Inspiring story: People who have changed the world

“When I first started, my father wouldn’t let me make a shoe. Instead, he said: ‘Sit and watch, sit and watch.’ For months and months, I did that.”

—Jimmy Choo, the one who changed the FASHION WORLD

Vanessa:

-Introduction-

Datuk Jimmy Choo, born Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat is a well-known Malaysian fashion designer based in London, United Kingdom. He was born in Georgetown, Penang in 1948; he is son of a shoe cobbler and grew up in a world of shoemakers. Fun fact, Jimmy Choo was born to Zhou family which his surname was supposed to be Chow or Chew (both shared the same family clan). However, the surname was wrongly spelt as ‘Choo’ by the registration clerk at the Registry of Birth who is non-Chinese that may have misheard the pronouciation. Otherwise our internationally well-known name of Jimmy Choo would be Jimmy Chew or Jimmy Chow. His childhood was at Hutton Lane, the side road from busy Penang Road, where his father was operating his business. Since Jimmy was little, his father would just asked him to sit and watch the shoemaking process without letting him to even touch a shoe. After months of watching, he finally was able to handmade his first pair of shoes at the age of 11 under his father’s expert guidance. He has developed an interest in crafting shoes after learning the art of shoemaking from his father and was then determined to follow his father’s footsteps in the art of shoe design.

Jimmy Choo started as an apprentice in a Hong Kong Shoe Shop in Muntri Street to learn special skills from the famous Penang shoe making king at that moment, Mr Wong Sam Chai. Not long later, Jimmy became unsatisfied with the routine shoe making process. He wanted to learn more and to become a shoe designer. Jimmy Choo was born in a poor family, however his father was determined to send him to London despite facing some financial problem. His father’s saving and a small loan from his friend were able to support Jimmy’s first year of studies, finally he was able to go to England to pursue his study at the Cordwainers Technical College in Hackney during the early 1980s. He worked several part time jobs which included working as a cleaner at a shoe making factory while he was in London to help pay his bills and college education fees for the remaining three years. In 1983, Jimmy Choo completed his study and graduated with honours. This college is also a place where Dato Jimmy Choo first met his current wife, Datin Rebecca Choo in the same art of shoemaking course, who is also a professional shoe designer. After graduation, he worked in a shoe factory, start from the bottom, he learn the process of manufacturing of shoes from design to production.

Dato Jimmy Choo remained in England and opened his first shoe shop located near to his college in Hackney in 1986. This is where he started designing, hand crafting and selling his own shoes and it did not take long for him to start gaining international attention with his unique and detailed work. Within a couple years, Jimmy Choo’s shoes creations were featured in an eight-page spread in Vogue magazine. This has successfully helped him gained many celebrity customers, including Princess Diana of Wales who was always spotted wearing Choo’s footwear everywhere she went and it helped transform his growing popularity into worldwide fame. After the rise of his popularity, Jimmy Choo partnered with Vogue’s editor, Tamara Yeardye Mellon who often collaborates with Choo for Vogue magazine shoes fashion photo shoots, together they create a line of ready-to-wear footwear and this is where Jimmy Choo cofounded his own company. Jimmy Choo Ltd grew very quickly and became a major worldwide fashion label within a few years. The company focus on high-class footwear, Jimmy Choo remained involved in the design work for the haute couture section of the business but of course he no longer handmade each and every one of it. Tamara and Choo sourced factories in Italy to when they started the company and opened their first boutique shop in London. 

Syafiqah:

-Achievements-

When we mention Jimmy Choo name, I’m sure that most of us know who is the person especially the girls. Jimmy Choo is known as 21^st century luxury accessories brand, with shoes at its heart, offering an empowered sense of glamour and a playful daring spirit (Jimmy Choo, n.d). Jimmy Choo has been into the fashion industry for so many decades and he also did achieve a lot of achievements and awards and his name and the company name also has been fully established and well known not within Malaysia only but throughout the world. When typing his name from Google, we can see a numbers of website telling story about Jimmy Choo and as a Malaysian, we should be proud with him because he has make our country name become well known throughout the world because of his achievements.

In the year of 1980, Jimmy Choo has received an award for becoming a personal shoe designer for Princess Diana (Princess of Wales) and Jimmy Choo feels that this can be a good opportunity for him for him to make his business established since Princess Diana is one of the influential people. One of his most notable clients was Princess Diana, who owned multiple pairs of shoes he made for her. She even owned several in the same design, but in different colors to go with her ever-changing wardrobe. Rumor was that the statuesque Princess Diana at 5'10' tall could only wear the very high heel Jimmy Choo's she adored after the split from also 5'10" Prince Charles! In fact, Choo was scheduled to deliver a pair of shoes to her on the day she was tragically killed and he has kept the shoes in remembrance of her (hubpages, 2014). Besides that, Jimmy Choo also earn an award such as the “best designer in UK” in 1999 and we can see that mostly the awards achieve by Jimmy Choo is mostly in oversea instead of Malaysian and this prove that his business is much more established in the oversea market rather than Malaysian. In 2000, he received a state award from the Sultan of Pahang state in Malaysia. This award bestowed upon him the tittle of ‘Dato’ and commemorates his achievements (the famous people,  n.d). In the year of 2001, Jimmy Choo has been appointed as a professor in the University of the Arts London on 24^th May (Penang, Penang Lang, 2010). Jimmy Choo also did received several awards commemorating his status as a notable Malaysian designer, including recognition as the ‘World's Outstanding Malaysian Designer’ in the 2001 ‘Design for Asia Awards’ (the famous people, n.d). In 2002, He was honored with an ‘Order of British Empire’, to recognize his services to the fashion industry in the UK. His shoes have been worn by many members of the royal family (the famous people, n.d). As part of its annual recognition of the world’s most outstanding Chinese designer, the Hong Kong Design Center (HKDC) has awarded Dato Professor Jimmy Choo OBE with its 2011 accolade (De Montfort university Leicester, 2011). In 2009 he visited DMU, which is based in Leicester, UK, to give a masterclass to footwear design students and has continued to provide internships for the university’s students and graduates at his Couture House in London, UK and Dr Gerard Moran, dean of Faculty of Art says that, “Jimmy is truly a role model for young designers everywhere, as he has demonstrated in providing master classes, inspiration and work experience for De Montfort University footwear design students. We’re honored to be associated with him and delighted at his receipt of this greatly deserved recognition of his achievements.” (De Montfort University Leicester, 2011). 

Hoe Choon:

-The pride of Malaysia-

            The name of Jimmy Choo is started to bloom since the year 2001 in the movie ‘Sex and The City’ where there was a scene that Carrie Bradshaw (by Sarah Jessica Parker) found herself stranded on Staten Island, New York, was running frantically for the ferry, she soon realized that her shoes are missing, then shouting out: "I've lost my Choo!" Thus, I will bet that either you are fashion follower or the super fans of Sex and The City, sure you will heard of Jimmy Choo.

            As regards to (Kollewe, 2016), the brand of Jimmy Choo is recorded a rapid increase of sales volume in 2015 as Asian shoppers’ desire for its luxury shoes. This company that was successfully created great brand recognition said, it had seen strong growth in Asia, especially Japan. In Europe, Jimmy Choo benefited from rising tourist numbers, Jimmy Choo had good reputation too in US where it capable to stand out from the rest, such as Burberry despite volatile exchange rates. There is statistic showed that the shoes making sector is actually make up more than three-quarters of annual revenues, and with proudly Jimmy Choo’s men and women footwear is ranked as the fasted growing category among the market.

            On the year 1980, Jimmy Choo became the personal shoe designer for Princes Diana and it brought a huge change for his life: within only two years of launching his shop, Choo’s shoes were promoted and featured in the magazine all around the world. Eventually, Jimmy Choo became the diamond of the celebrity world, regardless in local or oversea. Jimmy Choo’s begin to gain recognition due to the quality and style of his handmade women’s shoes. (Koket, 2014)

            Years by years, the Jimmy Choo name becomes a global brand with those high-end retail clients, such as Harrods and Saks Fifth Avenue were carrying Jimmy Choo footwear too. Jimmy Choo brand had also expanded to handbags and other accessories. 

Shyu Chai:

-Life is unpredictable. Jimmy Choo fallen down too-

            Dato Jimmy Choo was actually faced hardship during the year 2001 to 2008 where he was nearly lost his name in the fashion field. There was conflicts happened about the company stake issue as in the year 2001, Choo sold his 50% stake in the company's ready to wear business, to Equinox Luxury Holdings Ltd for £10 million. On 19th November 2004, Hicks Muse announced the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Jimmy Choo, in a transaction valuing the company at 110 million. In November 2004, Lion Capital acquired a majority shareholding in Jimmy Choo. Lion Capital is a private equity investment firm focused on the consumer sector. On Feb 2007, Tower Brook Capital Partners has bought Jimmy Choo Ltd. It was a fascinating rift within the fashion industry for that time.

            Despite the company was becoming bigger and bigger, Jimmy Choo started to worry about the quality of the shoes made for customers. After struggling for a period of times, he decided to back at his shop in Hackney making a small number of pieces of footwear for specific clients.

            Today, Dato Jimmy Choo has returned to his roots at a small shop he opened in London, which serves as the headquarters for the exclusive Jimmy Choo Couture line. It's here that Choo crafts a small number of pairs of shoes each week and trains a select group of students on how to make high-end footwear. (Raymond 2010)

- Humble and showing respect towards others have led him to where he is now-

           Not only because of the quality of handmade luxury shoes, Jimmy Choo is recognized too by his kind-hearted and the way how he treats others. The Star Malaysia interviewed him once during 2003 when he was one of the recipients of the Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN) award, which carries the title 'Datuk', bestowed in conjunction with Tuanku Abdul Halim's birthday.

         “This title would make me work harder in promoting Malaysia to the world. My shoes are travelling to Milan, Paris, the United States, the United Kingdom and other places. But the fact is that behind them is Jimmy Choo who hails from Malaysia,”

          Datuk Jimmy Choo told Bernama with a sense of pride of his country after the investiture ceremony at the Istana Negara here.

Jimmy Choo added, “You must respect people regardless where they come from. As for me, I have a high respect for my mother and my teachers as they are the people who have brought me to where I'm now.”

“Real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back.” 

References:

1. Anon (2013). Jimmy Choo: Datukship will make me work harder in promoting Malaysia - Nation | The Star Online. [Online]. 2013. Thestar.com.my. Available from: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2013/06/01/jimmy-choo-datukship-will-make-me-work-harder-in-promoting-malaysia/. [Accessed: 6 April 2016].
2. De Montfort University Leicester. (2011). shoe guru Jimmy Choo named world's most outstanding chinese designer. [online] Available at: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/schools-and-departments/school-of-design/news/2011/shoe-guru-jimmy-choo-named-worlds-most-outstanding-chinese-designer-.aspx [Accessed 6 Apr. 2016].
3. hubpages. (2014). Jimmy Choo Shoes:the man behind the expensive shoes. [online] Available at: http://hubpages.com/style/Who-Is-Jimmy-Choo-And-Why-Do-His-Shoes-Cost-So-Much [Accessed 6 Apr. 2016].
4. Jimmy Choo. (n.d.). company profile. [online] Available at: http://row.jimmychoo.com/en/customer-services/about-us.html [Accessed 6 Apr. 2016].
5. Koket, (2014). TOP 50 Fashion Designers of all time | Love Happens blog. [Online]. 2014. Bykoket.com. Available from: http://www.bykoket.com/blog/top-50-fashion-designers-of-all-time/. [Accessed: 6 April 2016].
6. Kollewe, J. (2016). Jimmy Choo sales step ahead as Asian shoppers snap up shoes. [Online]. 2016. the Guardian. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/jan/28/jimmy-choo-sales-step-ahead-asian-shoppers-snap-up-shoes. [Accessed: 6 April 2016].
7. Penang,Penang Lang. (2010). Penang's world shoe king:Jimmy Choo. [online] Available at: http://teochiewkia2010.blogspot.my/2010/03/penangs-world-shoe-king-jimmy-choo.html [Accessed 6 Apr. 2016].
8. Raymond, B. (2010). Penang, Penang lang lah......: Penang's World Shoe King: Jimmy Choo. [Online]. 2010. Teochiewkia2010.blogspot.my. Available from: http://teochiewkia2010.blogspot.my/2010/03/penangs-world-shoe-king-jimmy-choo.html. [Accessed: 6 April 2016].
9. the famous people. (n.d.). Jimmy Choo Biography. [online] Available at: http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jimmy-choo-5616.php [Accessed 6 Apr. 2016].