A Bronx-based Jamaican fashion designer is the brains behind a line of fancy women’s shoes. Sherwayne Mahoney is the founder and creator of Things II Come — a brand of luxury and affordable footwear, jewelry, and decorative pillows. The style maker says his brand illustrates his desire to introduce a selection of trendy and fashionable shoes.
“The idea is to bring really glamorous, elegant, and high quality merchandise for women, and men as well,” he said. “Things II Come in essence is a women’s luxury brand, whose focus is handmade shoes made by artisans.”
When he develops and designs a shoe, he then works with a family of artisan shoemakers who also made Prada shoes, according to Mahoney.
“I have a team in Italy that manages all of my factory connections and I give them my direction for the shoes,” he said. “And it’s a family that has been making shoes for generations.”
He first expressed an interest in fashion as a student at John F. Kennedy high school, where he and a friend took a fashion design course for fun. Realizing he enjoyed the class a lot more than initially imagined, Mahoney took another follow-up course and kept up his fascination with the field, and even began making scarfs and prom dresses for fellow classmates.
After graduation he found work at companies including Nine West and Easy Spirit, where he moved up in the merchandising area in the latter brand. His passion and drive paid off when executives took notice of his interest, and invited him to meetings where he was able to learn more about styling.
“I had a lot of hands-on experience working with the factories, and working closely with the designer,” he said. “Then I thought to myself, ‘I could really do this,’ so everyday after work, I would practice my sketching.”
Formerly a stalwart of the retail industry, the ambitious style maker says those years of behind the scenes exposure led to him to flesh out the vision to start his own line. The invaluable factory and merchandise knowledge Mahoney earned, inspired him to officially start an independent line in 2014.
While there are multiple brands of shoe lines out there, Mahoney maintains that his line is different because it was built from the ground up, and it’s a reflection of the skills he picked up in the fashion industry, along with the generational knowledge passed down.
“My line is different because it’s coming from my experience as an African American designer with Jamaican heritage, and I’m also a third generation designer,” said Mahoney.
His paternal grandmother made dresses for parishioners at her church, and when his father immigrated to the states, he followed his design dreams by making leather designs while working full time job.
“Here I am doing same thing my father did, so Things II Come is my perception of what elegant and high-end quality is from my experience in the fashion industry,” said Mahoney.
The brand’s luxury shoes are manufactured in Italy, and the affordable versions are made in China. The collection prices ranges from $460-1350 and $225-400, respectively.
As part of his passion to ensure and deliver a satisfactory product to his customers, Mahoney makes visits a few times a year to see the manufacturing firsthand.
“I need to be immersed in that because I don’t want to make something to sell and not know how it’s made — it would make me feel incomplete to give the factories something to make and not know how it happens,” he said.
Purchases of shoes or other items can only be made online by request on the website at this time, and the ordering process will be completed in that fashion. But by next year, Things II Come is expected to open its debut international flagship store, which will likely be in Europe, according to Mahoney.
“Right now I’m working on my first store because a lot of people want that, and I want to give people a chance to get the full customer experience, to feel and look at the shows, and that’s one of the main things I’m focused on,” he said.
