While on a weekend trip to New York, Amanda Collins bought a pair of Christian Louboutin heels at a boutique in the Meatpacking District. When she wore them the next day, the entire red sole of her new designer shoes fell off. She went back to get them repaired.
The shop’s only solution? Red spray paint, which would take two weeks and cost $50.
“I’m leaving for London tomorrow,” she remembers telling the staff, “and if I wear them again after you ‘fix’ them, the red paint will come off.”
Collins returned to London determined to find a better fix for the problem. “Those shoes were expensive,” she says.
Growing up in Sydney, Australia, the WeWork Meatpacking member’s grandfather was a shoemaker. Collins recalls a luxurious project he worked on for a private client in the ’50s: an 18-karat gold shoe by Salvatore Ferragamo.
Collins ended up joining the family business. Five years ago, she founded Save Your Sole, which sells soles, stickers, and paints to help you patch up your luxury shoes.
After Collins opened her New York location two years ago, she reached out to a blogger who had written about a pair of red-soled designer shoes worn by Kim Kardashian. The blogger then featured her products on his blog, and it wasn’t long before her phone was ringing around the clock.
But there was still a lot of pounding the pavement. It paid off one day when Collins went back to the shop where she bought the pair of shoes that inspired her business.
“Kim Kardashian walked in right behind me,” she says. “I was introduced to her in the store, and I was able to hand her my product.”
Collins chalks it up to a combination of persistency and focus that she finds often opens doors for her.
“An important tool to have in your back pocket is a clear idea of what you want,” Collins says. “Ask people for help if you don’t know how to do something, and make sure you speak to the right people who can help you with your business.”
Collins has an exciting year ahead. Save Your Sole is producing video tutorials about how to take care of your shoes. Partnering with fashion bloggers, it’s opening pop-up shops across the country. And Nordstrom is selling her products, providing lots of exposure for the company.
On top of that, Save Your Sole is adding to its line. One of its latest products, which Collins is convinced could easily become a must-have this holiday season, is leather cream and polish made from a French candle shop—it removes scuffs, keeps leather healthy, and has a whiff of white tuberose blossoms.
Photo credit: Lauren Kallen