Oh... My... God... Shoes: Introducing the Boys of Upper Echelon Shoes

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting up with friends Nick Cohen and Seth Campbell at their brand new store for their hip/haute shoe line, Upper Echelon Shoes, or UES. The store is nestled amid a stretch of shops at 100 Forsyth St. on the LES, looking out on to a park across the street. An idyllic location for a downtown luxury brand with an obvious double entendre in its name.

It has been a whirlwind past few years for Campbell and his business partner and close friend, Cohen, a well known DJ and New York nightlife fixture. Not only was P. Diddy seen doing his thing in UES shoes live at the BET Awards last year, but their kicks are now available at Alice & Olivia, Hirshleifer's and Fred Segel.

That afternoon, not only did I have the pleasure of check out their stellar collection, but I also was able to sit down with Nick and chat about their line. Here’s what he had to say.

When did you start designing shoes and for what reason
It started out as a project for fun. Seth has a family background in the discount footwear sourcing industry and I have a family background in the discount jewelry business. We decided to combine the two and make footwear accessorized with jewelry hardware. Rather than go the discount route, we decided to elevate to an Upper Echelon and attack the designer casual footwear market, where we saw a void of new and exciting product. Hence, Upper Echelon Shoes was born.

What inspires your design aesthetic?
We find inspiration from a variety of different places. The key is to get your inspiration in line with what the consumer wants, while at the same time not sacrificing our originality and desire to elevate footwear to an "Upper Echelon.”

What made you start a women’s line?
We decided to develop a women's line after much feedback from buyers, retailers and girlfriends who all loved the brand concept (gold chain laces) but could not fit into the larger men's sizes. Realizing that we would have to make our women's collection more sexy and feminine but still remain within our core branding, we developed our first women's line for Fall 2008. The line is anchored three styles -- The NISE (with precious metal laces), The CHUCK BUCKLE (with gold studs and buckles) and The STUD LO (with gold studs).

What and who are your style inspirations?
Kate Moss for our women's shoes. Personally, I would not have a clue who inspires my style. I guess you take a little piece of style from the places you've seen and the people you meet.

Diddy wore your shoes when he performed live at the 2007 BET Awards. Is that when you realized that you had “made it”?
We were very excited when we saw Diddy perform in our shoes, mainly because we had nothing to do with him wearing the shoes, except that he took a liking to our product and bought a few pairs at H Lorenzo in LA. It took a while for the buzz and hype around UES to sink into us, but we started to realize that we were getting public recognition and that people were intrigued by UES.

When did you open your new shop at 100 Forsyth?
The official opening is September 4th.

Everyone needs to go check out these killer kicks!

XxPJC