A museum displaying the famed shoe collection of ex-first lady Imelda Marcos has reopened in the Philippines, heralding a fightback by its beleaguered shoe industry against a flood of cheap imports.
The museum is not just a showcase of the best of Imelda Marcos's 3,000-pair collection, but also of the craftsmanship in shoe-making in the riverside eastern suburb of Marikina where the industry was born over a century ago.
Footwear consultant Tessie Endriga said that Imelda Marcos failed to provide the Marikina shoe industry with much-needed infrastructure or financing when she was in power. But she did help in her own way.
"She did patronise local brands. If she liked a certain style, she would buy a dozen pairs," recalled Endriga, who has worked with the government's Bureau of Product Standards.
Marikina shoes were once famous, both locally and abroad, until low-priced footwear from countries like China and Vietnam flooded the industry over the years, said local business leader Jose Tayawa.
"You buy Marikina-made shoes and use them for five years. You buy Chinese shoes for one-fifth the price but you can only use them for a few months," said Tayawa, the head of the Marikina Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Former shoe museum curator Dolly Borlongan conceded that most of Imelda Marcos's shoes were imported but added that there are many Marikina shoes among them, as well as displays on Marikina's shoe-making history.