Quit a thousand dollar salary to start a shoe shining and branded bag repair business

Giving up a stable job with a salary of thousands of dollars, Mr. Hai returned home and opened a “shoe shine, bag repair” service to pursue his passion. After only 3 years, his shop became famous. He could not keep up with the work, and sometimes he had to turn away customers.

Quit a thousand dollar job because of his passion for shining shoes

Holding a slim Louis Vuitton bag in his hand, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hai, born in 1987, owner of a luxury spa store on Duong Thanh Street (Hoan Kiem, Hanoi) showed off that this bag had just been spa-finished by him, no more dents, mold stains, and the bright red color was restored like when he first bought it.

Mr. Hai was an international student majoring in Business Administration at the University of Communications in China. After graduating and returning to Vietnam, he was invited to work by many foreign companies, mainly in the field of import and export because of his rich vocabulary and experience. However, Mr. Hai confided that although he was paid a high salary, up to thousands of dollars per month, his daily life was boring and repetitive, making him feel dissatisfied with himself.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hai with the items he spa

By chance, one time, when he took his old branded shoes to the sidewalk to polish, the cheap polish made his shoes smudged and peeled miserably. He was both crying and laughing because he couldn’t use them and it was a pity to throw them away because they were quite expensive, so he went online to find a way to fix them.

While searching for information, what caught his eye was a picture of a pair of shoes, but two completely different ones. One was moldy, old, and deformed, the other was shiny, beautiful to the millimeter, brand new as if it had just been brought out of the store. Feeling overwhelmed, he read enthusiastically and understood that with the right "refurbishment", the moldy shoe that was just about to be thrown in the trash can "change from a fairy".

“I was deeply impressed. From that day on, I kept asking myself, with expensive branded items, repairing and renewing them cannot be simple. So what should branded item players do? What are their needs? Should old items be thrown away?”

It is not easy to refresh and clean old, moldy items.

Not only did he search online, he also inquired through his connections and realized that this field in Vietnam was almost unknown. The intention of opening a luxury spa service was growing in him day by day.

However, when hearing their son wanted to quit his current job to focus on "shoe shining and bag repairing", Hai's parents were shocked. His mother tried to find enough convincing reasons: "Shoe shining costs 10,000 VND, washing a shirt costs several thousand VND. Now you spend 20 million VND/month renting a shop to do these things, where is the profit? Recalculate to see if it is feasible?"

At that time, he had to patiently explain to his parents little by little. That he wanted to aim for high-end services, for the upper-class segment, which not everyone knew about technology. Therefore, the cost could be hundreds, even thousands of times higher than polishing a pair of shoes or washing a normal shirt. It took quite a long time for his parents to relent and let him pursue this idea.

Closed, refusing customers because of overcrowding

Mr. Hai said that in Italy, spa services for personal items have been around for 40 years. Although the technology was still rudimentary at that time, they could polish their leather bags, smooth out scratches or re-plat the rusted metal to make the item look like new.

To pursue his passion seriously, Mr. Hai discussed with Mr. Doan Van Khang, a friend and long-time colleague of his, to make a step-by-step plan, investing effort and money. He spent money to buy some foreign documents on methods of renewing branded goods. Taking advantage of his free time, he studied the documents until he forgot to eat and sleep. The advanced technologies that had never appeared in Vietnam made him extremely excited.

The cost of this spa service is not cheap but it is commensurate with the value of the designer bag.

From someone who knew nothing about luxury goods, to have the rich experience he has now, he also invested in a course on authentic - fake appraisal in Japan, thanks to that, when customers bring items to the spa, he can immediately know if the goods are real or fake and then advise customers in the most appropriate way.

When he first opened the luxury spa service, he encountered many difficulties. Each item needed to be handled with extreme care and no mistakes were allowed, because the value of each item was very high. For example, a Hermes belt cost more than 30 million VND, a Chanel handbag cost nearly 100 million VND. With just a small mistake, he could have to pay the customer a large sum of money, not to mention losing his reputation - a taboo in providing services.

In addition, new technologies are constantly being updated so you cannot be satisfied with yourself and keep learning.

“Once I discovered a new technology, I stayed up all night to learn about it. In the morning, I rushed straight to the workshop to test it.” For example, a Chanel patent leather bag with black spots due to the hot and humid climate, which he had to give up before, now customers can completely rest assured when entrusting him to handle it, with a cost of about 5 million VND/time for the leather renewal service.

Mr. Hai said that the branded goods spa has many different services. Basically, there is cleaning and maintenance such as removing dirt, stains and softening the leather, then renewing such as repairing scratches, abrasions, and spraying color. For each item, he must keep it for at least 1 week after finishing to check and monitor the results, ensuring the product reaches its best level.

Up to now, after 3 years, Mr. Hai's branded spa service has attracted a large number of customers from within the country and abroad such as Malaysia, Singapore, etc. Every day, he receives about 10 orders. Even near Tet, he has to refuse some customers because of overload. "If we mess up, it will affect the quality of the products and our own reputation," he said.

According to Minh Hien/VNN