Step of faith
> The artistic half of XALF spills all about creating for the niche business of bespoke footwear
O
Nthe day Alfred Hor Hon Ping was about to board his flight to Melbourne, his family asked him one last time, “Are you sure about this?”
Well, the fact is this Temerloh native had been sure about fashion design pretty much all his life.
“The first thing I’d do when I come home is to draw what I had seen throughout the day – cars, building, people, everything. I wanted to be an artist at first, but as I grew older I wanted to create something to call my own, hence my pursuit of fashion design,” he reminisced.
Hor eventually graduated in fashion design from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in 2010, but before he managed to practise tailoring menswear, the 2011 Malaysian Footwear Design Competition came his way, naturally setting the course of his career. He won and proceeded to represent Malaysia at the International Footwear Design Competition in the same year, returning as second runner-up.
“From there I developed my interest in women’s shoes. I enjoyed the process of shoemaking although it’s totally different from
what I learnt about designing clothes,” shared Hor.
TWO TO TANGO
Despite his impressive performance in said competitions, Hor kept a low profile, honing his craft and occasionally posting photos of his creations on Facebook. And despite the growing interest from buyers – mostly friends and acquaintances – Hor hadn’t garnered enough confidence back then to establish a fully-fledged company. Not until PR extraordinaire Xavier Mah came up with a business proposal.
“Xavier approached me on Facebook and suggested we start a bespoke shoe business together. Since I’m not good with sales and marketing I obliged without hesitance. In less than three months, I came up with 30 pairs of shoes for our very first collection, which launched in December 2012. I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to complete them on time!” laughed the 27-year-old.
The partnership forged between Hor and Mah is better known as XALF (pronounced sans the L), a virtual boutique which offers customisation options for its tailor-made shoes. Made with materials such as donkey fur, python skin and horse hair – sourced from Hong Kong, Korea to India and Italy – XALF’s shoes have adorned the feet of women in Singapore, China, Hong Kong and New York, as well as supermodel Ai Tominaga, TVB actress Charmaine Sheh and celebrity blogger Tia Walker, just to name a few high-profile clientele.
There is an opportunity for made to measure shoe businesses in Malaysia but Mah mentioned that running a company of such nature poses its own obstacles: the lack of technological resources and craftsmen who are willing to spend all day on a single XALF prototype. Although XALF’s heels and flats typically sport avant-garde and unique designs, Hor said that it isn’t time yet for the brand to go all out.
“We still need to look after the Malaysian consumers’ taste, whether or not they dare to wear something new. They’re still opting for common, elegant designs. Likewise, we have to practise self-censorship when executing our lookbooks, as much as we wish to explore provocative concepts,” he noted.
BRIGHTER DAYS AHEAD
Nevertheless these stumbling blocks aren’t going to stand in between this home-grown brand and its international aspirations. While Hor looks forward to working in the fashion capital of London someday, his hands are kept busy with XALF’s pilot collections of men’s shoes and ready-to-wear that are set to be unveiled next year.
“I’m proud and happy to be doing what I love. My passion keeps growing and is increasing, and I think improving yourself is very important in your career or for your brand. I want to do more – I need to do better in understanding my customers and explore different things to enhance my designs,” said Hor with a smile.