By John Almerc Dy
Francis Gerard Abacan or simply Gee, the second child of Erlinda Abacan, is slowly but surely taking the helm of Bristol Shoes and Shoe Company, one of the producers of high-quality shoes in the country’s “shoe capital”—Marikina City.
Bristol was established in the late 1970s by Gee’s grandfather, Apolinario de Dios and originally thrived on “made to order” business model. Over the years, it has grown to be a producer of stylish, quality formal shoes for men. Now, Gee does his part to bring the company to the next level of growth by expanding the product line and exploring the export market again.
“The name Bristol originated when my grandfather, Apolinario de Dios saw the word ‘Bristol’ in Europe and because of its exceptional sound, it became the name of our company,” says Gee, a former tennis player of the Ateneo de Manila University.
Gee, 33, who belongs to the third-generation owners of Bristol Shoes, is currently the company’s manager. His vision is to be competitive in the market by taking advantage of the Bristol brand, which is associated with quality shoes.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Master’s degree from Ateneo de Manila University, Gee helps his mother, Erlinda, run the company.
His desire to join the family business began when he realized he had a genuine interest in the shoe industry. He started learning the ropes, first with the marketing system and later on managing the entire company.
Gee says he realized early on they needed to improve business processes to increase efficiency by eliminating unnecessary costs.
“Your product is your best marketing tool,” Gee says.
Gee says improving the product is more important than having a lot of advertisements, as he found out that it is just a supplementary tool to improve their marketing strategy.
Despite the prevalence of innovative machineries in the market, Bristol chose to keep the manual process of shoe making, doing it hand-crafted using some imported materials, even though it is more expensive, just to ensure the quality of the shoes.
“Our biggest challenge is to compete with the other imported shoes that are definitely cheap,” Gee says.
Bristol is now considered a trusted name in the shoe industry, producing 100 pairs a day and maintaining a network of 29 stores nationwide.
“Quality shoes are not all about the materials that we use. It is all about our very own skilled workers who persevere to preserve the trademark of our shoes,” Gee says.
Proudly, he says they have sufficient skilled workers—the real secret behind Bristol’s success.
“Bristol is fortunate to have these efficient workers who are doing their job well. They are the real contributors in our success,” Gee says.
Gee says he is looking forward to resuming Bristol exports to Japan, after the company stopped the shipment in 2007 because of a tragedy that happened to their dealer.
“We needed to stop the exportation of our products in Japan when our contact person committed suicide. We don’t have any idea what really happened back then, so we have no choice, but to stop the exportation,” Gee says.
Gee says despite the incident, he remains positive that if the company resumes exports, it will give them the success they want.
“Bristol’s vision is to have a better brand name, if we are going back to exports. It is possible to achieve this goal,” Gee says.
He says while export is in the plan, the company aims to expand the business gradually so that they can easily manage and identify the improvements needed.
Gee says to achieve the company’s goal, it is important that they love what they are doing. “You are going to succeed if you really want what you are doing,” he says, referring to his business principle.
This principle is a concrete example of the famous quotation, “Let your passion be your profession,” something that aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from.
Gee says during his free time, he serves as the coach of the lawn tennis team of Ateneo High School and spends more time with his wife together with their nine-month-old child.
Bristol Shoes, in its almost 40 years of producing quality shoes, is one of the companies that have enabled Marikina City to gain and keep the title “Shoe Capital of the Philippines.”
