Factory Girl

Los Angeles is one of those fantastic cities where the fantastic parts are not always visible on the surface. At least right away. And such is the case with Calleen Cordero, the long time Los Angeles accessory designer whose hand-crafted, studded wares hover just below the radar. For the past six years Cordero has been creating her leather, wood and metal pieces from her fully functioning North Hollywood factory and selling them out of her small Beverly Boulevard boutique. She doesn't do the celebrity thing. And you won't find her goods in every massive department store known to man. But just last month, Cordero was one of the designers featured in the Pasadena Museum of California Arts Design Biennial. And something tells us that her orbit is about to expand. 

We caught up with the Northern California native and toured her impressive factory, learning about her career path and her seriously cool studded shoes along the way. 

Style Section L.A.: You've had a ridiculously illustrious career, helping turn Dr. Martens into a cultural phenomenon and managing $10,000,000 worth of West Coast sales for Steve Madden. But did you ever think you would be a factory owner?

Calleen Cordero: No! I got a lot of training. I never went to college, I was working through high school. So my work has been my experience. And working in corporate America was a really good experience and I got a lot of training about business and stuff like that. I love having a factory. But it's been hard because I'm a factory and I employ 45 people. And I need to keep them fed, and their families, twelve months out of the year. It's a huge responsibility. Some of them have been with me for ten or eleven years. 

SSLA: How did you get your start in the shoe game?

CC: I got started at 13 doing shoe modeling for Esprit. And I fell in love with shoes. There was a shoe store, a high end store, in my small little town where I grew up. And I spent every weekend at the store. I begged the woman who owned the store to hire me. And finally at 15 I got a workers permit and she hired me. So I started out as a stock girl and worked my way up. I did so well — I was her top salesperson. And she ended up taking me under her wing and taking me to Europe. So at 16 I was traveling and getting to work with designers like Stephane Kélian and Robert Clergerie. We would work directly with them and sit down and say, ok, we can do that upper with that heel. And that was an amazing experience. That's partially some of my philosophy of what I do today. What I do here is so distinctive to my look. 

IN THE BAG: One of Calleen Cordero's signature studded leather-and-metal handbags, made by hand in her North Hollywood factory. 

SSLA: You went on to work for Fred Segal, own your own shoe boutique in San Francisco and handle sales for Kenneth Cole. Not to mention the corporate stints we listed above. What made you decide it was time to strike out on your own? 

CC: I had two children, two and four years old, and went through a divorce and needed to change my life. I needed to do something on my own. I couldn't work for people anymore. So I was asking the universe for things and I ended up coming across this vintage belt. And it had stud work on it with these rhinestones. And I saw it at Hollywood Trading Company, evidently they were taking old belts and putting on studs. So I bought this belt and was like, it belongs on a shoe. I didn't even put the belt on. I was just like, it has to be a shoe. So I got enough nerve to talk to Hollywood Trading Company and ask if they would do some work for me. The owner said no. But when I got on my hands and knees — literally at a coffee table on the street — and was like, you don't understand. I have to do this. I really need your help. You don't understand. So the owner goes, oh god. I'll let you do it. Whatever you want. But you have to put my name on your shoes. And I said yes. 

SOLE SHAPER: Everyone plays a distinct part at Cordero's North Hollywood factory. Here, a worker drills a wooden shoe sole. 

SSLA: Yes, we too find that begging can work wonders. How did you get that first collection produced? 

CC: I sold my car, I rented out my house, I downsized my life. I had no money at the time. I paid off the husband. And I took a second job with Beverly Feldman as their sales rep. Then I went around to people in the industry. And I knew people that made shoes here way back in the past in the '80s. So I found them and then finally located one guy after meeting a few people that didn't believe in me and thought I was absolutely nuts. He had this little, teeny 900 square foot roll up factory. He was making hooker shoes. But he knew how to sculpt wood. 

SSLA: There is an art form to crafting hooker shoes, for sure. So tell us about your first sale. 

CC: I designed like three shoes and I literally put them in my car and took them over to Madison. David, the owner, was an old friend because we worked together at Fred Segal back in the '80s. So I took over my samples and he wrote me a check on the spot. I took the money and made more.