Who is Michael Antonio & why do so many celebs wear his shoes?

He’s so hot Paris Hilton struts around in his heels, and so do Kim Kardashian, Mischa Barton and Vanessa Hudgens.

He’s provided footwear for TV shows like America’s Next Top Model, Beauty and the Geek and The Today Show, and clothing designers like Carolina Herrera, Ed Hardy and Vivienne Tam.

Locally, his shoes have caught the attention of Anne Curtis, Heart Evangelista, Lovi Poe, Karylle, Solenn Heussaff and Divine Lee.

Who is Michael Antonio and why do so many celebrities love his shoes?

We recently found out, and the answers were rather surprising. Michael Antonio isn’t even a person, but a brand that combines the two first names of CEO Michael Su, and brother Tony. “It’s a mainstream name and people have positive associations to it, so I thought let’s make it a global brand identity,” says Michael.

Based in Los Angeles with offices in New York City, Michael Antonio is right in step with the trends of both fashion capitals. “The East Coast look is more sophisticated, citified, where you’re walking, catching the train,” notes Roy Nakabayashi, Michael Antonio’s VP for sales and head of product development, “where LA is glitz and glamour.”

This season Roy says that shoes are getting simpler, easier, more lifestyle. “I see people becoming a little more casual, and comfort seems to be a big buzzword right now in the industry. Women seem to want lower heels. We were in such a platform inning for the last seven, eight years, that now we’re starting to get into more classic, more basic, wearable silhouettes.”

Though a woman can never have too many pairs of shoes, he says every woman should have a great pair of boots, a pair of ballerinas, and closed-toe flats in her wardrobe.

Of course, every fashionista worth her salt needs killer high heels and platforms, which happen to be a major part of Michael Antonio’s DNA. Every year the company sells a million to two million pairs of shoes, which is incredible for a brand you may have never heard of.

The main reason why Michael Antonio has become a celebrity’s best-kept fashion secret is that the shoes look haute couture yet are sold at remarkably affordable, fast-fashion prices. “We cater to a woman who is fashion-savvy, not afraid to be a leader, someone who wants to look like she just came off the runway but can’t afford a $700, $800, $900 pair of shoes,” says Roy. “Someone who wants to look pretty, stylish and sexy, someone who follows global fashion.”

The core brand Michael Antonio, aimed at women aged 18 to 40, ranges from US$50 to $90 (P2,500 to P3,800). The more luxurious-looking Michael Antonio Studio line, which boasts more cutting-edge, avant-garde and editorial designs, retails from $99 to $200 (P4,000 to P8,000). The third and last brand is MA by Michael Antonio, a diffusion line targeting young fashionistas 15 to 30, which retails for $40 to $60 (P1,700 to P2,500).

Keeping their shoes affordable is a long process that entails constant juggling. “Roy travels around the world, looks at what’s hot, what the couture is on the runway, then we try to bring it down a little bit so it’s more wearable, understandable,” Michael says. “Then we go to our suppliers, whom we’ve worked with for a long time because my family’s been in the shoe business for 40 years, so we have all those relationships and it helps a lot. They give their input, and we balance it with our designers’ cutting-edge views.”

Michael Antonio has a team of six designers, including Roy, and they issue four major collections a year. Distributed in over 20 countries, including China, Taiwan and the Middle East, they just launched at Galeries Lafayette in Dubai, but are circumspect about entering Europe. “Our price points may be a little low for Paris,” laughs Roy. “We don’t want to stretch ourselves too thin,” adds Michael. “We want to maximize Asia and the US first.”

In the Philippines, they chose to partner with Patrick Lao, 29, who has an extensive background in retail, and wife Michelle. “They came to us with a plan,” says Roy, “and we were so thrilled with what they’ve accomplished so far that when we’re in negotiation with different countries, we say you’ve got to check out Michael Antonio Philippines because they really have done it the right way.”

Patrick discovered Michael Antonio while looking for a gift for then-girlfriend Michelle: “Some Michael Antonio shoes were consigned at one of our stores called Anthem, so that’s how I saw the perfect pair of heels for Michelle, which I gifted her (with) and she liked it so much that we decided, why not make it full-time here in the Philippines?”

Patrick considers Michael Antonio a superior alternative to similar brands mostly because of their shoe styles — “You don’t see them anywhere else” — and secondly, because of the price. “We are more affordable. Other pumps retail at P4,800 whereas ours are P2,600, so there’s a wide disparity.”

In the Philippines, Michael Antonio’s first branch at SM North Edsa opened in 2010, and now they have five branches, with the flagship store in TriNoma.

At present, the company is still family-owned. In 1970, Michael’s grandfather invested in a shoe factory in Taiwan that he operated till the ’80s, when the family moved to the United States. “When they got there, they were doing something else until they found that it was a hotbed for shoes from Asia,” recalls Michael.

Like his brother Tony, who’s an architect, Michael initially didn’t want to continue the family business, until his parents’ serious health problems forced him to. He jokes about it now, indicating a scar on his face he got from falling on a shoe mold when he was two: “I was marked for life!”

Roy, on the other hand, worked at other shoe companies like Nine West and Etienne Aigner before deciding to join Michael Antonio. “I was at a company called Dereon, which is Beyoncé’s line, as national sales manager,” he relates. “I traveled around the country visiting key accounts, and every time I’d visit a key boutique, they’d tell me, ‘Hey, your shoes are great, but I get better shoes from this company called Michael Antonio.’ I’d never, ever heard of Michael Antonio before and I’ve been in the shoe business for a long time. So I said, who the hell is Michael Antonio? They said, ‘You should go check him out.’”

With spring-summer 2012’s tribal- and floral-patterned footwear currently in store, and an “amazing” iridescent Studio shoe with caged heel that the company innovated from scratch, you can bet I will.

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Michael Antonio stores are located at 2/F, The Annex at SM City North Edsa; 3/F, Newport Mall, Resorts World Manila; 2/F Power Plant Mall, Archaeology section; 3/F TriNoma (in front of Topshop); and 1/F, Harbor Point Mall, Subic