Jazz Bonifacio, a Filipino based in Melbourne for over 20 years, designed this shoe for the Australia Olympic Team. Photo from the official Volley website.
Australia takes the Olympics very seriously with much funding from their government. Since the 2000 Summer Olympics, Australia has placed fourth twice and sixth respectively (2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens , and 2008 Beijing) . And it is known to excel in Swimming with gold medalist Ian Thorpe, possibly the most famous athlete who will don Jazz Bonifacio’s design come opening of this year’s Summer Olympics in London (Jazz says they fitted him for a size 17 but he’s still yet to qualify for the games).
Filipino designer Jazz Bonifacio. Photo courtesy of Jazz Bonifacio.
Jazz Bonifacio shows off his personal shoe collection. Photo courtesy of Jazz Bonifacio.
Jazz’s family moved to Melbourne when he was nine , a year after his passion for shoes began and he was already then, an early shoe collector.  He now has about 600 pairs of shoes that he modestly places at less than a million pesos worth.
Detail of the Australian Olympic Team's official Olympic ceremony opening footwear. Photo courtesy of Jazz Bonifacio.
In his design for Team Australia’s Olympic footwear, he included intricate detailing with metallic gold aglets and eyelets, ‘AUS 2012’ Volley lace holder with a metallic gold finish, and the laser engraved Olympic ‘Crest and Rings’ tongue label
Jazz believes the famous Imelda Marcos’ love for shoes runs in every Filipinos blood. He hopes that in the near future, he can create footwear for the shoe-loving Filipinos.
