Super fun last night to hang out in my old West 3rd St. haunts...I used to be there every day working at Satine and Aero & Co, but not so much now, and I was looking forward to the Esquivel Shoes showcase event hosted by the lovely guys over at Esquivel House.I've known Albert from Esquivel for a while, but never seen their space; it's REALLY pretty and the setup of the shoes was gorgeous. Even though I'm not a man and I have no use for 80% of their crazy bespoke shoes, the aesthetic of their space was so nice that it was fun to browse anyway. Exposed beams, raw linens, awesome leather samples strewn around, stacks of vintage books and cameras and whatnot that made for a great environment for the stuff they do. I got to ask Albert in more detail just WHO their target customer is - I mean, who is running around buying $1000 bespoke rainbow colored mens' shoes? - and details of our convo are below.
[When I did reach the ladies' corner, I was all like "UHHHHHH WANT NOW" over those lavender/cocoa wingtips (top photo). How super cool are they?! I'd wear them with retro dresses and a capelet. Those were the ones featured in Vogue recently as well.]
oh, you know, just some lavender leather and shoe forms hanging out.
these are like your standard chuck boots but 500 times nicer
EVERYONE there was wearing nice shoes. check out the guy on the right, who's obviously trying on two different ones :)
I had to ask them more about who their target customer was. You've got to have a pretty well-defined niche for this kind of product...and they do. Albert explained that the type of guy who goes for Esquivel is the customer who is already high-end but is used to getting other things commissioned. If they're already getting custom architecture, custom landscaping, custom art, and custom suits...there's nothing shocking about custom shoes. And for those customers who are already paying over $700 for standard designer brogues off the rack, another hundy doesn't seem like a bad tax at all for one-of-a-kind footwear to spec.
Customers tend to come in, first head for the more "normal" shoes, then realize how many options they have (there are 5 basic toe shapes, plus dozens of leathers, finishes and stitch colors) and start going nuts, then finally swing back halfway toward normal before they decide. Which customers circumvent that process and make their choices without waffling? The many movie producer clients they have, who, Albert says, are well versed in snap decisions. I love that picture: some film bigwig standing on set, pointing and gensturing and yelling commandments at everyone, then walking into Esquivel House and pointing, snapping his fingers, and leaving with a custom pair of robin's-egg-blue wingtips.
I didn't stay long enough for the 9pm raffle, but blogger Tasha of Blackburn & Sweetzer did, and won! Congrats lady! [I did score a sweet little leather card case, though, which immediately got filled with all the random cards floating in the bottom of my purse.]
more info: LA2Day on Esquivel
1 comments:
I could have a lot of fun with those wingtips:)
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