Women's Shoes in Style

Last autumn, we saw a sudden threefold increase in searches for "platform loafers" on Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social media platform). At the time, some members of the team questioned whether making platform loafers would look out of place, given the emphasis on lightweight design. But we decided to give it a try anyway.

When developing the shoe, we increased the sole thickness from the usual 3 centimeters to 5 centimeters, but made the upper narrower. After the first batch of samples came out, I had everyone in the office try them on and take photos. A young woman from the marketing department wore them and stood by the window; the sunlight streaming in from the side made her ankles look incredibly slender. She sent a photo to a friend, who immediately asked for the link.

Later, we sent a pair of these shoes to a fashion blogger on Douyin (TikTok). She doesn't usually do promotions, but after seeing the samples, she proactively asked if we could send an extra pair to her sister. The night the video was released, we saw the comments section flooded with requests for "links" and "group buys." One user commented that she had been searching for a long time for platform loafers that made legs look longer in photos without making feet appear too big. Last month, a shop owner in Hangzhou sent me a voice message saying that when she placed these shoes directly in front of the camera during her live stream, the light shone perfectly on the metal buckles, and the chat exploded with comments. That night, she sold over a hundred pairs and had to restock twice. She later called specifically to tell me to let her know first if there were any new styles that looked good on camera.