Jimmy Choo: A global brand worth US$1.2 billion

LAST Friday (Nov 1), the world-famous shoe designer Datuk Jimmy Choo came to Kuching, and I had met up with him with The Borneo Post journalist Aileen Yap for an hour-long one-on-one interview at The Waterfront Hotel’s Executive Lounge.

Jimmy was the joint guest of Dato Goh Leng Chua and Dato Steve Ng of the hotel, and had also met with Sarawak’s Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah during a dinner last Saturday.

Jimmy was born on Nov 15, 1948 in George Town, Penang into a family of shoemakers.

Of Chinese Hakka descent, his surname of Chew was misspelled on his birth certificate – it became ’Choo’ instead.

I told him it was probably his first lucky break – in Western culture, it is easier to remember ‘Choo’ as in the ‘choo choo train’ than ‘Chew’, which was how one eats one’s food!

He had a laugh over it!

Jimmy told us that he had hand-made his first pair of footwear (a pair of slippers for his mother) when he was just 11 years old.

“My parents were shoemakers, and I have followed my father’s tutelage; he was both my mentor and inspiration throughout my life. I am a great believer of craftsmanship and high quality material to work with.”

Jimmy’s father had made all the shoes that he had sold by hand and had studiously taught Jimmy the fine craftsmanship of shoemaking at their shop in Penang.

At aged 34, in 1982 (one could call him a late bloomer) Jimmy had gone to study at Cordwainers Technical College in Hackney, England, which is now part of the London College of Fashion.

After graduating in 1984, he went to work at a design firm in London, wishing to stay back there instead of returning home.

He had worked at two different design firms for a total of nine years before starting his own business.

His parents had, by then, migrated from Penang to help him get started in his own business.

With the help of the UK’s Prince’s Trust (under the patronage of the then-Prince Charles), Jimmy opened his first shop in London in 1986, renting an old hospital building.

In 1988, his shoes made its first big public appearance at the London Fashion Week and had caught the attention of British ‘Vogue’ – the ‘Bible’ of the fashion industry.

Jimmy Choo’s shoes were featured in a special eight-page spread, which had attracted the attention of the woman who was to play the most pivotal part in his career.

His shoes had caught the eye of a young Princess Diana at the time, bolstered by the plug and publicity brought on by ‘Vogue’.

Jimmy was introduced to her and within a very short period of time, he began to design Jimmy Choo’s specially for her.

Princess Diana’s patronage in the early 1990s brought his brand to the world of fashion, and his shoes became ‘the Jimmy Choos’ that the elite and the most fashionable A-listers wanted on their feet.

Jimmy and Princess Diana had become good friends over the years – he was devastated over her untimely death in Paris in 1997, at aged 36.

Another huge exposure of the Jimmy Choo brand came about with the highly successful HBO television hit series, ‘Sex and the City’, which premiered in the US on June 6, 1998, and concluded on Feb 22, 2004, with 94 episodes spanning over six seasons.

The series had followed the lives of four very fashionable female BFFs (‘best friends forever’) living in New York City, and had, over six years, helped promote a vibrant, flamboyant and highly-desirable lifestyle showing off the best and most beautiful fashion accoutrements of the period.

One particular scene had stood the test of time as heroine Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, was running down the New York City streets and had lost her heels – she was aghast as she remarked in a close-up moment: “I’ve lost my Choos!”; thus signifying that magical moment that her Jimmy Choos had become a world recognisable name by its single moniker.

How else could a brand, which Jimmy sold off his personal 50 per cent of in 2001, had by 2014 been worth the US$1.2 billion paid for it by Michael Kors?

Jimmy also has a role in our Centre for Technology Excellence Sarawak (Centexs), which was established in 2014 by the Premier, through Yayasan Sarawak, to provide technical talents to support Sarawak’s digital economy.

During his visit, he expressed his keen interest in getting more involved in Sarawak’s tourism industry, as he said: “There’s so much to see, to do and to enjoy throughout our beautiful state,” which reminded him so much of his home island of Penang.

He believed that Kuching and Sarawak could be even more attractive worldwide to many potential tourists who might be unaware of how peaceful, beautiful and harmonious it is.

“Just walking down the streets in the centre of the city, down Main Bazaar and browsing the shops and the colonial architecture as well as the different races, is completed by trying out all the local foods – the ‘Sarawak Laksa’ and the ‘Kolo Mee’ – is in itself an experience to be felt and appreciated by all!” Jimmy proclaimed.

When asked if he preferred his hometown’s ‘Assam Laksa’ or the ‘Sarawak Laksa’, he was most diplomatic by answering: “Each has its own unique taste and their aficionados; both I think can live alongside each other.”

At a special dinner hosted by The Waterfront Hotel, Jimmy was seen chatting away with some of the special guests of our very own local fashionistas – the next generation of young and upcoming fashion designers like Dickson Lim, Gabriel Chan, Geraldine Sim, as well as the more established Edric Ong and Yacub Taha.

This was Jimmy’s second visit to Kuching, and he had expressed hope to return more often.

Among the universal acclaim and accolades that had followed Jimmy since his early days in London was him being appointed the ‘Officer of the Order of the British Empire’ (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, in recognition of his services to the shoe and fashion industry in the UK.

In 2004, he was awarded an ‘Honorary Doctorate in Art’ by De Montfort University, Leicester, UK for his contribution to their unique ‘Single Honours Footwear Design Degree’. Many more international awards had followed, far too many to list them all here.

In 2013, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia had awarded Jimmy the ‘Datukship’; he has also been awarded two other ‘Datoships’ – from Pahang in 1999, and from his home state of Penang in 2004.

We hope to see Datuk Jimmy Choo on our shores more often as he endeavours to explore the many avenues to promote both his own brand name, his sense of haute couture, as well as promoting Sarawak to the world at large.

* The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist’s own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper.