Miss Seetal Kaur Randhawa believes that women should be able to personalise the shoes they wear - without breaking the bank while doing so.

Just two months ago, the law graduate from the National University of Singapore decided to start The Shoemaker's Elf to plug what she saw as a gap in the market.

Her prices for a pair of ballet pumps start at $79 - a fraction of the cost charged by other such shoe companies here.

The most expensive pair of shoes she has sold is a pair of four-inch satin wedding shoes, which cost $400.

"The heels were completely studded with crystals, which the shoemaker had to attach by hand," she says.

The 25-year-old operates mainly out of a spacious back room in her Seletar home. She visits the homes of prospective clients so they can get a feel of her products.

But while customers can pick the fabric and dictate design and heel height, aspects like the angle of the arch and shoe width are pre-set.

Full customisation is not offered because her current range of offerings meet the majority of her client's needs, claims Miss Randhawa.

"I take several sizes of sample shoes to my customers' homes so they can try them on for comfort and fit.

"They can also look through a book of fabric swatches, or even show me photos of what they want," she says.

Despite having started only recently, she receives 40 to 60 orders per month. The road to opening her business, however, was challenging.

Miss Randhawa says that hunting for the perfect shoemakers took close to six months of travelling through Asia.

"It wasn't easy to locate suppliers who would take individual orders. Many of them produce shoes by batch," she says.

She eventually settled on four shoemakers in Indonesia, whom she says attended specialised shoemaking courses in Italy and run their own workshop.

"I fly over there and visit them regularly just to touch base, give them feedback and discuss new fabrics I'd like to incorporate," she says.

Her personalised service and attention to detail is something clients appreciate.

Miss Shanti Alexander, a consultant in a communications firm, says: "I ordered a pair of black suede pumps for work a month and a half ago.

When they were delivered, they were a little tight in the front."

The 28-year-old adds: "Seetal offered to send it back to the workshop to have it widened at no extra charge."

The Shoemaker's Elf caters solely to women.

Miss Randhawa gets a wide range of requests such as from "brides on the hunt for their dream wedding shoe".

Wearing something "uniquely theirs" is the biggest appeal of the bespoke concept, she says.

Miss Randhawa's goal is to expand her customisation service to other products like handbags.

For now, however, she is working on bringing in shoes with wider widths, as well as "odd sizes" not found in stores, such as European size 31, 32, 43 and 44.

For those in need of such shoes, her service is very welcome.

"There are expat customers who have size 42 feet (European size) and cannot find anything off the rack to fit them."

Get The New Paper for more stories.