TAIPING, Oct 11 — Are your branded shoes starting to wear out? Firm Bundle can help restore them to look as good as new.
Muhammad Syameel Ahmad Supian, 30, the owner of Firm Bundle, said that the difficulty in finding branded shoe care services inspired him to start his shoe spa business seven years ago.
Interestingly, the former accountant never took any formal courses in shoe care. Instead, he mastered techniques like shoe cleaning, sole patching, and repainting through social media platforms.
“In 2017, there were no shops offering these services in Taiping. It was quite frustrating for me because the dozens of shoes I had collected needed proper cleaning to maintain their condition.
“That’s when I got the idea to learn cleaning, sole patching, and repainting techniques from YouTube. Alhamdulillah (Praise to Allah), it didn’t take long to master the skills and eventually open this shoe spa business,” he told Bernama in a recent interview.
The Selama-born entrepreneur shared that the business is also supported by two friends, Nasrul Aman Azmi, 29, and Muhammad Alif Idham Abdull Rashid, 23, who serve as assistants and are the “backbone” of the operation, helping to facilitate customer needs.
“They are former colleagues, and they’ve been invaluable in managing tasks related to cleaning, repainting, and sole patching, as required by our customers,” he said.
Syameel said on average, between 150 to 200 pairs of shoes are sent by customers each month for cleaning, repainting, and sole patching.
He added that the types of shoes sent to his boutique vary from formal and casual to sports shoes.
“As for pricing, we offer rates starting at RM15 for regular cleaning (per pair), RM65 for repainting (per pair), and RM80 for sole patching (per pair),” he said.
“The prices set are the same regardless of whether the shoes sent in are canvas, leather, satin, or denim,” Syameel said.
He added that services like cleaning and repainting are also offered for other accessories such as hats, bags, belts, and wallets.
“For these accessories, the usual price is RM80, but it mainly applies to hats and bags. For other accessories like belts and wallets, the price depends on the type of service and the size,” he said.
Besides offering shoe spa services, the boutique also sells items such as shoes, shirts, track pants, shorts, bags, and other accessories from various international brands like Stone Island, Fred Perry, CP Company, Lyle & Scott, Adidas, Pretty Green, Weekend Offender and Napapijri.
He added that all these items are sold online as well as directly to customers across the country, including international customers from places like Singapore and Brunei.
“If you look closely, most of these items are sold through orders placed by customers on Firm Bundle’s Facebook and Instagram.
“Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah), the response has been very encouraging, especially during festive seasons. At times, it gets overwhelming managing all the customer orders,” he said, adding that his business operates daily from 9 am to 9 pm.
When asked about his aspirations for the business, he expressed a desire to expand on a larger scale and emphasised that support from relevant agencies is crucial to achieving that goal.
“Since 2017, I’ve been funding everything myself, without any assistance from any parties or relevant agencies.
“To further grow this business, I would be very grateful for any support. With financial assistance, for example, I am confident that this business can reach even greater heights,” he said. — Bernama
