Business

Victoria Beckham calls on students for her new shoe line

Young New York designers got a call-out from Victoria Beckham during last week’s Fashion Week in New York.

Beckham, whose fall/winter 2014 ready-to-wear fashion line came down the runway, also visited Parsons School of Design to talk to students; she told the aspiring designers that she wanted to start a shoe line.

She told the 800 students and fans that footwear was the next obvious step in her fashion empire.

“If anybody here is a shoe designer, please do come and see me!” she told the crowd, acknowledging it was an intensely competitive category.

Normally, it costs $60,000 to $100,000 and takes three to six months to create around 60 pieces for a shoe line, according to industry experts.

Parsons has the fashion chops. Simon Collins, dean of the school, said he looks forward to training designers to join Beckham as she expands her brand.

Parsons alumni are often behind major brands, including Reed Krakoff at Coach and Jenna Lyons at J.Crew. They’ve also collaborated with established brands: Alex Wang at Balenciaga, Jason Wu with Hugo Boss and Marc Jacobs with Louis Vuitton.

And they’ve built their own fashion brands, including Donna Karan, Proenza Schouler and Tom Ford.