Bernardo Sandals

Upon Rudofsky's departure to Italy, Dino Sonnino needed a new designer for Bernardo Sandals, at the time a tiny business with a small factory in New York City, on Walker Street in Tribeca.

Kay Hayes liked it so much that she ordered a white leather pair for a NYC broadcast TV show with Tippy Hedren (the star of Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds") modeling the sandal.

[citation needed] By the mid to late sixties, Eva Sonnino was designing special collections for Emilio Pucci evening wear.

Emilio Pucci was so enthusiastic about her designs and Dino Sonnino's business leadership, that he invited them to move their headquarters next to his compound outside Florence, Italy, in the Tuscan countryside, all at his expense.

Barry, listed on the American Stock Exchange, a manufacturer of machine washable slippers with well-known brands such as "DearFoams", ended up acquiring Bernardo, thinking it could transform a relatively low-volume high-fashion company into a high volume one.

They underestimated the importance of having a tight rapport with Vogue and Harpers Bazaar, which led to countless high-impact editorials which strengthened the Bernardo brand and increased visibility.

Eva and Dino Sonnino were quite a husband and wife team, creating a successful high fashion company practically from scratch in less than fifteen years.

Owned by the Slaughter Brothers of Dallas, Texas, the sandals were 100% man-made materials, production was switched to China, and the retail price range was $25 to $35.

[citation needed] Texan retailer Roy Smith teamed up with designer Dennis Comeau of Florence, Italy, who resigned from Prada to acquire the rights to the brand in 2001.

Restructuring and relaunching the brand, they went back to making a high-quality all leather product, manufacturing in Italy, and raised the retail prices to the $100 plus market.

The sandals were frequently sighted and photographed by many big-name celebrities, such as Reese Witherspoon, Hilary Duff, Vanessa Manillo, Jessica Alba, Ruby Spiro, Robin Wright, and Halle Berry.

With prices ranging from $250 to $600, the new line was bought by very high end retailers worldwide, such as Dover Street Market in London, Jeffrey and Bergdorf Goodman in New York, 10 Corso Como in Milan, and Harvey Nichols in the UK and Asia.