This week, he packs his bags for his first visit to Honolulu and a personal appearance at The Sandal Tree's Ala Moana store.

Of the company's offerings, only the men's and women's shoes can be found in Hawai'i.

Paula Sussex, owner of The Sandal Tree stores, has sold Pliner shoes for 20 years. "His shoes are enormously popular in Hawai'i," she said. "At Ala Moana, my local customers are drawn to the comfort and simplicity of his styling. Although he's offering a lot of color, the local women are still buying black. They want shoes that enable them to walk from one end of the mall to the other — in comfort. On the Neighbor Islands, my customers like the bling-bling and froufrou styles and bright colors that he offers."

Sussex added that Island women appreciate the detail in Pliner's shoes. "It's fun and imaginative. He may design a classic black sandal, but the foot bed is pistachio suede so when you kick up your heel or take off your shoes there's this little surprise," Sussex said.

The driven designer makes public appearances 24 weekends a year for the spring and fall collections. "I learn from my customers," he said. "They're the most important people. I can't just sit in an office somewhere and expect to know what they want. Personal appearances also give me an opportunity to see the quality of the product being delivered."

Creating comfort

Comfort is a priority for Pliner. He screens each new design with a fit model wearing the shoes up and down flights of stairs, wiggling her toes and walking on various surfaces. He asks the women in his office to wear them before they go into general production in Italy (his label, which says "made in the mountains of Italy," is almost as well known as his name) and Spain.

One of his signature comfort elements is using elastic somewhere in nearly every shoe. "So the shoe will walk with you," Pliner explained. "The proper amount of Lycra will help stimulate the blood vessels, as well as allowing the shoe to stretch and breathe." A stretch mesh has been a feature in his shoes for decades.

Pliner has a passion for shoes and is delighted that so many women do as well. "The current fascination with accessories is helping to fuel the passion for shoes," he said. "Shoes are easier to buy than clothing. You can take any simple black dress and make it your own with the right pair of shoes. Shoes should enhance a personality, not cover it."

Pliner hates to see his prices rise, but his commitment to manufacturing in Europe means that rise they must, as the euro continues to beat down the dollar. This translates to an increase in Pliner's average women's shoe prices from $215 last year to $235 this year, and men's averages rose from $265 to $285.

Taking chances

The son of a shoe retailer, Pliner learned at his father's feet as an apprentice in his Chicago stores.

Pliner opened his first store in 1967, in Beverly Hills. He later opened The Right Bank Shoe Company, introducing European brands such as Arche, Maud Frizon and Stephan Kelian to the United States for the first time.

The enterprising entrepreneur actually lost this fortune three times.

In 1982 his partner walked out on him and, after several court battles, he lost everything. Later a messy divorce stripped him bare, followed a few years later by a legal battle with another colleague.

In 1989, he created the Donald J. Pliner line. He had no capital, however, and was not about to try another partnership. Instead, he sold his condo, moved into a 300-square-foot studio and signed up for 20 credit cards. "I was paying $20,000 a year in interest and had amassed a debt of $495,000" when his designs caught the eye of a buyer at Nordstrom who ran a full-page ad in Vogue that spotlighted him as the department store chain's designer of the month.

Since then he has seen a steady rise in business. Each spring and fall he begins with about 120 designs, but said he has learned "to whittle it down to a maximum of 75 to 80 to avoid a crowded-looking store or confusion for the wholesale buyers." Each of these designs, of course, comes in six to a dozen different colors.

While his business is booming, he said he "shoots from the hip. I always have and, knock on wood, it's worked so far. When I lost everything I lost a lot of self-esteem. Now I'm doing what I love to do and it's working for me."

The Pliners will be adding to their already jammed agenda as they become parents. They will travel to Russia the week after the designer's Honolulu appearance to bring home an adopted daughter, Starr Emanuelle.