It looks like a consecrated ‘word’, although it isn’t, but it is enough to bring a brand near reputational ruin

Malaysian shoe brand Vern’s in the news for the wrong reason. Photo: Hafiz Osman

In Malaysia, more contention is afoot. Not long after the case of the “offensive” sock sold in the general store KK Mart riled the nation, another incident involving footwear has surfaced. The over-sixty-store-strong Malaysian women’s shoe and handbag brand Vern’s is now in the news for selling kasut with a stylised logo seemingly in the form of the Arabic script for the word for God on the soles, according to local media. The cursive lines that form the illustration, when seen right side up, is unambiguously a line drawing of a pair of heels with spiral ankle straps (next to it is the word ‘fashion’ repeated thrice). Its perceived representation came to public attention after a three-minute reel appeared on Facebook, in which a man, who said in Malay that he had purchased the shoe from Vern’s Kuantan Parade store, pointed out the “logo” on the sole. He said he had bought the RM100 (about S$28.35) cream-coloured flats for his wife as a Raya gift. The video, unsurprisingly, went viral.

Parent company Vern’s Holding Sdn Bhd was quick to issue an apology. In a nine-paragraph “media release” issued in Malay and shared on Instagram, it called the perceived script a “logo design”—although it is one seemingly untethered to its name or branding (it does not appear on the brand’s store front, plastic bags, or shoe boxes). Its creation, they continued, was not aimed to “memperlekeh atau menghina mana-mana agama atau kepercayaan (disparage or insult any religion or belief.” They assured that the logo was “100% inspired by the shadow (outline) of a rope line (ankle strap) connected to a high heel shoe”. If they were certain about that, they did not say why the visual was disparaging. An illustration was attached to prove their point. While, from a design view point, the sum of the lines could be considered graphic, rather than textual (or calligraphic), Vern’s accepted that there were kekurangan (deficiencies) in the logo that may result in it “being misinterpreted, thereby offending many parties.” Although Vern’s has moved to undo the damage rapidly and had asked for “everyone’s forgiveness and hope[d] for mercy and be given the space to correct the mistakes that have occured”, the public reaction was adverse and just as swift. According to the news agency Bernama, there have been, hitherto, eight police reports lodged against Vern’s.

The problematic embossed “logo” on the sole of a Vern’s shoe. Photo: chanrakter/lowyat.net

In the wake of the furor over the podalic faux pas that was the KK Mart socks, it is possible that consumers have become suspicious of retailers that are not scrupulous enough to ensure that the effects of illustrations, graphics, images—even colours—on their products do not cause offence to religious sensibilities, even if they could really be a matter of perception or resemblance. There is also the persistence of those who, emboldened by the behest to “boikot” KK Mart, deliberately seek out perceived wrongs to augment their own sense of righteousness. A Bersatu leader, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal posted on X yesterday: “This is getting ridiculous and made Islam look very petty and bad.” Unexpectedly, the strident call to abstain from shopping at KK Mart has not been directed at Vern’s. Still, the reactive approach to resolving serious mistakes or unintended visual oversights could inadvertently create a climate of fear, with retailers on tenterhooks, unsure of which of their products could be considered contentious to religious sensitivity. Or arouse reactive moves such as the discharging of explosive devices at targeted businesses by those defenders of whatev

Vern’s was founded in 2005 by Pahang native Ng Chuan Hoo (黄春萀, Huang Chunhu, aka Hoogle Ng or Ah Foo), who started his business selling men’s shoes in a market gerai in his hometown, where, in 1997, the stall graduated to a first store, but it was not until a trip to Hong Kong years later that Mr Ng realise that the retail of women’s footwear would make better business than what he was selling to men, who were then less willing to spend. Vern’s was thus born. In 2010, he moved his operations to Kuala Lumpur, and set his sights on realising a retail empire, with stores throughout Malaysia. According to the brand’s homepage, Vern’s currently “has more than 60 outlets nationwide which are frequently situated in major shopping malls”. According to a report in The Star yesterday, 1,145 pairs of the shoes with the offensive soles were seized in Vern’s outlets in Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Kedah, even when the brand has said that they have removed those very footwear from retail.

Ng Chuan Hoo confronted by the media earlier today after giving a statement to Department of Islamic Development Malaysia. Screen shot: TV3/YouTube

Mr Ng has asserted that, to Vern’s, good shoes require these qualities: “外观精美、内在舒适，更重要的是价钱合理 (attractiveness and comfort, and more importantly, reasonable price)”, as was pointed out to the Chinese business news site 商天下 (Shangtianxia). By comfort, we assume he also meant that a wearer of his shoes won’t be having seeming religious script underfoot. A look at Vern’s recent social posts shows that much of the marketing appear to target the Malay market (possibly because it is the month of Ramadan), It is, therefore, likely that the said logo on the sole was an aesthetical choice, not a motif to cause offence. It would be hard to comprehend that the brand’s designers had wanted to create something deliberately hurtful to a large swath of their customer base. Mr Ng’s almost instantaneous apology could, therefore, be construed as not taking the side of his staff or creatives. In their posted apology, Vern’s wrote, “This is a very valuable lesson for us to refine and be more careful in every decision taken to ensure that a thing like this does not happen again in the future.”

Vern’s footwear, it appears, are popular in Malaysia. Although with a moniker that seems to come from the Gallic word vern (or the Alder tree of the birch family) and two punctuation marks in its logotype (other than the apostrophe, there is also a superfluous superscript period at the end of the name [in other images, the dot is a ®️ symbol, which in itself makes its requirement somewhat old-fashioned]), the brand is not as atas as it is touted. It has not quite the “luxury” image of Charles and Keith, but rather the approachable cheeriness of Prettyfit, with the unchallenging pleasingness of Anothersole. Vern’s is currently not available on our island. The nearest store is in Johor Bahru City Square, just across the frequently jammed Causeway. But the trending shoes are not, as it has been reported, in stock. Rather than destined for an incinerator, they are probably back in the factory, waiting to be re-soled, and resold.