In your three Berlin stores you sell very high-quality and individual fashion, shoes and furniture. How is the shoe doing at the moment?
Basically, shoes are not an easy topic. When I look at what’s in the stores, I get the impression that there are hardly any really good shoes left. Even in Paris at Le Bon Marché, which has a very large shoe department, I rarely see anything that impresses me. Most of it is too clunky or too striking. There are plenty of sneakers for that. Hardly anyone wears good leather shoes anymore.
What do you have against sneakers?
Well, at the end of the day, most sneakers are a bunch of plastic. But no one seems to care; as well as the fact that a leather shoe offers the foot a completely different level of protection and it is not healthy to only wear sneakers all the time. Maybe people think that they don’t want to invest so much in good shoes because the shoe only covers around a fortieth of their body. But when I see in high-quality shoe stores that sneakers are being quoted for up to 900 euros, I ask myself whether they are trying to kid me. I think I don’t really understand the shoe market.
The sneaker is probably indispensable for fashionable looks…
I’m sorry, but I find this look à la Christian Lindner – these short, skimpy jackets and tight, short trousers and white sneakers – terrible. Nevertheless, everyone around the world wears white sneakers. I recently offered my 17-year-old son the chance to choose a nice leather shoe from our range. But he didn’t want that. He would rather keep his sneakers than receive a great leather shoe from Marsèll as a gift.
That’s bitter. What can you do there?
I have no idea. Perhaps people need to be better informed that sneakers deform feet over time. But is that of any use? Many people apparently consider leather shoes to be old-fashioned. After all, Brad Pitt recently wore Marsèll shoes at the Venice Biennale.
Marsèll is your main shoe supplier. What sets him apart?
Marsèll is a perfect product. Anyone who buys Marsèll knows that they are getting a shoe that is unsurpassed in terms of quality and comfort. You don’t have to register it, it’s comfortable from the first second. There is also excellent service behind it. It makes a customer happy when you can send in a shoe that she loves and she gets it back like new. Last year I was in Padua and visited the company. When you are there, you immediately feel that everything is right. The employees are happy, they produce a great product, most of it by hand. My employees also support this shoe 100%. We have continually increased the Marsèll share over the years because basically everyone can find the right shoe here. We now have a total of around 100 styles, about the same number for women and men.
How come the proportion of men’s shoes is so high?
This is actually a credit to the brand. Men who are looking for a really good, formal shoe will often find what they are looking for with us. Our customer is enthusiastic about Marsèll.
What role do the shoes of the textile brands you carry play?
The shoes from designer labels are often too expensive for what you get for them. That’s why I’ve scaled back my involvement here. I still occasionally buy something by Dries van Noten or Rick Owens. Basically, when it comes to shoes, we are now largely concentrating on our core business, and that is Marsèll.
Which models are the most successful?
The loafer, for example, is very good. It is quite similar to the loafer from The Row, but does not cost 1600 euros like The Row, but 800 euros.
