, Head Designer for the brand emailed this response when I asked where she came up with the idea. Inspirations:
Vlado Footwear’s Mario Morales Deserves a Raise!
by JULIA
Mario is the Warehouse Manager for Vlado Footwear out of L.A. and I was very impressed with his knowledge of the line as well as his positive attitude! He should be in sales! Keep up the great work Mario!!
Dr Martens – Making a Come Back
by JULIA
I have to be honest… I am a fan of Dr. Martens and probably always will be. Maybe it’s because I loved them prior to high school back in the early nineties, but as I was shopping through Ebay (I am a little addicted to vintage shopping on Ebay) I stumbled upon a vintage pair of black classics and I had to buy them! I am seeing that Dr Martens are making a comeback… more and more ads are featuring the lo…
Argentinian Invasion! Ferraro makes its U.S. debut…
by JULIA
Jose Cruzado, whom I wrote about earlier, told me that I needed to go visit the Argentinian brand Ferraro and I’m glad that I did! After 50 years in the footwear industry, Ferraro decided to make its US debut. Fabian Ferraro represents the second generation of family members running the company, which began by catering to a more traditional woman. When Fabian and his brother took over the company, the…
Joe Emick of Charles David
by JULIA
Joe Emick is the Territory Rep for Charles David covering all the Southeast and New Orleans. Joe is based out of Miami, so hopefully I will run into him every now and then! He has a realistic and true outlook on the industry which to me is always refreshing. I asked him to give me the top five ways to sell to the Southern woman. Being from Charlotte, NC. I was curious what he had to say!! 1. Present more feminine footwear -I a…
Nicholas Keenan from Kelsi Dagger
by JULIA
I met Nicholas yesterday at the SMOTA show and we had a great time chatting. Kelsi Dagger is a new line launching this season. Their goal is to offer high quality fashion to the masses. I asked Nicholas what he thought the pros of launching in the current economy were and he said “business sucks so it is a good time to do things differently”. Well put! Nicholas went on to say, “Last year retail prices…
Jose from Brown Shoe Needs a Raise and a Promotion!
by JULIA
I was wandering around SMOTA today wondering who I would meet and find interesting. Since I have friends at Brown Shoe I decided to walk into their booth and check things out. I met Jose which turned out to be a truly delightful experience. Jose is the rep in Latin America for the lines Via Spiga, Franco Sarto and Etienne Aigner. I asked him why he was in the business and he told me it’s because he loves fashion and t…
SMOTA – today and tomorrow
by JULIA
I will be heading to SMOTA at the Miami Convention Center later today to see what’s going on. I always like to stop by for at least a day or so in order to say hello to all the traveling reps since the convention center is literally a couple blocks from the office. I am not sure what to expect this time around since I hear a lot of brands decided not to show, but I will let you all know what I find via a few posts later on!
Industry-Watch out for this brand!!
by JULIA
Nana Sananikone may be one of the most creative people I have met in a while! Her brand Industry decided to launch footwear a couple of years ago and is already making great strides. Not many designers are able to make the transition from clothing to footwear quite as easily as Nana has. In fact, Industry has already won multiple awards for creativity, design and as a company for their charitable efforts. Ally and I met…
…And the Ballots Are In!
by JULIA
Following up on my predictions for the hottest footwear trends @ WSA – here are the actual top recurring trends seen during the show. What are your thoughts? 1. Athletic-Fashion: Along the lines of my “Tech-Mesh” prediction, we saw an abundance of fashion-forward athletic footwear. However, much of the footwear had a retro feel vs. new-wave design. UES (please see prior article!) did a fan…
If you see this guy…
by JULIA
Give him your resume and be really nice to him! Trust me on this.
K.I.D.S. and MAGIC
by JULIA
I was so happy to see the support for Kids in Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) at the Magic Show! Shoebizness.com and Pearl and Company will be partnering with K.I.D.S. in the upcoming year in many ways to encourage product donation by companies in the footwear industry. Now, more than ever, people need our support! If you are a retailer or a wholesaler and are not sure what to do with your leftover inventory, PLEASE l…
