If the Shoe Fits, Wear It. If Not, Design One That Does.
New York Times December 2, 2007
By ELIZABETH OLSON
EVEN for the most dedicated shopper, finding just the right pair of shoes can be elusive. A store-to-store search —
whether on the Web or at the mall — can take hours. Shoppers may think they’ve found the perfect pair, only to be
stymied by a problem with fit, style or color.
It’s not that retailers don’t try, as the huge shoe sections in department stores like Saks and Nordstrom, and Web
sites like Zappos and Shoes.com, attest. But for those with very individual or exacting tastes — and with money to
spare — some Internet retailers offer design-it-yourself options in footwear. Customization is more common with
athletic shoes, but fashion footwear is beginning to catch up.
Makers like Vans and Nike are among the companies that offer customized shoes, allowing both women and men to
create their own look from existing styles, colors and materials.
Cale Valdez, a college student in Huntington, Calif., went to vans.com to find a memorable look for his wedding last
month. He designed some red and black canvas slip-ons for the wedding party, including matching lace-ups for his
father-in-law. “My groomsmen had black tuxes and red vests, so we thought it would look great to have red shoes,”
he said of the slip-ons, which cost $40 a pair.
Nikeid.com, which attracts almost as many women as men, has customers who order hundreds of pairs. The hip-hop
disc jockey known as Clark Kent, of Brooklyn, has designed 350 pairs of shoes on the site, including his favorite, a
pair of purple, black and teal Air Force 1’s, which cost him about $275. “The biggest attraction is the ability to
shock,” he said. “You want a pair that people notice so they ask you: ‘Where did you get those?’” While customized
sneakers are available on many athletic shoe Web sites, fashion shoes are harder, although not impossible, to find.
For women who are willing to spend, there is Tupli,
started three years ago by two women who were
leaving careers in banking. “This is ideal for the
woman who can imagine the perfect shoe but can’t
find it,” said Kathy Myczowski, 34. She went into the
individual shoe design business with Tamara
Chubinidze, 26, who is from the Republic of Georgia,
where such shoemaking is more prevalent and where
Tupli’s shoes are made. Clients can browse tupli.com
for ideas and then send in their measurements, or be
measured personally in New York. Tupli had a byappointment shop in Manhattan for a couple of years,
but switched to online last year because its customers
were far flung, Ms. Myczowski said.
Amolyn Peart, a banking manager who has purchased
three pairs of shoes from the company, became
intrigued with the idea after spotting a woman
wearing Tupli footwear (a name derived from the
Russian word for shoe) at a business gathering. “The
shoes were so gorgeous and unusual, so I
immediately asked her where she got them,” said Ms.
Peart, of West Orange, N.J. Like many people, she is
hard to fit: her shoe size is between 8 1/2 and 9, and
ready-made shoes are often too tight in the toe.
Tupli’s clients — who include the actress Susan
Sarandon — have a choice of leather and suede, as
If you don’t like the shoes you find in the stores, you
can go to a Web site like Stevemadden.com and
choose your own color, pattern, style and size.
well as embellishments like rhinestones and personal logos, and initials on the upper or even on the sole, said Ms.
Myczowski. The first made-to-measure Tupli shoe that Ms. Peart designed for herself was a black and red pump for
an event at work. “Everyone noticed it, especially because they were all wearing black shoes,” she recalled. Since
then, she has ordered another pair of shoes and a pair of boots.
Another option is Stevemadden.com. Robert Klemm, 27, a loan officer in Bethpage, N.Y., learned last summer
about Steve Madden Ltd.’s “Design Your Own Collection.” A shoe aficionado — he owns 60 pairs — he wanted to
create some shoes to surprise his girlfriend, Kate Feehan, for her birthday. Starting with her size, 9, he clicked
through the site to select a style, heel and color, putting together a navy gingham open-toe pump with a cork heel
and sole that Mr. Klemm thought “would look good with everything from jeans to dresses.”
He spent $150 plus shipping and tax. The site charges a 20 percent premium for made-to-order shoes, which are
assembled in China and are not returnable. The turnaround time is three weeks, according to the site. Steven
Madden, founder of the company, says more than 100,000 pairs of design-your-own shoes have been sold through
the site, where the prices range from $90 to $170.
RIGHT now, Stevemadden.com has
almost no online competition. But
Jeffrey Van Sinderen, apparel analyst
for B. Riley & Company in Los
Angeles, predicted that other makers
would not be far behind, despite the
large investment needed to set up a
factory to make the shoes and a
system to distribute them.
Made-to-order shoes are profitable,
he said, and “it answers the question
of how you make the product more
compelling to the consumer, and
that’s to give them the power to
design it.”
In shoes, passion often trumps the
practical. To Mary A. Johnson, 22,
online design is about owning
something unique.
Robert Klemm, who has 60 pairs of shoes in his own collection, went to
the Steve Madden Web site to design the gingham pumps that his
girlfriend, Kate Feehan, is wearing.
Ms. Johnson, a student at West Los Angeles College, owns 200 pairs of shoes, but that didn’t stop her from going to
Stevemadden.com recently to design some ballet flats in a purple shade and trimming them in red. “This is
something you make yourself,” she said, “instead of settling for what’s out there.”
How would you describe Tupli’s or Stevemadden.com’s operations strategy?