We got a chance to sit down with Chris Fussner of SIFR to have a little chat about their much anticipated footwear collection. Giving us a little more insight into the difficulties they had to overcome, they quality that they have strived to maintain with the shoes and the different materials and details you can expect from the upcoming SIFR Footwear Collection.

Tell us more about how and why SIFR Footwear was born.

CF: The idea to create footwear started almost a year and a half ago when SIFR first begun. What happened was, in 2009 we were trying to import desert boots from a certain brand; but they didn’t process our order and we got really frustrated because we really wanted the desert boots in our store. After this unfortunate incident, Suraj happened to be going on a family visit in Boston and so we approached a brand that was well known for their desert boots and made enquiries. However, they kind of blew us off and told us to go through the Singapore distributor. At that point we were really frustrated, and decided to make our own desert boots and our own shoes.

How did you guys go about looking for a shoe manufacturer?

CF: We had heard that Untied Arrows (Japan) had made some shoes in Indonesia for their Beauty & Youth collection a couple of years back, and so if a Japanese company was outsourcing to Indonesia, we figured that there should be a decent standard of quality. So we started doing some research and found this one factory, but it was quite hard to access them because it was quite expensive to sample with them and besides, they were already doing stuff for other Japanese companies and lots of other people were already hitting them up for production. And then we found this one shoe manufacturer out of Bandung, Indonesia and it was cool. They had a small operation going and that’s where the first release of SIFR Footwear were made from. But he didn’t want to work with us anymore because he mainly focuses on rubber soled shoes and his production for us was too costly for him. So basically he told us to buzz off and we were kinda desperate looking for a shoe manufacturer at that point of time.

That’s quite a number of setbacks already. So what happened next?

CF: We met this sole guy; he was the guy that had the leather and vibram soles in Indonesia, and he pointed us to a guy that makes shoes. And we were like all right, lets just go see who this dude is in downtown Jakarta. We found this guy and found out that he does production for like Paris, London and Tokyo for pretty established brands that make very expensive footwear. So when we saw this guy we were like, “awesome” and when we saw his factory, we were like “we wanna do this this this and that”. So we showed him our existing shoe and he took the same concept and profile and he added stuff like the EVA midsole, which adds a little extra bounce in the step, and the stitching and finishing was also alot better than the previous manufacturer. And the shoe also in terms of interior, was fully furnished with leather. Structurally the shoe was made better because the factory was like a 3rd generation factory, so this guy has been doing it his whole life. His grandfather started it a long time ago, than his father took over, and its him now. So he brought a lot of technical knowledge to the shoe design process for us that we weren’t familiar with, and so we were able to like tell him what we wanted visually, draw out pictures or draw out designs and he was able to translate that into an actual shoe product.

What were the styles of shoes that SIFR developed for the current footwear collection?

CF: We did the desert boot, a slip-on, a sandal, and we also did an ankle-cut zipper boot. So those are the four styles that we worked on that are coming out in the next couple of months. Footwear is not our main focus so its just something to accent the line but we’re really forming a good relationship with the supplier and so we’re starting to take more notice and focus to the footwear aspect of the business. Working with this guy is really just a lot of fun. We’re producing more bucks, the whole americana, traditional, not necessarily like brogues and stuff like that but we’re definitely using goodyear welts in some of the shoes for our drop later in the year. We’re trying to put it into more of a fun context where its not really super serious, where it’s all blue suede and all brouge-d out with all the designs. Just trying to have a little more fun with it, a little more pop-py. Not really dandy, but to make the shoes more fun and not so serious.

Would you say that the themes that run through the SIFR Collection translates to your shoe line?

CF: Yeah, like the styles we chose are a mixture between staple shoe styles that you could wear with almost anything to things that we see reoccurring or that have a cultural significance. Like the sandal, we wanted to do a south-asian interpretation of it, but we ended up just doing like a regular roman-gladiator inspired sandal. For the desert boot, it stemmed from us wanting it earlier on but not be able to get it. The zipper-boot is something slightly more fashion-y, something we’re just experimenting with and seeing how that style would flow with what we produce in terms of apparel. But for the new collection that we’re doing for July/August and the end of the year, we’re taking more traditional items or styles and making them more casual. Like the big trend right now is using vibram soles instead of leather soles, we’re not going the vibram route but we’re for example, taking a tassel loafer and putting it in a sneaker context. Because with something like that, you could wear it with a suit and it wouldn’t look out of place and it would also look a little bit quirky, but it definitely won’t underdress the outfit. So it’s more like a semi-casual approach, which is what SIFR is about. We’re not too formal but at the same time we’re not too super-duper casual.

Will all these four styles be dropping at the same time?

CF: We’re doing two drops, the desert boot, the slip-on and the sandal will be dropping end of May and those three styles, plus the zipper boot, will be dropping in June. And we’re expecting to do a bigger collection in August. That’s probably when we’ll be opening up the  number of styles. Because the production that we’re doing right now is kinda our first time, it’s kinda like our first date with our supplier, we’re just trying to see what’s up and how we can work together. So far its been amazing and a lot easier to work with, this guy has a lot of experience and we’re able to learn a lot from him. And he also likes what we have in terms of ideas, so it’s a really great collaboration going between us as a brand/designers and him as the shoe manufacturer coming in from more of a technical standpoint. We’re really able to optimize both things and merge it together and create one solid product.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the shoes, like the materials used etc.

CF: For these two drops, in terms of colours that we chose, we stuck to the standard grey nubuck, brown nubuck, some nice leathers that have almost a cordovan look. Just really try to keep it accessible and have a more conservative colour palette in mind just because we’re not trying to create super statement pieces. Although we do have one statement piece, where it’s like more of a bold burnt orange. It resonates with the signifier that we have used for the brand from the beginning which is the marigold. So that’s more of a south-asian, south-east asian reference. You’ll see the burnt orange on the desert boot and the slip-on, in the future. For the materials used, everything is calf-leather, the exterior for all the leather products, leather soles, we put a rubber heel stopper, just to add a little grip, because a lot of people are unfamiliar purchasing leather soles, at least you won’t be  slipping and after you wear it for a week you’ll be fine. In this case the shoe manufacturer suggested an EVA midsole for a little bit more cushion which helps the wearability of the shoe, the interiors are furnished with cow leather (leather lined), there’s no pleather or PU or anything like that, we chose wax laces, did reverse eyelets for better structure, so that it doesn’t eat into the leather, we don’t cop out on materials. Even the sneaker that we’re doing in July/August it’s not even vulcanized, we’re doing like faux-EVA soled sneaker which you don’t really see too often and they last a really long time. Basically it’s a lot better quality than rubber or a vulcanized sneaker. We’re not like a Visvim, we’re not trying to use all organic. I mean we’re trying to have quality but keep it accessible at the same time.

Is there a theme for this new SIFR Footwear Collection?

CF: We don’t really have a set theme for each season, we just pick and choose what we like. In terms of footwear, we basically re-interpreted and re-programmed it in terms of the style. But later on in the year, it’s definitely going to be more directional in terms of the colour palette and in terms of identity for the sneakers and shoes that we’ll be putting out. For now it’s just a first date sorta thing and in July/August we’re probably going to triple the number of styles and just really go all out. There would probably be like twelve to sixteen styles come July/August.

Do you want to single out any style as your favourite?

CF: The desert boot for sure. It’s a long time coming and desert boots are like super hype right now. Wall Street Journal has written about Clarks and it’s a beautiful shoe. Our interpretation of the desert boot has a leather sole instead of a crepe sole and a slim profile. It’s something that’s wearable to work but you can also wear it out and still not look too work-y. Like for our filler stuff, that’s what we’re trying to go for in terms of direction. Like you can wear all our filler stuff to the office and not look too dressed down. We’re just trying to fight against this double collar and contrast button holes and stuff like that. I mean everyone has their own style and we’re just trying to present something that’s like cool, semi-casual but not get you caught by HR for not complying to the office dress-code.

How’s the branding like on the footwear.

CF: It’s very subtle. We have no overt branding on the footwear, which is something we’ve been struggling with in terms of, do we or do we not do it. We were looking at some brands that did incorporate overt branding in a subtle way. Notable brands are like Visvim, Thom Browne, Common Projects and a lot of the Japanese brands they have that little patch or little thing that doesn’t interfere with what the product’s about but you still know where that product came from if you’re a fan of the brand or if you’ve seen the brand before. That’s something we’ve been struggling with cos we don’t want to like rip on someone else’s concept. In this case we had to take the high road and really just see what comes out in the long run. Cos for essentials, we did put a little marigold print on the back, it’s very discreet but i’m not even sure how that’s going to sit with some of our customers if they’re going to want a marigold on the back of their shirts. You can only see the branding of the shoe on the heel. There’s an emboss of the logo on the heel and there’s a gold foil stamp on the insole and the box is actually quite nice. But on the shoe itself, there’s no overt branding. I guess its something we really got to think about. Like Common Projects are so smart about it and like Jack Purcell’s have that front thing on the toe cap. That’s what i’m talking about, it’s hard to create and iconic shoe, cos so many iconic shoes have been created already. But that’s what we’re looking for in terms of branding, like how to make that sort of toe cap thing or like gold emboss on the side that’s not really intrusive.