Sassy Guest Blogger: Gillian – The Custom Shoe Queen

We are going to leave this intro short as what we have to say is nowhere near as important as what Gillian is telling us below! Gillian gives us the inside scoop on a number of Custom Shoe stores around town. We would love to see her shoe collection as we are sure it is quite drool worthy. If you have any others to add to this list make sure you comment below. Enjoy!

JJ Partners

*now closed – if anyone knows if or where they’ve relocated, let us know in the comments!*

G/F, 173 Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong
2577-2383, 2577-1006

It’s more like a normal shoe shop that does some custom made shoes on the side, rather than a custom made shoe shop itself. They can do anything you’d like, but they don’t trace your feet or measure it out, so it’s up to you to try the sizes and get a feel of what you are. The up side is since they’re not really a custom made shoe shop, they have a lot of stock on hand, so if you like the sample they’ve got you can bring it home immediately. They’ve got all sorts of shoes you can think of, boots, sandals, platforms, stilettos, ballerina shoes, etc. Books of leather are available in store for browsing. They do bags and men’s shoes too. They take 3 weeks to deliver to the shop. Prices around $600-$800, paid upon purchase. I’ve bought a pair of blue/brown/beige snakeskin short-ish boots with frills attached to the zipper on the back and a dark brown leather piping. They didn’t let me choose from a range of samples for the piping, but just talked me through it. It looks amazing, has cushioning on both front and back, feels slightly more prominent on the back. It’s not very stuffy inside, but the buckle does clank a bit as I walk though. The fit is amazing, and if I may say, even better than those whose made by measure.

Shoe Girl
Shop 6, 21 Yiu Wa Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong (They have recently moved a few shops down the street, you should see it as you walk along
2834-1023
[email protected]

It’s a custom made shop in which they don’t keep to much stock on hand for you to try on, and they trace your feet out. They do stilettos, ankle boots, ballerina shoes, sandals, but I don’t see any long boots. Books of leather and shoe shapes available in store for browsing. Not a very interactive website available. They do matching bags too. It takes them around 2-4 weeks to deliver to the shop, depending on how custom made it is, i.e. more personal the design, the longer it takes. Even a very small deviation will take at least 1 extra week. Prices around $700-$1000, paid upon purchase. I’ve bought a pair of blue/black snakeskin stilettos with sheepskin rim and red crocodile skin ankle boots. The ankle boots looks alright, fit snugly and has built-in cushioning for both front and back. You can’t make any adjustments in style (e.g. adding a rim) after you’ve collected it though, even if you want to pay for the adjustments. The wooden heel has chipped off already within the first few weeks, revealing a white plastic interior. I took it back for repair, and they put some coloring on the plastic to cover the crack. The color and the style of the stilettoes are amazing, but width of the stilettoes near the toe area are slightly small, it only has built-in cushioning for the back, and the left shoe is very wobbly. They immediately fixed the width problem, but I’ve got to take the shoes back to fix the wobbly problem, which took another 4 days, and it was still mildly wobbly when I collected them. It is comfortable otherwise, with suede in-lining at the back to prevent scratching of my heels. The curvature of the shoes is interesting, the shoe soles are like a U-shape rather than flat.

Dyos
1/F (normal wear) and 2/F (wedding wear), 33 Yiu Wa Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
9720-5828, 2204-3043
[email protected], [email protected]

They do order made (no feet tracing, just try and see which size fits) and custom made shoes (extensive feet tracing) for different prices. They trace your feet out, and use an apparatus as well as by hand to measures the length, the ridge, and the calf circumference on like almost every spot on your calf. The measurement is outrageously detailed, feels like a survey on the side, covers pretty much all aspects of your shoe habit, also asks for what material you’d like the in-soles to be. They display all the parts available – heels, buckles, ribbons, sparkling bits, etc. They’ve got all sorts of shoes you can think of, boots, sandals, platforms, stilettos, ballerina shoes, etc. Books of leather and shoe shapes available in online and in shop for browsing. They do bags too. They’ve got the Christian Louboutin red shoe soles available, and they do red wooden heels too, as well as spray painted heels, i.e. heels that’s not wrapped with the leather, but painted in the same color as the shoe, apparently less likely to scratch off. They’ve got in-built cushioning too, and you can emphasize where you’d like more cushioning. They take orders online too, you just have to email the photo to them and they’ll quote a price and time. If you’ve got something particular in mind, you’ve got to meet up with Winnie, and they do do their homework before you arrive. For designs you bring in, they do a dummy for you to have a trial fit in 2 weeks before making the actual thing, and it takes them around 2 weeks to deliver to the shop for order made and slightly longer for custom made. They’re take 50% of the total costs up front for deposit.  Prices around $600-3000. They have a separate floor for wedding shoes. This is the only shoe store, in fact any store at all, that offered me freshly squeezed pear juice when I walked in! I’ve bought a pair of black calf leather over the knee boots, with red faux snakeskin lace up, red piping at the opening of the boots, and red shoe soles. It looks amazing, and is surprisingly very comfortable. You can bring it back within a month to fix the stiletto heels if it wears out. I’ve also bought another pair of brown/white snakeskin ballerina shoes, which is very comfortable and looks great. I am currently making other shoes with them too, am really excited about it!

Edwina
Shop No. 36, 1st Floor, Tower 1, Admiralty Center, 18 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong
2866-7183, 2865-9823
[email protected]

It’s a custom made shop in which they don’t keep to much stock on hand for you to try on, and they trace your feet out, measure the ridge, and the calf circumference. They’ve got all sorts of shoes you can think of, boots, sandals, platforms, stilettos, ballerina shoes, etc. Books of leather available in store for browsing. They do bags too. It takes them around 2 weeks to deliver to the shop. Prices around $1000-2500, and they take 50% of the total costs up front for deposit. They are not responsive on email though. I’ve bought a pair of black/white horsehair long boots. It looks alright, has the shoe sole lined with rubber to prevent slippage, and has built-in cushioning for the back. Slightly hot inside, and right boot’s zipper is slightly itchy, but otherwise it’s great.

LIII LIII/Alan Chan
Shop No 75, 1st Floor, Tower 2, Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong
9278-6021, 2136-9739, 2865-3989,2865-6088
[email protected]

Before you step in, you are already being swarmped by seas of shoes. It’s like a flea market in there, so it’ll be a good idea to know what you want to get, otherwise it’ll be quite a mind-boggling experience. It’s a custom made shop in which they don’t actually have anything you can copy from exactly, but rather for you to brainstorm and come up with what you would want in particular. They trace your feet out, and measure the ridge. They’ve got all sorts of shoes you can think of, boots, sandals, platforms, stilettos, ballerina shoes, etc. There’s no books of leather available for browsing, but basically whatever you can think of the shopkeeper can think of a shoe available with the particular criteria you’d want for you to look at. Because they make shoes virtually from scratch, they do a lot of communications to get exactly what you have in mind. They do matching bags and men’s shoes too, though not many men’s shoes available in store for looking at. It takes them around 1.5 weeks to deliver to the shop. They’ve got the Christian Louboutin red shoe soles available. Prices starting from $2000, paid upon purchase. They are not responsive on email though. I’ve bought a pair of black patent leather ballerina flats with red shoe soles and red trim. It looks amazing, and it has suede in-lining at the back to prevent scratching of the heels. It is slightly small around the toe area though.

Vickie’s
G/F, 6 Li Yuen Street East, Central, Hong Kong
2522-9013, 2522-9063
[email protected]

It’s more like a normal shoe shop that does some custom made shoes on the side, rather than a custom made shoe shop itself. They don’t offer the custom made option until you ask for it. They can only do a variation of what they have in store, and they don’t trace your feet or measure it out, so it’s up to you to try the sizes and get a feel of what you are. The up side is since they’re not really a custom made shoe shop, they have a lot of stock on hand, so if you like the sample they’ve got you can bring it home immediately. They display all the heels available. They’ve got all sandals, platforms, stilettos and ballerina shoes. Books of leather available in store for browsing, though they have limited material available. They take 3 weeks to deliver to the shop. Prices around $200-$400, paid upon purchase. They are not responsive on email though. I bought a pair of pink snake skin ballerina shoes with black rim and a black front strap. It looks alright, and feels ok, except the buckle area which presses onto the feet.

Shoes of Prey
10/269 Riley St. Surry Hills, NSW, 2010 Australia (Michael Fox)
(61) 412-446-958 (61) 424-579-637
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

This shop is managed in Australia, produced in China, and ships worldwide. It is approximately HK$2,000, including shipping, which is around HK$200. They do stilettoes, platforms, sandals, gladiator, ankle boots, wedge and ballerina flats, and they do normal sizes, not feet measurements, but they do ask you to take a photo of your feet. Their website does a comprehensive shoe designing software, but their orders are only limited to the existing designs on their database. You can bend their designs slightly, just email them to see if their workshop will do what you have in mind. Books of leather and shoe shapes available online for browsing. They reply their emails rather swiftly. Delivers to your door around 3.5 weeks. They have an order status checking, and it only said “in progress” or “shipped”. I’ve bought a pair of red/black patent leather slingback stilettoes, with red leather piping. The shoes were delivered by courier, who asks for HK$20 at the door, but the shop has refunded AUD$10 in compensation to that after I inquired about it. It came along with 3 sets of inserts, all in different shapes and materials, and a professional photo of the shoes. The fit is fine, mainly attributing to the adjustable sandal strap at the back, and is comfortable to wear.

Beau Peep Boutique
Flat A, 2606, 4 Park Road, Central, Hong Kong
9022-7309
[email protected], [email protected]

This shop is based in Hong Kong and ships worldwide. They do regular sizes, and if you’re in Hong Kong, they don’t have a shopfront so if we do want to get anything we’d have to meet with them first for a fitting, usually at Starbucks/your place/their place. It’s great because the time and place is pretty much whatever suits you best. It’s a good idea to let them know what you’d be interested in to save them the hassle of bringing lots of shoes around town. They only trace your feet or measure it out if you’re an odd size, so if you’re not odd size it’s up to you to try the sizes and get a feel of what you are. They only do a limited range of ballerina, stilettos, sandals and platforms, but no boots. Books of leather and shoe shapes available online and in person for browsing, though they have limited material available. They do clutches as well. They’ve got a great website and take orders online too, but only on the specific styles they have posted online. They reply their emails rather swiftly. Delivers to your door around 5-7 weeks. Prices around $700-$900, paid upon purchase. I bought a pair of purple crocodile skin slingback stilettos, with lilac piping. It looks amazing, but the slingback were slightly short so I had to send it back to get it fixed into an adjustable buckle, which took 2.5 weeks to get shipped there, get fixed, and get shipped back. The cushioning was great and fits well otherwise.