Sole mission to create ultra-hip men’s shoes in Singapore

Chen Yieh is a 66-year-old shoe maverick who has been on a mission for nearly two decades in Singapore to sharpen the sartorial sense of men.

He passionately believes that the shoes make the man and speaks out against bland conformity. Many men have worn his Beatlesque boots and other cutting edge footwear bearing the imprint of The Wizard of Oz and experienced moments of shoegazing from admirers.

His men’s shoe showroom cum warehouse may be located at a remote commercial building but it has drawn steady streams of local customers ranging from celebrities arriving in their flashy sports cars to conservatively dressed executives taking their first tentative steps to raise their hip quotient.

Even businessmen from China, India to as far as the US have visited Chen’s premises in the Ubi area and lugged boxes of exquisite shoes made from factories in Spain, Italy and Portugal or hand-made by craftsmen back to their home countries.

To understand the fashion philosophy of the man who is addressed as “Mr Wizard” by some of his business partners whenever he makes his regular trips to Europe, one has to first know more about his teenage years after his family relocated from Singapore to the UK.

In an interview with Yahoo Singapore at his Ubi showroom, Chen said that he gained his early experience in the shoe business in London, when it was buzzing as a global capital of popular culture during the Swinging 60s. Then a student, Chen took on a vacation job at a shoe shop in Carnaby Street. His exposure to the diverse fashion cultures in the world-famous shopping street would shape his sense of individualism.

“It was the time of flower power. Carnaby Street was the coolest place on earth for fashion. Many of the street traders were hippies making earrings, wearing flowers and burning incense. People were wearing anything from big bottom flares, leather jackets to second-hand military uniforms. It was the best time for a teenager,” said the UK citizen, who is a Singapore permanent resident.

After finishing college, Chen worked at and managed several shoe shops for chains like Ravel in London and learnt as much as he could about every aspect of the business, including taking charge of window dressing. To fulfill his longstanding dream of becoming an entrepreneur, Chen set up a shoe and clothing shop with several partners and later, his own shoe shop Touch in the 1980s.

But the Margaret Thatcher years and the early 1990s were very challenging for Chen as the UK government’s relations with labour unions soured, causing regular strikes that adversely affected businesses. An exasperated Chen sold Touch in 1993 and spent the next few years travelling to Australia and other countries in Asia.

Singapore attracted him as a place to restart his shoe business due to its cosmopolitan nature. Although Chen would later set up four shops in Singapore, the shoe retail scene here did not impress him when he founded The Wizard of Oz in 1996.

“I looked around Singapore and there were no choices for men. It was so boring when I started. Everything was dark brown or black. There was no tan or other colours,” he said. “You see the colours that I do, you don’t see them in the shopping malls.”

Chen pitched the idea of setting up The Wizard of Oz in a number of shopping malls but was met with indifference from mall managers. Many of the malls were run by women whose idea of tenant mix was to ensure that shops catered mainly to female shoppers, he added.

“All the shopping mall managers said to me ‘No, you want to have a shop in our mall, you must do half ladies, half men, we don’t want just men’s only. Because women spend more money.’” Chen said.

Still, Chen was able to open shops across the city area – in Raffles Place, Suntec City, Marina Square and Parkway Parade. But high rentals in the malls were squeezing his margins, making it tough for him to sell mid-priced European made shoes. He shut all the shops and relocated to the unfashionable Ubi area, and yet business was better than before as the lower rentals enabled him to offer customers a wider range of shoes and accessories such as belts, belt buckles and cuff links at affordable prices.

First-time customers visiting The Wizard of Oz are typically bowled over by the show-stopping shoes that come in all shapes, designs and materials. Chelsea-style boots with Cuban heels, chic executive shoes or moccasins; footwear made from eel leather, lizard skin or traditional leather; shoes in snakeskin, disco-glam, avant-garde or old-school gent designs - they attest to Chen’s assertion that the run-of-the-mill shoe shops in Singapore can’t match up to his.

According to Chen, the shoes designed by him are a platform for his customers to stamp their individuality. But many Singaporean men are afraid to stand out from the crowd and prefer to wear “safe” shoes, he pointed out. To jolt them out of their conforming tendency, particular those who think they are “too old” for stylish footwear, Chen talks the talk and walks the walk - in his own shoes.

“When I wear them myself, customers say ‘Goodness, he is so old, he can get away with it, so can I.’ Otherwise they don’t dare,” said Chen, who has two daughters.

The trendy grandfather is married to a Singaporean teacher and has two sons with her. Many years before setting up The Wizard of Oz, the freewheeling Chen was sporting a hippie hairdo, and he revealed that he could not contemplate returning to Singapore due to its sterile environment and controversial ban on long hair then.

Ultimately, Chen’s views about fashion and shoes converge with his philosophical outlook in life. Forget about the rest of the world, be a fun-loving and special individual, Chen exhorted.

“We only live once. Why worry about what other people see or think? Just do what you want, just be free and dress as your feelings tell you to.”

www.thewizardshoes.com  33 Ubi Ave 3, Vertex #03-34 Singapore 408868 Tel: (65) 6509 3929