What do Vince Camuto & Jessica Simpson have in common?

I recently had to spend a day with two British fashion experts, and was naturally in a panic about what to wear. I had the perfect dress, but no shoes to go along with it.  Flats would have been comfortable for a day spent moving from place to place, but flats just didn’t look good with the dress. Where could I find a pair of ultra-stylish shoes that didn’t sacrifice comfort?

As it turns out, I didn’t have to look further than the new Glorietta wing, which houses the Vince Camuto store.

Vince who?

Vince Camuto is the Italian-American footwear designer who created Nine West and turned it into a $2 billion company. Now, his eponymous brand offers the same successful formula but stepped up: affordable, mid-priced shoes that are not only trend-right but also, more amazingly, comfortable. Lower heel heights (and in this age of vertiginous Ziggy Stardust platforms I’m talking three inches or less) don’t necessarily mean frumpy  — I found a pair of mid-heeled ankle-booty type sandals that went perfectly with my dress, and it was cushioned. A pleasure to walk in.

“Comfort is very important to us,” says Greg Morel, president of International at Camuto Group. “We have foot models, so every time we have a new product, we get the prototype and fit it with a foot model. And the main concern is always the comfort, the pitch of the shoe. If the pitch is not correct, after an hour it’s going to be so uncomfortable, so every time we make sure the pitch is correct and the shoe is properly balanced.”

At Vince Camuto, even the flats are cushioned. While Manila has become a shoe Mecca where you can find stylish shoes at every price point, how many brands can boast the quadruple temptation of design, quality, price and comfort?

“What we deliver, there’s nothing like it on the market,” Morel affirms. “That allowed us to get market share fairly quickly. We have terrific partners like SSI (Stores Specialists, Inc.). They’ve been a great partner who’s been able to execute what we do in the US in the Philippines, and that’s key to our success.”

All that attention to detail doesn’t just apply to shoes. Vince Camuto has become a lifestyle brand that encompasses 31 categories, from footwear, bags, jewelry and RTW to eyewear, watches, hosiery and fragrance — for men, too. They’ve just launched men’s RTW and their second women’s fragrance, Fiori.

They’re also licensed to sell two other shoe brands: BCBGeneration and Jessica Simpson. Since Vince Camuto targets slightly more mature customers, Jessica Simpson, which caters to a younger, faster, sexier crowd, and BCBGeneration, which Morel says is “somewhere in between but maybe not as forward as Jessica,” complement Vince Camuto nicely.

At the Glorietta store you’ll find all the hottest trends you’ll want to sink your feet into: the single sole, Maryjanes that they’ve interpreted two ways (round-toed and pointy-toed, embellished or in shiny patent leather), army-green kicks and biker boots. Platforms are, of course, still available, and ankle boots, which Morel says have become season-less. “We now carry them all year round. If you go to LA in July you’re going to see booties.”

I ask Morel how they keep their prices so reasonable. “We give it back to the customer,” he replies. “We want to be affordable, and we don’t want to cut corners. The company was built on integrity, so we put everything back in the production, the quality of the material, the comfort, and obviously the price points. Materials are imported from Italy, but the product is produced in China like most of the companies now. Vince Camuto, nothing’s going to go past him. Every single shoe on the floor has been reviewed by Mr. Camuto, no matter what brand you’re talking about.”

Camuto was born and raised in New York City, growing up on the Lower East Side, though his family originally hails from Italy. The Italian family crest adorns the inside of the shoes, though the Camutos weren’t a family of cobblers. “He’s self-made,” notes Morel. “He started on the floor, worked with customers in the service department, got really passionate about shoes, and that’s when he started. Mr. Camuto and his son are in charge of footwear and product development, and his wife is in charge of marketing, PR and all the other categories.”

Now in his late 60s and based in Greenwich, Connecticut, Camuto’s enthusiasm is legendary … and infectious. “He’s very much involved, 24/7,” Morel says. “I get a phone call from him at 7 a.m. or 10 at night and he’s always working on the next project. I’ve never seen someone so passionate.”

That passion has spread to 60 retail locations and 5,000 points of sale in 62 countries. In the Philippines, the first Vince Camuto store opened in 2011 at Shangri-La Plaza Mall, and now they have four stores around Bonifacio Global City, one in Glorietta and another opening soon at Alabang Town Center.

Bringing in Vince Camuto’s RTW is the next step for SSI, and considering that this footwear brand won Brand of the Year for their RTW at US department store Nordstroms, it’s likely to be another fashionable, trendy, value-for-money proposition.

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In the Philippines, Vince Camuto is exclusively distributed by Stores Specialists, Inc. (SSI) and is located at Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Glorietta Mall and Rustan’s Makati.