Footwear with a kick

By Belinda Smart

24 Jan 2008

MELBOURNE: Newly launched shoe brand Fiebiger looks set to fill a gap in the market for feisty female footwear.

Fiebiger is the creation of sisters Kveta and Bianca Fiebiger, who can claim something of an edge on what's cool, having worked in the music industry and resided in the fashion forward Japanese capital, as Kveta Fiebiger confirmed.

"After living in Tokyo for three years it has become a favourite city and a strong inspiration for this first range," she said, adding the brand's inaugural collection – which boasts Tokyo-inspired style names such as Yoyogi, Shibuya, Ueono and Harajuku – was born of necessity.

"After years of ourselves and numerous friends being frustrated by the lack of colourful, creative yet still stylish and affordable heels available in Melbourne, we decided to move from the music industry [both were working at Melbourne record company Obese Records] to the fashion world to create the kind of shoes we have always wanted to buy in this country."

Available in European sizes 36 to 40 and priced from $90 to $150, the Fiebiger range featured nine styles with a strong focus on colour, stilettos and wedges, she confirmed.

With a launch party set for February 4 in Melbourne, it was hoped Fiebiger's affordable price tag, youth market positioning and strongly differentiated styling would see the brand carve a significant niche in the market.

"So far we have received a great response to our samples and are constantly stopped on the street by people enquiring to where we bought them; we like to think of ourselves as walking billboards. [As a result] we will be offering a mail order service and online store in about a month, while for now we are currently working on building up a list of stockists Australia wide.