Sole fantasies

MANILA, Philippines - There may not be a more telling activity about a woman than how she chooses her footwear. So we just had to ask Patxi Elizalde, managing director of Elro Commercial & Industrial Corporation, what he has discovered about women in all the years he has been involved in the shoe business.

Patxi, whose company is the sole distributor of the Brazilian brands Ipanema, Rider and Grendha in the Philippines, laughs and says, “Where do I start?”

He reveals that Ipanema’s campaign “Live with the Fantasy” was conceptualized after it did extensive research about women and their footwear.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that every time a woman buys a pair of Ipanemas, they’re thinking of something,” says Patxi. “It’s not just ‘I need shoes and I’m gonna buy this.’ We’re not after what they’re thinking, but that there is a fantasy involved when she’s buying a pair, whether it’s ‘Wow, I wanna look like Giselle Bundchen’ or ‘Wow, I’m gong to be in Brazil when I wear this,’ or ‘I feel like I’m walking on clouds.’ But we know that when you buy a pair of Ipanemas you’re living your dream.”

He’s right. Ask any woman about buying shoes and she will tell you that a movie starts right away in her mind when she sees a pair that she likes — it could be as simple as thinking of the outfit in her closet to pair with the shoes or as elaborate as a fantasy about a weekend in Boracay. 

What about the men, what has he discovered about them? Patxi says, “Nothing,” then adds, “I don’t think it’s really a fantasy for men. I have to say that nowadays men are a little more fashion-conscious as well. Aside from being functional, their shoes also have to look good.”

Thanks in part to Ipanema, flip-flops here have become more than just bathroom and house slippers — they are the ultimate beach status symbol and weekend footwear. And Brazilian supermodel Giselle Bundchen has given Ipanema a sexy, environmentally conscious slant with her own designs which she started a few years ago. Two of her memorable campaigns show her wearing a water dress to raise consciousness about conserving water, and one where she is photographed wearing nothing but forest vines and a pair of Ipanemas, this time to support an organization watching over the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Grendene also follows green policies in its production with 99 percent of its industrial waste being recycled.

Patxi says the Philippines is one of the first countries to get first look at the supermodel’s yearly collections because when Grendene, the parent company of Ipanema, launches it during the summer season in Brazil, it’s just going into winter in North America and Europe but is fit for the Philippine weather all year round. It’s also the only collection that Ipanema carries all year — all other lines are sold once and never repeated (so there have been some desperate women looking for a second pair of a design they bought from a past collection).

Filipino women love Bundchen’s collection — priced a bit higher than the regular Ipanema — and also flip-flops with heels and a bit of embellishment on the straps.

 “Why do women like high heels? Because they show off her legs,” says Patxi. “Our heels are the more salable lines together with styles that are kind of different. Filipinos always like products that no one else has.”

In the Philippines, Ipanema releases about 200 styles in different colors and prints a year. One of the newest features graphic comics prints.

The same goes for the brand Grendha, which carries a range of styles from wedges to ballet flats, from slip-ons to stacked heels. Grendene has created innovations in their shoe materials with the use of plastic (the company founders’ first plastics venture was manufacturing bottle caps) and gel.

You could be wearing Grendha shoes that look like suede or fabric but are actually made of plastic. The suede-looking shoes, says, Patxi, are marketed as floodwater-ready since you just wipe them off to dry. 

“Every two months, we come out with at least four to five new styles for each brand, and each style has about three to five-color variations. If you break it down, there’s a new style every week.”

One of the biggest hits that Grendha has produced is the baby line — cute little gel shoes that sold like hotcakes even if they were P995 a pair!

Rider, the brand marketed as adventure and after-sports footwear, is fit for today’s active guys. Patxi himself being a sportsman — he describes himself as an “everyday runner,” and is a former national team soccer player during which he participated in the 1989 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur — says Rider is a product of research and the latest in footwear technology with over 10 patents to its name.

Some of the innovations include Airphibius, which allows water to quickly drain away from the foot and let air circulate in to dry your foot at the same time; Hydronic Cooling transfers heat away from the feet; Softform creates an upper that forms around your foot to allow air circulation and moisture transfer; Aerogel is formed by an internal gel support structure and flexible air columns that allow air to distribute the impact forces to the ground instead of the feet while walking; Flexpand technology is an exclusive construction technology developed by the Riderlab.

“In the past, we sponsored a senior’s golf tournament and gave the golfers free pairs of Riders — boy, we were the hit of the tournament! We got a lot of orders from high-level executives who played.”

Patxi says that Rider designs are no longer for the older market, but are also now catering to young and hip guys — surfer dudes, wakeboarders, and skateboarders. 

“Rider has reinvented itself. They didn’t make changes for a long time until they did a big research project and found out that the customer base they had 20 years ago was the same that they had now. And so they’ve made a little bit of a revamp. Now they’ve begun to introduce sleeker designs for guys that wouldn’t wear flip-flops.”

* * *

Ipanema, Grendha, and Rider are available at SM Department Store, Robinsons Department Store, The Landmark, Shoe Salon, Olympic Village, Planet Sports and other leading boutiques and shoe stores nationwide. For a complete listing, log on to www.ipanema.com.ph.