Big name in shoe-biz

AS luxury menswear continues to grow at a faster rate than women's, Louis Vuitton introduces bespoke shoes for blokes.

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THE luxury industry is always on a quest for a new frontier, be it geographical or product-based. And judging by the recent moves of some of the biggest players in the global luxury business the industry has decided it's a man's world.

Men, according to the 10th edition of Bain & Company's Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study (prepared for Fondazione Altagamma, the Italian luxury goods industry trade association), now account for 50 per cent of all luxury sales, up from 48 per cent two years ago. And the men's market is growing faster than women's, once considered the mainstay of the luxury fashion industry.

The men's luxury goods market is outperforming women's in all categories, according to Bain & Company and is being driven by more tailored clothing in mature markets such as Europe and the US plus the upper casual category in China.

Some brands, such as Hermes, Ralph Lauren and Gucci, have opened stand-alone men's stores. In the online area, Mr Porter, the men's only version of the successful luxury online store Net-a-porter, has become a major player in the global menswear industry less than a year after launching, with Australia number three in its market. LVMH is about to ramp up its Berluti men's shoe brand by expanding its product range into apparel and opening more stores. And the French luxury goods conglomerate PPR, the owner of brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, recently spent a reported €350 million ($467 million) to acquire the Italian tailoring house Brioni, no doubt to enhance the menswear side of the PPR portfolio. "Growth in the men's segment is significantly stronger than in women's," said PPR chief executive Francois-Henri Pinault in a statement at the time of the sale. "We're strengthening our portfolio in areas where we think we have weaknesses."

While male shoppers are becoming ever more compulsive in their fashion shopping, the biggest growth area is in made-to-measure. And we're not just talking about suits and shirts here. Increasingly, luxury goods companies are catering to men who want accessories and leather goods that, basically, no other man has. They are buying premium items where the price is not an issue. For men, it's becoming more and more about exclusivity, having something made just for them - and having something that will last a lifetime.

Tomorrow, when Louis Vuitton opens its biggest store in Australia, on the corner of George and King streets in Sydney, it will have a menswear department that is three times the size of its earlier offering. An entire floor of the three-level store is devoted to menswear, showing everything from shoes to suits and casual wear. The men's floor says Louis Vuitton chief executive of Oceania, Philip Corne, is a "significant statement about the growth and sophistication of the men's market here".

Part of the offering is a men's made-to-order shoe service that was previously only available in the brand's Milan store on via Montenapoleone. Sydney is the second store to offer the service, which in January will be rolled out to Shanghai. It's the ultimate in luxury in that it cannot be rushed and is all about service and creating something unique.

Adjacent to the men's shoe section on the first floor of the Sydney store is a special made-to-order suite (which can also be accessed discreetly from the ground floor via an elevator) where men can choose from six classic shoe styles - this is a made-to-order service as opposed to a truly bespoke one - and have them made in their size from eight types of leathers as well as a full range of exotic leathers such as alligator, ostrich and python. There are four different types of sole to choose from and the finished shoes come in eight different colours.

It might not sound like a formula for a one-of-a-kind pair of shoes but, according to Serge Alfandary, director of Louis Vuitton's shoe division based in Fiesso d'Artico in Italy, there are more than 3000 variations because of the combinations of fabric, style and colour. "And then there is the possibility to personalise the shoes," says Alfandary. The owner's initials can be hot-stamped into the inside of the shoes to make them unquestionably unique.

"Shoes are a recent activity for Louis Vuitton with just 13 years of savoir-faire compared to the history of the brand, which was founded in 1854," says Alfandary. "The shoe side of the business has been growing well for the past 13 years but we wanted to add a level of sophistication to what we do and we thought a made-to-order service was the way to go." Matching belts are also available as part of the service.

Staff for the Sydney store were sent to Fiesso d'Artico to be trained and to see the shoes being made first-hand. The made-to-order room in the Sydney store is like a private salon where customers can relax and think about the shoes they want to order. The inspiration for the salon decor was taken from the interior of Louis Vuitton's famous trunks. "We want it to be a very intimate experience; we believe this is how the discerning man wants to shop," says Alfandary.

Louis Vuitton went with men's shoes rather than women's because men's shoes are generally more classic in style whereas women's tend to be driven by fashion. For women who are after that one-of-a-kind item from Louis Vuitton, the company has introduced a made-to-order handbag service called Haute Maroquinerie. This allows customers to personalise five different bag styles, including the 1932 Noe and the 1958 Lock-it bag, with a choice of eight different types of leather (including the interior leather of the bag) in a range of 26 colours. "There are around 40,000 different combinations and if you add in the customisation of the hardware [the metal parts] then it comes to something like 80,000 different combinations. So you're hardly likely to see another one in the street," says a company spokesperson.

Men's shoes are proving to be big business. Harrods department store in London recently refurbished and expanded its Shoe Salon, now billed as the largest men's shoe department in Europe, and incorporated an Exotics Room that specialises in made-to-order footwear. Jason Broderick, Harrods menswear general merchandise manager, recently told Women's Wear Daily that business in the Exotics Room, where a pair of shoes can cost as much as €12,000 ($18,700), is "thriving".

Sydney will also be only the second Louis Vuitton store to offer customers the Haute Maroquinerie service. In time, the company hopes to offer both made-to-order services in approximately 30 stores around the world and will roll out the service as new stores are built or existing ones are renovated. After Sydney comes Shanghai in early 2012. China's luxury sector is expected to be the fastest growing consumer market over the next five years, according to the Bain & Company study. That growth, says Bain, is being driven largely by males, long the key drivers of the luxury industry in China.

Once the customer has decided on the style, fabric and colour of the shoe, his order is sent to the company's shoe workshop in Italy. The process takes approximately 12 weeks from ordering to delivery of the finished items. The area around Fiesso d'Artico is well known for its shoe making; craftsmen were making shoes for the Venetian aristocracy as long ago as the 13th century. In establishing a workshop in the region in 1998, Louis Vuitton not only secured a supply chain for its shoe business, it also ensured the skills and techniques of the region were preserved. Fiesso d'Artico employs craftsman who are, in some cases, third-generation shoemakers.

Most of the shoes produced at the Louis Vuitton workshop are made by hand, with each pair requiring between 150 and 200 operations, depending on the complexity of the design. (Sneakers, which are also made there, are constructed using a combination of hand craftsmanship and robotised machinery.) "Actually the Veneto area is not the typical region to find craftsmen dedicated to men's shoes," Alfandary told WISH at an event in Milan earlier this year to launch the new service. "The project has really only been possible thanks to the skills of one or two of the craftsmen we have there. One of the things I am very involved in is finding young artisans to be taught in Fiesso, to [ensure] the transmission of the skills and that the industry will live on." One such shoemaking technique is what's known as Norwegian stitching, which is complex and requires years of practice and is now being revived by the artisans at Fiesso under the direction of a shoemaker with more than 30 years' experience.

The Louis Vuitton shoemaking facility is, for all intents and purposes, a factory but the building is also a homage to shoemaking as an art form. The connection between shoes and art is made the moment you walk into the concrete, steel and glass shoebox-like structure, which is flooded with natural light. At the entrance to the workshop is a sculpture by Jean-Jacques Ory of a huge pump shoe that is painted inside with a replica of Botticelli's Venus. In the courtyard of the building is a giant sculpture of a shoe by Joana Vasconcelos called Priscilla, which is made from saucepans. And at the heart of the Fiesso d'Artico workshop is a gallery space of Louis Vuitton shoes from the past 13 years mixed with artworks by leading contemporary artists such as Richard Prince.

Louis Vuitton employed the services of Luchino Visconti di Modrone, nephew of the legendary Italian filmmaker of the same name, as an ambassador for its men's made-to-order shoes. At a dinner to launch the service in a private residence located opposite the Santa Maria Delle Grazie, home to Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, Di Modrone, a documentary filmmaker, said he thought "customisation is the last frontier of luxury. The savoir-faire that is being passed on through generations with this made-to-order service is a beautiful expression. The objects of this customisation were once Louis Vuitton's trunks. Today they are shoes, certainly the most personal of men's accessories."