Joey Enriquez: Doing His True Love by Making ShoesJude Cartalaba,
On April 8, 2011To borrow the words of Doug portrayed by Rich Sommer in the 2006 film ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (though he didn’t refer to shoes, but bags—still it made sense), “Fashion is not about utility. An accessory is merely a piece of iconography used to express individual identity.” This is perhaps what Joey Enriquez of Figlia shoes pursued the shoe-making industry.
He believed that having parents who love the craft of shoemaking and having people appreciate what they do provided him the encouragement to breathe into this ‘shoe business’.
“Surely there are different shoes to wear on different occasions. Mood plays a major role in how any woman may dress up or down. For a tropical country such ours, in the office setting—a more traditional pump or sling may be appropriate. On weekends, a comfy pair of sandals may be worn with skirts or a pair of very high-heeled mules with jeans is ideal. There is performance footwear for sports and an active lifestyle. Any woman may wear anything, which makes her feel confident about herself or makes her get noticed.
"I love seeing a beautiful woman wearing nice sexy pair of shoes. Shoes can make or break an outfit,” Enriquez shares.
How He Fell in-love with Making Shoes?
Joey’s father, Ceferino Roxas Enriquez created a popular ladies’ shoe brand called Meg’s under Ceferino et Figli, it means Ceferino & Sons in English. The company manufactured not just ladies shoes, but both for men and children. It was in 1955.
Later, his dad opted to focus on manufacturing ladies’ shoes and changed its business name to Figlia, which means daughter in Latin. From there, his passion for shoe-making began. He considered shoe design and manufacturing as his path, his destiny. He never tried any career outside of it.
“The shoe factory was my second home and a playground of sorts as most of my parents’ employees when they were manufacturing were either close relatives or neighbors,” Joey reveals.
And being in-love doesn’t necessarily mean a bed of roses for him. He opted to hold on and was the only one amongst his brothers and sisters who expressed interest in pursuing the business that his parents established when they were still young back then. All his siblings migrated to the US and Canada when the Asian financial crisis hit the Philippine economy in the 90s.
He was blessed to meet Mr. Chan Kok Bin and Mrs. Victoria Chan of Celine Marketing Corporation. In 1998, they formed a partnership under Charter International Incorporated.
Credited His Success when He went Global.
As an entrepreneur, going global is one big leap for him and his shoe business.
Despite the Filipino products’ limited advantage over China’s, he is positive with the creativity and sensibility of Filipinos toward the East and West style and taste.
“What we did, we utilize China’s materials and production infrastructure to implement our unique designs for shoes. With that, it still gave us the edge over the global competition,” Enriquez cites this strategy.
What makes his shoes distinctly Filipino?
He takes pride in the fact that he and his team travel a lot in order to attend shoe fairs and exhibitions all over the world. They get the latest color and design, trends, seasons ahead and this gives them planning leeway for their sourcing and buying.
The islands in Hawaii, NY, California, Canada, Japan, Australia and UK are just among the places they have exported their products to.
Filipinos can be proud about their products every time they export—they label it with Made in the Philippines.
Figlia shoes endorsed by Philippine entertainment personalities.
Over the years, he painstakingly improved his brand and made it grew from 12 branches in 1998 to 114 store locations and will be opening 32 more within the year.
“We have introduced several shoe brands in the market aside from Figlia such as the classic M. Nicole, a trendy and more upscale Figliarina shoes and bags for active lifestyle, then the flirty and sexy Barbie adult line of footwear all under Shubizz. We are launching a new comfort line of ladies footwear called Sorores in May,” he ecstatically announces.
Through the image they created and projected locally and globally, they only not earned the respect of the ordinary individuals, but also made two of Philippine entertainment personalities endorsed their brands. These are Kris Aquino for Figlia and KC Concepcion for Figliarina by Sh?bizz, respectively.
Two of Philippine entertainment personalities endorse their brands, Kris Aquino for Figlia and KC Concepcion for Figliarina by Sh?bizz, respectively.
Today, Enriquez is doing a small manufacturing unit for R&D to make really special shoes for their Figlia Couture lines. Such collections will be exclusive and limited.
At Celine Group of Companies, they also have ‘Traffic’, a men’s shoe line.
Enriquez earned a degree in Shoe Design in New York's Parsons School of Design. He is also the president of the Marikina Council of Fashion and a member of the Fashion Design Council of the Philippines.
For future entrepreneurs, Enriquez has this to say, “Do what you love. Love what you do and never give up.
“What I also learned is when you fall, pick yourself up and find opportunities with your mistakes. And as Celine's president Mrs. Vicky Chan would say, trust and HE will show you the way.”
I was introduced to Jun-Jun Cambe by Cynthia Palanca throught the magic of Facebook. I haven't met Cynthia personally. She is a Filipina designer based in the US west coast, a friend of my cousin Susan. This was the first time I met Jun-Jun, over lunch at Chelsea Bonifacio High Street to discuss his Philippine Fashion Week 2010 Solo Gala Show.
