STUART WEITZMAN ON HIGH HEELS

By Crash redaction

STUART WEITZMAN OFFERS THAT RARE BLEND OF FANTASY AND FUNCTION. HE IS ONE OF THE FEW SHOEMAKERS WHO STILL DARE TO MAKE FOOTWEAR WOMEN CAN WALK, RUN, AND LIVE IN. AND STILL HIS SHOES SPARE NOTHING WHEN IT COMES TO BOLD STYLE. A ZEALOUS PATRON OF THE ART OF THE BEAUTIFUL AND SURPRISING, HE WORKS WITH ARCHITECT ZAHA HADID TO PLAN HIS BOUTIQUES, AND FEARLESSLY COMMISSIONS YOUNG ARTISTS TO DESIGN HIS STOREFRONTS… FROM THE EARLY DAYS OF HIS EPONYMOUS BRAND TO HIS VERY LATEST CREATIONS, WE TAKE A FULL TOUR THROUGH HIS WILDEST DREAMS. DREAMS THAT ALWAYS BECOME REALITY.

Can you tell us the story of your brand?

I’ve been making shoes since I got out of university. and I’ve always had a particular concept in mind, because I was a very good engineer… so I like to say I became a shoe engineer. My hobbies were painting and drawing… and I decided to combine the two. With my creative skills, I’ve always tried to make a product people would want to wear. and with engineering, to make a shoe that people can actually wear. Which are two vastly different things! That’s what the brand became pretty well known for. My father had a shoe factory in Boston and I learned shoemaking there. Then I came to Europe to make shoes because the american shoe business dried up and moved to spain and Italy basically. It all started in 1992. I was working for another company, doing a collection under their name. But I insisted they write stuart Weitzman, like Gucci did for Tom Ford. and after five years, everyone knew me. Later on I said goodbye, and now that company doesn’t make any shoes anymore. I had an advantage because things came about naturally for my company. I had my own factory in america, and when I came to Europe I set up a factory for my brand. I worked out a deal with a business in spain to build the factory and that’s how I started. This gave me the freedom to make whatever I wanted. It guaranteed me better service, of course, because the factory was mine. But it also allowed me to make a shoe and offer it to the public at a factory price. so we entered the luxury market, but with pretty low prices. and that was a real obstacle for fashion people: somehow, things seem better and more fashionable when they cost more! so I decided to make sure that if we made shoes geared towards people who like to wear Manolo Blahnik, then this audience would also feel comfortable with stuart Weitzman. The best way to create this image was to penetrate the celebrity world. So that’s why I started to make a lot of shoes for movie stars and other rich and famous people. This brought our brand to a higher level, and all of the stores who carried us put us with choo, Blahnik, Louboutin, Prada… as we still have the lowest prices in this segment, we sell a lot of shoes. as we grew, we built more. and now I have nine factories, all in alicante, spain.

Why didn’t you want to raise your prices?

I never needed to because I own the factories! I’m a shoemaker and I don’t feel comfortable overcharging. Our company is doing great with these prices, so there’s no reason to change. And I also think you can’t fool your customers. In fact, they like being able to get the best product available at any price, while only paying €400 instead of €700. and I’ll tell you something else: it’s sort of cool today for women who can buy anything to combine a Zara shirt with a chanel jacket… People like to mix things. We’re also opening a new store in harrod’s. They’re creating a big new shoe section. and they decided to put us right in the middle with our own shop, right between Blahnik, Louboutin and Prada! The director said to me: « I love your shoes and I feel fantastic wearing them. and I think it’s good for our store to have you and your price among all these other brands. » so I never needed to raise our prices that much. But I did want our brand image to reflect our prestige. and that’s why I went after celebrities. and it’s also why I selected our locations so carefully: such as rue saint-honoré in Paris, saks Fifth avenue where all the designers are, rodeo Drive, Madison avenue… We belong there.

What do other brands think about you?

They know we’re exceptional shoemakers. They respect what we do. The other day Miuccia Prada checked out our store and told us she was very impressed. a lot of brands that offer lower prices simply copy other people’s work. We don’t do that: it’s all original. Just like everything at Gucci or Prada is original. We don’t need to copy and we have no desire to do so. That’s what stuart Weitzman is about.

How many shoes have you sold so far?

Two million. It’s a lot, but there are a lot of women in the world…We make so many different shoes for all sorts of women, from models like Kate Moss to architects like Zaha hadid.

How do you feel about opening a new shop with Zaha Hadid? Do you see yourself as a bit of a
designer?

I’m a designer but that’s not why I wanted to work with Zaha hadid. Every two years at least, I produce something I’ve never done before: it’s exciting. and this was my latest project. For me, it’s not about work, it’s more my hobby. some people ask me when I plan to retire. I tell them people who work retire. But I don’t work, this is my hobby! I don’t work for business, but for pleasure. When I left that company where I worked as a designer to start stuart Weitzman, that’s when I stopped working. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and my children are all: « Wow, daddy, what you’re doing is great!” It’s a big family thing, and we all have a good time… But business is like this. I’m no different from anyone else. I think most people want to have their own business. and we’re a small company. We’re not a big group so we can keep on being very creative.

You only have one brand. You’re not a group… And you still own the company, right?

Yes. We have finances, investors… They run the operations like the warehouse, payments… John’s Group is the name. But the brand is mine. It’s really fun and exciting. and we sell… and we always try to do something different. The reason we chose to work with Zaha hadid is because I didn’t want to do a typical shoe store. Everybody in the business has a shoe store and they’re all the same: shelves, always shelves… quality material shelves… but shelves nonetheless! so we tried to do something different.

You’re also a curator or art collector of sorts, right?

Yes… I like owning unique things other people have made. One or two, not many. When I opened my first store in New York, I didn’t want to do the same storefront like everyone else: shoes in the window, everywhere… so we turned to artists. Young artists who were in school or who just got out of school. We told them: « We’ll give you a window on Madison avenue, with your name listed as the artist. all we want you to do is make artistic shoes for our storefront. » We won seven awards in nine years for this. again it’s just an example of doing something different, of not being overly business-minded but instead being enthusiastic and hobby-oriented. That’s how I’ve always run the company. It’s marketing in a way, because it’s really unique. But it’s not done for marketing.

So do you still design all your shoes?

I have my design studio and I’m the lead designer, but I have a very good team working with me. It’s important to teach your people how to think like you. We’re always looking for people to do creative and crazy things for us. When you’re a big company, you don’t think that way. and this is what makes business more interesting for us.

How would you describe your target customer?

a few days ago I met up with an editor I know. she said: « Oh stuart, I should have worn your shoes today! These are killing me! » (Laughs) I always like to say that my best customers are smart women who are in the know. Young girls who don’t care aren’t my best customers because they can’t see what I have to offer. Maybe when they’re 19 to 30, they’ll change their minds. One day Jenna Davis came to our store in Beverly hills and said: « I’m not going to compete with these idiots on the runway anymore. I want comfortable shoes, but I don’t want to look like my grandma: I want beautiful shoes. » That’s what I like. It’s like a new business for us! It’s a big shoe market out there. It’s quite something how many different accessories women need for their feet. Much more than men.

Other brands start from a very different point of view. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to walk, work, or live in some shoes!

That’s one possible direction. I remember this one interview with Louboutin. The interviewer said to him: « I heard people say they would feel more comfortable in your shoes if they had four toes. » and he answered: « My job is to make your feet beautiful, not to make them feel good. It’s like in china when women wrap their feet: my job is to make your feet look beautiful. » and I have to say, I tip my hat to his success because he became a celebrity. In fact, the shoe industry has never seen such a celebrity. George Jourdain is pretty big and important, but even with him it wasn’t about the person but about the brand. Louboutin is also Mr. Louboutin, and that’s quite amazing. It’s crazy, but it’s a good thing for the shoe business. It brings along a level of recognition. I think that things like that – like Imelda Marcos and her 3,000 shoes – just add to the legend of shoes. From cinderella to the Wizard of Oz to people like that, it’s great storytelling for the industry.

What is your first memory relating to high heels?

I was 15 and I got a date with this really cute girl. When I went to pick her up she was wearing 110mm heels, and the first thing I thought was: « I’m in for a good time tonight! » That’s not at all what happened. But when I saw her heels, her red shoes, I just thought: « WOW! » Then when my daughter had her first date at 16, I was asking her about it beforehand. she told me I’d like her boyfriend. But since I’m a very protective father I told her: « Teenage boys are the worst: they lie and they’ll do anything at all to get you. Do not wear high heel pumps tonight! » Of course she replied: « Daddy, I don’t even own any! »

Shoes are really interesting because they’re related to lifestyle, personality and the place of women in society. In the 70s no one wanted to wear heels. They were completely over…

at that time Jackie Onassis and audrey hepburn were wearing those beautiful flats. That helped give flats a new status. I truly believe that women who wear flats naturally have more selfconfidence than women who wear heels. It takes confidence to wear flats even to a nice event. It sends the message: « I’m fine with who I am, and I can wear a nice flat. » Women wear heels to change something about themselves, maybe because they’re missing something. still, heels are often the most beautiful shoes available. I’ve said it before: until someone invents something that can make a good pair of legs look beautiful, something that can do it better than a high heel… Until that happens, high heels will always be around. always.

Is that why heels are in such high demand today?

Everybody has their own approach to shoes. I was surprised to see that only twenty percent of our sales come from heels of 8.5 cm or more. It’s not as high as magazines make it seem. But women may use heels for a lot of different reasons, I guess. It’s a personality thing. In the movie “Disclosure,” Demi Moore plays a cEO and she wears a 110 mm heel in every scene. The costume designer from that film told me: « It gave her the power to be the cEO, and the credibility to be bigger than Michael Douglas. » Power is one reason women want heels. I can never forget Madonna’s interview in Vogue from a while back. The interviewer asked her: « Every time we see you, you’re in these incredibly tall and beautiful shoes… how many shoes do you have? » and she answered: « I’m crazy for shoes! sometimes I buy them and never wear them. » The journalist asked why, and the answer became the headline of the interview: « shoes are better than sex” That’s what she said!