The company that would become Daphne International, seller of more women's dress shoes in China than anyone else, was down at the heels in 2001. Profit at what was then Prime Success International had fallen since the late 1990s, and inventory writedowns followed. "Eddie" Chen Ying-Chieh, a part of the extended founding family in Taiwan, had been designated to get the company out of a mainland morass. On one walking tour of Shenzhen with his store architect, the scene was bracing. Block after block in the busy shoe district they saw an undifferentiated abundance available to these consumers.  Chen, though, saw a market that needed better choices and closets that would need filling as urban jobs grew more numerous. Chinese women were buying fewer than a third as many dress shoes as their Western counterparts. He pushed ahead in a new retailing rollout that by last year totaled 4,120 stores on the mainland. Prime Success first made FORBES ASIA's Best Under A Billion list in 2005 (it was rechristened Daphne in 2008) and last year returned to the list on the basis of $682 million in 2008 revenues and $64 million in earnings.  A popular-price favorite under its Daphne label and the even less costly (average $18 a pair) Shoebox line, the company trails only Shenzhen's Belle International, with its higher price points, in total mainland sales revenue in the ladies' category.  The 35 million pairs of own-branded shoes Daphne will produce this year is testimony to how good a foothold Chen, now 41 and chairman, has established. First-half results to be released this month will be an indication of whether the outfit profitably can surpass $800 million in 2010 sales.  Chen is modest. "Like many [new rich] mainlanders, we amass our fortune or business success without knowing how until much later. Much of our success is achieved by chance, not by design," he says. Still, he allows "it is of great importance to be able to sniff out opportunities and make the right turns."  Daphne has 100 designers at its Shanghai headquarters, a team headed by an American, Edison Andrew, who was previously with U.S. shoe brands Kenneth Cole ( KCP - news - people ) and Guess. They are gearing up for Chen's new "turn" into the higher-end market. Daphne International in January acquired a 60% stake in Full Pearl International, teaming up with the remaining 40% stakeholder Pou Chen Group of Taiwan--the world's largest athletic shoe manufacturer--and with that came a sales channel into 200 department stores on the mainland. With a broader clientele, his aim is 20% year-on-year sales growth over the next five years.  Chen is looking not only to shod but to accessorize this new target woman, a species he describes as "a lovely strange creature." He says the market defies clear segmentation, with both older and younger customers, middle or richer class, looking to splurge on occasion but also to pick up a discount pair on impulse.  And Daphne is not above seeding that thrill. When Chen in May was wed to Chinese actress Han Yuqin, after seeming to be married to his work for many years, the 60 stores that have been opened back in Taiwan celebrated with a three-day "buy one, get one free" sale. In Shanghai anticipation is also a factor. Albeit not a fan of high heels, Chen Yunqing, 45, calls herself a frequent Daphne shopper. "Their shoes make me look younger for prices that are pretty friendly," says the Shanghai native at Daphne's outlet on Huaihai Zhong Road.  Nothing better suits a wannabe trend-setter like 18-year-old Yang Xiaomin, originally from Anhui Province and very much on a budget at the Huaihai strip. "I like S.H.E. [the Taiwan girl band the brand sponsors]. And I feel a sense of fashion in [Daphne's] shoes, which perfectly suit young people," she says.
Eddie Chen stepped up in the Taiwan family behind Daphne, which he's made the basic women's shoe source in China.