Metro

Friday January 4, 2008

Bound by their sole love

By JADE CHAN

SOLEMATE is the latest shoe boutique that features an exclusive collection of footwear for shoe fashionistas - from ballerina pumps, peep toes, strappy sandals, platforms, stilettos to wedges, in a variety of colours and embellishments.

The boutique in Bangsar is a business venture shared by three shoe lovers and close friends Jenly Woon, 33, Valerie Fan, 23, and Shannezz Ch'ng, 27, who contribute their individual strengths to the partnership.

Shoe lovers: Close friends (from right) Jenly Woon, Shannezz Ch'ng and Valerie Fan are the partners of Solemate.
Fan designs the shoes and oversees their production; Ch'ng has a keen eye for accessories and does the fashion buying; Woon's forte is in graphic design and marketing.

“Solemate shoes are very comfortable, sophisticated, and of good quality. The majority are made from leather, a comfortable and durable material. They incorporate unique designs and produced in limited numbers to ensure exclusivity,” said Fan.

Designer: Fan with some of her favourite shoe designs - (from left) Divine, Rosebud and Desire. Rosebud was one of her creations during her college days.
“All our shoes are made locally at my dad’s factory, but the fabrics and accessories are imported from overseas. My dad has been in the shoe industry for 40 years, and his company’s shoes are exported to Japan, Australia and Middle East countries.”

Fan trained for four years at her dad’s factory, learning all she could about shoes, before earning an Advanced Diploma in Fashion Marketing and Management from Raffles Design Institute.

She also won the Best Group Project during her final year in college.

“My graduation project was a campaign where we had to design, produce and create a marketing campaign for a shoe. Some of the shoes I created during my college years are sold at Solemate.

“The designs we carry here are something that all three of us would wear, and follow trends – like the current popularity for thin and high heels, and slingbacks.

Classy: A couple of trendy peep toe heels that would appeal to any shoe fashionista.
“We’re going one step further by offering custom-made bridal shoes. Wedges, sandals and slingbacks are the preferred designs. It takes about two weeks to produce one pair,” said Fan.

This service is available by appointment only.

While Solemate’s main focus is on shoes, it also carries a range of pretty accessories and dresses, as well as a display of attractive lingerie from The Sazy Club and Kamasutra range.

“Our accessories and dresses are sourced from all over the world, including Paris, Athens, Frankfurt, South Korea, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Sydney, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York,” said Ch’ng, an avid traveller who shops for the fashionable items at whichever city she flies to.

Customers are entitled to be a Solemate VIP when they spend above RM450 in a single receipt. They get to enjoy a 10% discount on all items, receive updates on the latest products and promotions at Solemate, and be invited to previews of Solemate’s latest arrivals before they are displayed.

Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Emirates cabin crew get to enjoy a 5% discount on all items when they flash their cabin crew pass.

Earrings too: Pretty accessories sold at the store to complement the trendy footwear.
Solemate will have a Chinese New Year promotion sometime in mid-January, where VIP customers will get 30% off and non-VIP customers 20% off on selected items at the boutique.

New collections are brought in every three months, and the partners plan to consign their shoes to other states like Sarawak and Penang.

Prices of the off-the-shelf shoes range from RM159 to RM349, while the custom-made bridal shoes are priced from RM399 to RM499.

SOLEMATE, 51A Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur. 03-2283 3703

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