But it was his relationship with Vogue that would prove to be instrumental in the rise of the Jimmy Choo brand. Despite the rise of his popularity, Choo was still a small operation, producing just 20 handmade pairs of shoes per week. But Tamara Yeardye Mellon, an accessories editor at Vogue , who often hired Choo to make shoes for fashion shoots, sensed a larger market for Choo's creations.
She approached the shoemaker about partnering to create a line of ready-to-wear footwear. Together, Choo and Mellon quickly grew the business, keeping the focus on creating high-end footwear, but no longer relying on the idea that every single pair had to be made by Choo himself.
They contracted with Italian factories and opened their first boutique shop in London. By the turn of the century, the Choo name was a global brand, with high-end retail clients that included Harrods and Saks Fifth Avenue carrying Choo footwear.
The Choo brand had also expanded to handbags and other accessories. But in the background, all was not well. Choo and Mellon were at odds about the direction of the company. In what would become one of the more fascinating rifts in the fashion industry, Choo didn't think bigger was better.
But the founders reportedly disagreed about the direction of the company, with Choo unhappy about the quality of the shoes. Mellon, who took control of the company she founded back in with TowerBrook Capital Partners, sold it to Labelux in , owned by Joh A.
She is now president of TM Enterprises , and launched her own line of clothing and shoes last year. As for Choo, he has gone back to a quiet life. Everyone is shopping online, and so the business model is very different," she said. She said that at Jimmy Choo "we used to design four collections a year. Giant collections. Go and see buyers, have the buyers come in, and then we'd also try and deliver collections in the wrong season.
So Mellon and her staff — which consists of 24 women and one man — continuously create new designs. She now measures what consumers want by featuring samples on social media, such as Instagram. Production depends on the feedback Mellon receives from consumers. If consumers respond favorably and they receive requests for orders, they produce it. With social media, she said, "the feedback loop with the customer now is much shorter, so we can move much faster.
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