About Us

Mestrae's Journey

Mestrae started from humble beginnings, from my home as my passion project in overcoming high heels struggles, and soon became a global name, selling to 31 countries. Looking back on the past few years, while we kept growing, we had a steep learning curve. We learnt everything from scratch, and we learnt it very very quickly. We had good times and challenging times, but every time we struggled, we only got better at it ; we learned how to reach out to early adopters, how to start small and grow the business, to improve products, to engage with users, to find the right team, to be the right company for the team, and more importantly in continuously changing and adapting to the growing technology.

There were many tribulations in recent times,  especially fundings for early-stage startups, minority and women in Malaysia, and the quest for meritocracy is challenging. It gets tiring, but we have to keep moving forward.

This time, however, I decided to see the bigger picture and my long-term vision for Mestrae. Immediately, we need to overcome the manufacturing hurdles and supply chain ecosystem caused by Covid-19. Shoemakers and the supply chain went bust. Our goal for this year is to build up sufficient orders, set up interim in-house production, and re-start the new supply chain run.

In the long run,  Mestrae will grow from a shoe company to a cutting-edge wearable tech company. This integrates well with the fashion tech business and the market demands, and with vertical integrations implementing both Fiat and Bitcoin.

Our biggest comfort has been our customers and influencers who over time became our friends, our stronghold and our motivation to keep going forward. You have held on to your belief and trust in us, and we value that greatly. We look forward to building back, and to building back better with you.

 

Pam

 

Mestrae Interchangeable Heels

At Mestrae, we believe there are better ways for women to be wearing their heels. A more comfortable, less painful way without excluding the option to be fashionable. We're obsessively passionate about it, and our mission is to help people achieve it. We focus on technology growth for women’s footwear. It's one of the least emphasized and most needed improvements for women, and we see that as an opportunity. We're excited to simplify high heels transformation into flats with a snap of a button.

We want women to feel empowered in being able to wear the heels they desire, at any given time. Come join us on this journey as we make strides towards something remarkable and innovative and walk with you every step of the way.

 

We are a small startup, but we believe the art of giving will take us a long way. 

 

 

 School / College Assistance program

At Mestrae, we take it to heart in helping young minds. We have offered assistance in numerous students request from Singapore, India, and the United States. One of our proudest moments was to have sponsored and supported an incredibly talented and passionate group of high school students in Murrieta, California - and recently they won 2nd place out of 550 schools in a nationwide business plan competition in New York -- with their business plan for Mestrae interchangeable heels.

 

Fashion Brands crossing borders

Initiating the Business part of Fashion was both interesting and challenging. The Fashion industry is a thriving $2.4 trillion industry - but running a fashion business is complicated, and not knowing how to do it, is even worse. This started as Mestrae’s journey of overcoming struggles, self-learning the business of fashion, and realizing that we were not alone. 9/10 fashion brands, and generally startups don’t make it the first year. Additionally, fashion-based companies are unable to receive funds as it is considered a high-risk industry. This event was to push forth international growth, sustainability, and expansion, enabling fashion business ROI as a nation. We had an amazing pool of fashion businesses and an incredible group of speakers amongst some was Thierry Bayle, Global Fashion Management, and Professor Loredana, of ASB - MIT Sloan.

 

Reviving a 30 years shoe-making industry

Artisan shoemakers, with 30 years of fine craftsmanship are hard to come by. Mestrae recently faced the turmoil of needing to expand manufacturing to meet customers' orders and it didn’t help that the shoe-making manufacturers have been on a rapid shutdown. We lost over 10 manufacturers in 5 months. Mestrae is expanding overseas to meet customer orders, but in the meantime, we have set up a networking place (FB group) for fashion buyers and shoemakers to meet. Will it work? We don’t know yet but we hope it helps!

Girls Day Out, A celebration of 21 women founders 

We had a fantastic time running the Girls' Day Out event bringing together 21 passionate women founders and their team. Held in conjunction with international women’s day, this helped alleviate the consumer pool and give the founders wider visibility.  

Sharing startup journey with brilliant students from ASB - MIT Sloan

 Young minds are the future of our industry. Mestre's founder and CEO enjoying sharing the journey with over 40 MBA students who were actively participating in asking questions, giving ideas and suggestions. Some of the students formed a close bond with Mestrae even after they graduated.