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Seeking a factory, Fitial has lunch with ‘Queen of Shoes’
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Posted on Feb 10 2006
SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP)—The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, who wants the world’s largest shoe manufacturer to build a factory on Saipan, met this week with the “Queen of Shoes”—Imelda Marcos.
Marcos, widow of deposed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, earned the title when thousands of her signature shoes were discovered at the Malacanang Palace during the 1986 revolution.
She had lunch with Northern Mariana Gov. Benigno R. Fitial in Manila on Monday at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel.
Fitial wants the Hong Kong-based Yue Yuen, also known as YY, to consider setting up a factory on Saipan.
YY is the world’s leading supplier of branded wholesale athletic and casual wear, with 330 factories in China, Vietnam and Indonesia. In 2002, the company produced 130 million pairs of shoes, or 17 percent of the global footwear market for branded names like Adidas, Nike, Reebok, among others, according to data from the American Chamber of Commerce.
The new administration is looking into the duty-free privilege of the islands in exporting products to the U.S. to convince YY to put up production lines in the Northern Marianas.
Mrs. Marcos, who was a beauty queen before she married the former dictator, amassed thousands of expensive shoes like Givenchy, Chanel, Christian Dior and Ferragamo.
The Marcos fled with her husband to Hawaii in 1986 during a people power revolution that toppled the dictatorial Marcos regime. In 2001, Mrs. Marcos opened a shoe museum in Marikina City, the footwear capital of the Philippines.
