Jimmy Choo tells students: it is all about hard work and respect

He said that as a young man arriving in London from Malaysia at the age of 18 he had been angry, but that learned from his father and his tutor at Cardwainer Technical College in where he studied shoe design that being calm and kind is the key to happiness and success.
He said: "I used to be very angry if my shoe maker did something wrong. But it is better to talk to people; whatever you do try not to get angry. Anger will damage your health and won't give you happiness."
He told his audience of mostly Japanese students attending the Teikyo Foundation boarding school at Fulmer, and 16 students from the newly opened International School for Creative Arts which shares the campus, that he had come to talk to them because he wanted to give them the benefit of his experience.
When he first came to London people laughed at his poor English, he said. At first he got upset, but then he decided to learn the language. Every night he watch the television news and every chance he got he listened to the radio.
He said: "I showed them I would learn. In the end the people who said those things about my English didn't get a distinction."
He had set his heart as a young boy on shoe design because it was what he parents did from their home in Malaysia, and he make his first pair of shoes, for his mother, at 11.
He said: "My father said to me if you have a skill then wherever you travel you can make a living; if I married I would be able to feed my wife and children."
After leaving college (now part of the London College of Fashion) he worked in a factory before setting up on his own but at £50 a pair, and with no brand name, his shoes didn't sell.
He said: "I had no money coming in, it was very hard, I couldn't go to China Town and have duck and rice or spare rib."
To make ends meet he started making cheap sandals, without his name on them, and selling them for £5 a pair in weekend markets, making enough money to keep himself afloat.
His break came when a friend from college whose father was bank rolling a fashion show asked him to make her some shoes. His designs were noticed by Vogue, which did an eight page spread on them, and the rest is history. In 2002 he sold his 50 per cent share of Jimmy Choo London, for £10 million. He still runs Jimmy Choo Couture which produces only three or four pairs of shoes per day, and he approves every one. He has returned to what he originally set out to do, in a vacant hospital building in Hackney in the 1980s, only this time customers include Madonna, and he can afford to eat. He said: "My life is easier now, I have people to do things for me. I have time for my family." He is married and has an 18 year old daughter.
Mr Choo was visiting the International School for the Creative Arts an independent day and boarding school running A levels in art and design, in association with the University of the Arts London. The school opened in September and currently has just 16 students.
Mr Choo - who has been made an honorary professor by the university from which he graduated in 1983 - warned students that they could not achieve success without hard work.
He said: "When I did my last fashion show I didn't sleep for four days. It is hard." He added: "My father told me to open your heart and be willing to learn. Never say bad things about people. If you have good ideas, share them with other people. If somebody copies you it is because your ideas are good. Don't always think money money."