Last week, we went to [ORBIS] to do a small review of the store's latest arrival, the Spring / Summer 2012 Collection from BNV Footwear. We know that our local footwear industry grows very well in the recent years. The local footwear brands keeps getting better and better with their products. They pay more attention to the uses of material and techniques. We have posted the sneak peek from BNV's S/S'12 products, and last week we had a chance to do a hands-on review. 

The collection consists of two model, the 4 Eye Boat Shoe and 5 Eye Cap Toe Oxford. Both models are in perfect shape, the materials and the details are very good, In addition, their shoes are very comfy when i put my feet onto them, i feel like i was trying a pair of sneakers. For me, the 4 Eye Boat Shoe is my favorite from this collection. using a premium cowhide leather and features a goodyear welt construction plus hand stitching for the details, the shoe looks very good, especially the brown one, even though i prefer if it was combined with a white sole. In my opinion, the white sole would look better to mix it with navy chino or camo-patterned trouser. 

The other model is the 5 Eye Cap Toe Oxford. A timeless designed with refined details, the shoe were made with exceptional waxed cowhide leather and features a goodyear construction. The 5 Eye Cap Toe Oxford Shoes is available in Maroon, Grey, and Brown. Another thing that amazed me is when Dhika from [ORBIS] showed me the innersole of shoe, and told me that BNV made their innersole gel themselves. It is a removable air-bag system anatomic insock. No wonder that their shoes are very comfy, and i think it's one of the good experiment done to a shoe by our local footwear brand. We know that lots of local brands already improved their products by using imported materials and good manufacturing techniques, but apparently there's not much of them pays attention to the innersole for extra comfort. Thumbs up to BNV for this one. 

Anyway, beside my hands on review on the product, we at Footurama also had the chance to do an interview with the guys behind BNV Footwear. Click the little number 2 below to read the interview!

Interview with BNV Footwear

Can you tell us a little bit about BNV? Like who's behind the brand, why the name, anything?

The three letters in our shoe brand, BNV, represent the names of the pope who are involved; which include Budi Sanjaya Armavi (as co-founder of BNV) along with HeNdra Kwok, and DaVid Halim. The reason we've named our product "BNV" is because we want to portray the simplicity and meaningless view of the brand yet contain higher value and quality. 

How about the history of BNV itself? 

Based in Jakarta, BNV was established back in 2010 with the vision of combining traditional Goodyear Welt construction and the latest footwear technology. Our mission is to create contemporary and fashionable shoes for men, with the most outstanding quality. 

As we know, this S/S'12 is your second collection, and from what we've seen, your product lines are getting stronger and better. What can you tell us about this Spring/Summer 2012 Collection?

When building the concept of our Spring / Summer 2012 collection, we envisioned someone wearing a comfortable and light-weighted oxford or boat shoe for daily use. For S/S'12 collection, we tried to focus more on the development of materials, patterns, outsole and insole. This time, we made our outsole to more elastic and light, to fill the gap between the boot and sneakers. 

I remembered when Vincent of The Denim Vault told us, that on the previous collection, you guys developed your own material? What's the story behind the material you used, and what makes it special? other than any material available out there. 

During the start up of BNV, we wanted to create shoes that can fully satisfied the desire of our customers and to be cherished the most compared to other pairs in their closets. Therefore, it is important for our customers to recognize the effort and hard work that we have to put into making all of our shoe products, beginning from the very bottom, which is the raw material that we use. 

Furthermore, we have one person from our team who is in charge of doing all the research and development regarding the product and its manufacturing process. Every single material of BNV Footwear has been developed and tested successfully by SATRA Technology (Europe Standard Qualify). We developed our upper material by choosing the best leather with tanning and finishing process correspond with BNV aesthetic value.

You are not going to notice the difference in the qualitu of your shoes unless you give attentive care for 'em.

We heard from the ORBIS guys, that for this collection, you guys has developed an extra innersole gel or something to give extra comfort to the shoe. Well, my colleague, Michael has tried it, and he said that it felt like he's wearing a pair of sneaker. Can you tell us more about this gel thing? Is it gel or what?

One of our team is a fan of sneakers. He thinks that the best part of wearing sneakers is that people can feel the sense of comfort whenever they walk on their sneakers. He knows that combining comfort and durability is necessary for making good shoes. We truly believe that BNV insole is the key that brings the most comfort element in our shoe products, then followed by the outsole and construction. 

The BNV Insole, "Comfortable Footbed" keeps your shoes warm yet comfortable. The foam wedge inlay helps in circulating the air around your feet to facilitate a breathable atmosphere. It was designed to the arch support and as an air cushioning, from the airbag-system, to provide more and better comfort on every single steps that you take. 

Can you give us your insight on local brand phenomena lately? and how's the premium footwear industry in Indonesia right now?

The local brands in Indonesia have been growing rapidly. A lot of new local brands in the marketplace appear at the most highest rate even than before for the past few years. We are personally proud of what most of the Indonesian brands have become. And hopefully, they will be able to sustain themselves in going through future changes. 

It seems that there are lots of local footwear brand nowadays claimed themselves as a premium footwear brand, but apparently, their products don't say so. What do you think about this?

For other footwear brands out there that believe they are providing customers with premium quality, we would like to suggest to take things into further consideration. Not only following the worldly trends, they also need to consider increasing their quality standard throughout the whole development and production process.

What's next from BNV? Any projects coming up? Have you guys ever think about selling your products overseas? Maybe to places like the US, Japan or maybe Europe?

Our focus is still the same; keep on finding and developing better materials along with new patterns and designs. We are approaching the end of our Fall / Winter 2012-13 project in which we will offer BNV signature design. 

So far, BNV products have been distributed to several global locations including UK, Italy, Singapore and Canada. We are still having intensive discussions with some distributors in Japan, Korea and Australia. Hopefully, we will soon be able to distribute our shoes equally worldwide. 

Wow that is great, i like that you guys are thinking way ahead! Anyway, i think that's it for our interview with you guys, any last word(s)?

Thank you for interviewing us, and for all the time spent by the readers. Anyway, a good news from us! BNV 3 Eye Chukka Boots and BNV 7 Eye Moc Boots have been chosen by Levi's America to support Levi's Fall 2012 Campaign for the U.S. and Europe market!

All Photos and Review by M.Killian

Interview by C.Ibrahim