Turning the Paige
Thirteen years in, the ready-to-wear designer is making a play for shoes.
How a popular denim label is making a major play for the footwear industry.
After launching an eponymous label in 2005, designer Paige Adams Geller has grown her business one category at a time.
Geller started with women’s denim, expanded over the last 13 years to a full women’s ready-towear collection and men’s line, and her next big step will be shoes of her own design.
Paige, the name of her Calicool brand, debuted its range of women’s contemporary footwear on Aug. 27. “When building a brand slow and steady, it’s about being an expert, knowing what you’re doing and doing your research, and that’s when you know the timing is right,” Geller told FN.
With an established name and years under her belt in retail, she aims to navigate a competitive market by leveraging her reputation and tapping into her loyal following. “I feel strong that we can compete by delivering with the same ethics and attitude,” Geller explained.
The entrepreneur, who has 11 brick-and-mortar locations throughout California, Texas and New York, will carry the collection in her own shops and website.
Nordstrom will be the exclusive wholesale partner for Paige shoes, with commitments for fall ’18, holiday, pre-spring and spring. This comes after a long relationship selling the label.
“As a company, we’re committed to launching new brands regularly to differentiate our offering and create a sense of newness and discovery for customers,” said Anne Egan, VP and DMM for designer shoes. “We look forward to introducing customers to this trend-forward line of shoes this fall in select stores and online.”
Price points for the shoes are between $250 and $350. Design is done in-house, and production is in China.
Styles include booties, mules, Chelsea boots and stilettos. Geller describes the collection as “feminine and sexy with edge” — designed to take women from morning to moonlight. A range of men’s footwear is on the radar for fall ’19.
“I always looked at shoes as a forecasting of what’s to come,” Geller said, adding that her method of designing apparel begins with thinking about the shoes that will complete the look.
“It’s what I started with innately to build the brand,” she explained. “You’ll see ankle boots and tougher hardware details [in the shoe line] that are reminiscent of what you’ll see in the denim collection.”
The shoe line takes definitive cues from the designer’s ready-towear label. For instance, Geller’s best-selling Keegan belt inspired the buckle on her Kensington mules.
She also looks to her staff of mostly women to predict what’s trending among all ages. “I have a captive audience where I can look and see all of these girls from any age, from older women to interns out of college, and I see what they’re wearing every day and see that as great ground for leaning,” Geller said. “It helps me think of the essentials — 50-millimeter to 85-millimeter to boots, mules and sneakers. It helped me think of every girl and what they want.”