Afoot with pua kumbu

Najla Shoes draws on the heritage of Sarawak fabrics, writes

SEVERAL years ago, Najla Sarbini, 37, ran a bridal shop in Kota Damansara, Selangor, offering make-up and wedding garments for sale and rent. While wedding dresses follow trends and fall out of favour pretty quickly, she realised that wedding shoes remain in circulation for much longer.

The wedding dress trade is also very competitive, hence her decision to focus on footwear. But a difficult pregnancy left her unable to look after the business and she had little choice but to close down.

A year after her baby was born, she was ready to begin again. Only this time, she focused on women’s everyday footwear.

“Najla Shoes started in 2015 with 20 pairs of shoes,” says Najla who hails from Sarawak. “It was a trial run and the shoes were made in Indonesia on the advice of a friend. I put the collection up for sale online and I had many enquiries on sizing and colours so I knew this could work.”

There have been seven collections since then. The recent ones are labelled Najla Sarbinie, in tribute to her father who passed away early last year.

The shoes are stocked in several shops in Kuching and Brunei, while customers elsewhere are served via Facebook and Instagram. Longtime customers are welcome to drop by her home in Kuala Lumpur where she keeps her stock.

She occasionally participates in popup events, and plans to sign a one-month lease for a small store at a new complex in Bukit Bintang for the Hari Raya shopping season.