Shoemaker in step with clients
While most Americans step into Manolos and Nikes that were stitched together thousands of miles away, J&A; Shoe Co. cranks out 50,000 pairs of heels, wedges and thongs every month at a factory 15 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Gardena-based J&A; is a part of a dying breed of shoemakers that manufactures all its products domestically, battling formidable competition from corporations that make shoes overseas for pennies a pair.
“Being a domestic manufacturer, one of the biggest challenges is competing with people who don’t have the same regulations that we have here,” President Leah Kats Bizoumis said. “They don’t have a minimum wage and restrictions that we have. . . . In America, you work your eight hours a day and go home. In China, that’s not necessarily true.”
But the family-owned business of 150 employees has managed to survive for nearly three decades because of its customer service and accessibility, Bizoumis said. The 3,000 accounts J&A; maintains with independent stores across the nation are the product of long-term relationships with loyal customers.
“The most gratifying thing our customers have with our company is they can call us and speak directly to me,” she said. “If they have a question or issue, it’s resolved right away. It doesn’t go back and forth by mail.”
Bizoumis said her family’s decades-long experience with shoe-making also gives J&A; a leg up. Her Greek grandfather Stellios Katsiferes ran a made-to-order shoe shop in Athens from the 1930s through the ‘50s, and her father, Alex Kats -- who founded J&A; in 1981 -- would bring home shoe designs to teach his daughter about the business from the ground up.
“These days, a lot of people are manufacturing shoes who don’t have shoe experience, who don’t understand the product,” she said.
Growing up around shoe-making has led Bizoumis to be able to anticipate problems in a shoe’s design and fix them before sending the product out to stores.
Bizoumis oversees the creation of every pair of shoes, drawing inspiration from earrings, belts and color schemes in window displays and then walking her ideas down the hall to the sample room where patternmakers bring designs to life with swatches of patents and embossed leathers as well as suedes.
Around the corner, the 50,000-square-foot factory buzzes with the whir of sewing machines and the clatter of metal tools as employees sew rhinestones to leather pieces and braid shoe straps by hand.
At any given time, the factory stores more than 10,000 pairs of finished shoes. Shoe boxes are stacked halfway to the ceiling. Heaps of buckles and jeweled bows spill out of storage crates.
J&A; workers make prototypes of shoes and employees wear them home to scout potential flaws, such as where the shoes may pinch the toes or where ornaments could come loose. The designs are adjusted before the shoes are produced.
J&A; also stands out because the company produces only the shoes -- and the number of those shoes -- that the customer wants, rather than mass producing ready-made patterns.
“We don’t predict what people buy,” Bizoumis said. “We create our line and get input from our customers. Working with our customers, we develop what they need and what they’re looking for. After we get everybody’s input, we go forward and manufacture them.”
J&A;, which projects revenue of $15 million this year, sells its shoes to boutiques and big retailers, such as Nordstrom Inc., under three brands -- each tied to the family.
Athena Alexander blends the first names of Alex Kats’ two grandchildren. Callisto, a nymph in Greek mythology, is a nod to the family’s Greek heritage. And Lia Bijou is a play on Bizoumis’ name.
J&A; was a family affair from the start, Bizoumis said. Since age 16, she helped her dad pick out shoe designs, pointing out hot styles and tossing out patterns she deemed not hip enough to make the fall catalog. Bizoumis’ 22-year-old son, Alex, works as a marketing representative for J&A; in between classes at USC, where he’s studying economics.
Striding through the factory on a recent morning, Alex paused to glue the final rhinestone onto the Gypsy shoe, a T-strap sandal debuting in the spring line.
“I’d love to keep working in this business and keep the name going,” he said. “It’s something that’s been passed down through all the generations. It’d be a shame to waste something that’s had so much effort put into it.”
Bizoumis, 45, took over the company this year when her father died after an 18-month battle with cancer.
In her office, Bizoumis keeps her grandfather’s hammer and pliers in a framed case on the wall to remind her of the neighborhood shoe shop an ocean away and two generations ago.
“Every customer’s an important company, no matter how small their store or company is,” she said. “They’re to be valued. I think that’s why we’re still in business.”
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
J&A; Shoe Co.
Business: The company makes shoes at its Gardena factory at a time when most footwear sold nationwide is made in other countries.
President: Leah Kats Bizoumis
Employees: 150
Revenue: $12 million in 2007. $15 million is projected for 2008.
Product: J&A; makes 50,000 pairs of women’s shoes monthly.
