Stuart Weitzman's shoes may be worn by the future queen of England, Kate Middleton, and a string of celebrities, but the average woman is just as important to the brand.
In fact, retail sales are so crucial that the company makes seven different widths of shoes for four different markets in 73 countries.
"There is the North American market. For that we make three different widths: a very narrow width, a medium width and a little bit of a wider width," says Wayne Kulkin, the vice chairman.
Stuart Weitzman shops in Europe sell a standard width, while those in the Asia Pacific region and in Russia both stock wider shoes.
"You can't notice it with your eye. It's just a millimetre, but by making them just a little bit wider it makes them that bit more comfortable," he says. The result is that every shoe style - and the company produces 400 each season - is available in 72 sizes.
Few shoe manufacturers tailor their products in the same way, but Stuart Weitzman is by no means the only company to employ the strategy.
The reason is simple.
"Clearly the more closely you target your consumers in theory the better your product will sell," says Antonia Branston, a senior retail analyst at Euromonitor.
Retailers that fail to employ the strategy do so at their own peril. It is a lesson Marks & Spencer learnt the hard way when it launched in the Chinese market in 2008.
"They failed to take into account the Chinese consumer. They didn't have enough clothes of the smaller sizes, and they weren't cut to the Chinese body shape. They all flooded in there and then there was nothing for them to buy, so that was an absolute disaster," adds Ms Branston.
The same fate is unlikely to befall Stuart Weitzman.
"We have been selling [in China] for quite a long time but now we are really ready to go into the second tiered cities, which have massive populations but just aren't on the tongue of most people," says Mr Kulkin.
The luxury shoe brand is owned by The Jones Group, which paid $180.3 million (Dh662.24m) for a 55 per cent stake in June 2010 and will purchase the remaining 45 per cent on December 31 of this year. The Jones Group recorded net revenues last year of approximately $3.79 billion compared with $3.64bn in 2010.
Stuart Weitzman, which has 40 stores in the United States and 42 stores internationally, plans to open 40 more stores in mainland China in the next three years alone.
"We're in five different cities and every year we want to grow 10 to 15 stores in just the China region as well as [South] Korea, Japan and South East Asia and of course we believe that the Middle Eastern market is key," says Mr Kulkin. "We think Dubai is as important an epicentre as New York or London."
