Just Anna Shoes shop review

Where is it?

www.justannashoes.com

History

From stockbroker for Credit Suisse to unknown shoe designer for herself, Anna Chan is a girl with big balls as well as big heels.

“I was on the Asian desk, working on China stocks and shares. Not to bore you,” she said, unloading her shoe swag at Confidential HQ.

Number crunching, according to Anna, may have made financial sense, but at the age of 25, she decided there had to be a way of combining her passion for fashion with all she had learnt in business.

A crash course in shoe design at the London College of Fashion and a trip to China later and the seed for Just Anna Shoes had been sewn.

 “I was thinking ‘it’s now or never’ so I began travelling – New York, then Italy – and sourced suppliers. My brand launched in Dec 2010 and my shoes are now available online and also being sold in Zapatos in Knutsford .”

The name, she says, was easy to come up with at the time. ‘Just Anna’ was formed using a combination of Anna’s name and, her now ex-boyfriend, Justin. Being the fiercely ambitious girl she is, she wasn’t going to let the small matter of an ex, prevent her from continuing with the brand she had her heart set on.

“I don’t see the fact that I’ve kept the name, as him being part of it anymore. Now it is literally just Anna. Me on my Billy. It still works.”

Arranging the rainbow array of sky high stilettos on the table, beaming from ear to ear, she said: “This is me. You don’t understand how much fun it is. I’ve now got a whole room full of shoes.”

What does it sell?

If you like to feel grounded, you’re in the wrong place, in both senses of the word. Just Anna Shoes are for the girl who not only enjoys splurging on shoes, but whose life wouldn’t be complete unless she did. They’re also for those who enjoy a good stripper-sized heel, but with a classier design. Anna is a stickler for tasteful yet trendy heels.

Prices start at £159 and go up to £259, suggesting she places the brand somewhere between the high street and catwalk, but according to Anna, “There’s no point trying to please other people”. Instead, she pleases herself in the hope others will share her opinion. It seems to be a winning formula for her so far.

Back to the higher than high street prices, and Anna has her reasons for these too.

“They’re all leather. Totally leather. They’re fun, sexy, daring shoes with attitude. Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin and Giuseppe Zanotti were all my influences. They do a lot of heels and they use bright colours. Many of my shoes also have the front platform which is very edgy. Nicholas Kirkwood came to mind for that. The long thin heels are the most popular in my collection though.”

While she may credit her shoe idols, it’s worth mentioning that Anna’s finished designs do have a look all of their own which makes them distinctive, if not a bit risqué at times; something her supplier would agree on during the back and forth design process.

“My supplier is in Brazil,” she said, “I send them sketches and my ideas down to the smallest buckle detailing. They come back and say what is possible. They’ll tell me if they think I’m out of my mind, but then I try and push for it anyway.

“They then make it and send one pair over for me to approve. By the end, the shoes are exactly how I imagine them to be.”

Who shops there?

‘The women that can reject any expectations of how they should look or dress’ according to the ‘about us’ section of the Just Anna Shoes website.

Think Beyonce, I guess. A woman, who regularly struts down a non-feminist avenue in sexy stilettos to deliver a seemingly feminist message. Contradictory to many, but an example of the emerging trend of ‘Generation Y’ women, according to Anna.

“Our customer is empowered by the fact that they have expressed themselves through the way they have chosen to dress and this does not draw a correlation with their intelligence, how they react to certain situations, in relationships or how far they can get in their career. That’s our market. That’s our niche. That’s our customer. That’s our girl.”

And, FYI, that girl tends to be based in and around Greater Manchester and in London, so far. “The Chelsea area seems to be popular” said Anna.

Why shop there?

Praise be to any woman who leaves a successful career to follow her dream, on her own. And when she does that in six inch heels without breaking a sweat, it’s even more impressive. Although it’s not just one big shoe shopping spree, as Anna admits: “I’m everything - I take the orders, pack everything, pitch shops and send them out. It’s hard work.”

Added to her admirable work ethic, the shoes are impressive if heels are your thing. I test walked a pair of ‘Sienna’ shoes and can safely say I could have danced all night without so much as a blister the next day. I also got a few people asking me where they were from – always a sign of a winning pair.

The future?

Anna wants it all. That doesn’t just include department store concessions and shops in the UK, but in China too because, as she tells me, “Nobody Chinese wants to buy something Chinese.”

“There’s a growing middle-class out there, a more affluent bunch that want something from Europe of South America and that’s why I want to push it there,” she said.

Another dream is to try her hand at designing handbags, possibly even cosmetics at some point too. She also envisages Victoria Secret-esque fashion show extravaganzas, with “Fergie from Black Eyed Peas rockin’ it in my shoes”.

She knows it’s all in the very distant future, but definitely in the future, and that’s the most important thing.

 “I know there’s always a plan B, but I don’t want to go back to my old job. This is me, this is my dream and I don’t care. I want to do this.”

Verdict

Anna may come across as though her head is in the clouds. The shoe industry is swarming with fashion graduates with great design skills. But don’t be deceived by the fact that just like Barbie, Anna’s feet seem to have been purpose moulded to only wear high heels as she totters around delivering shoes. Like Barbie, Anna is also a business model to be reckoned with.