HOW IT'S MADE: Meet the makers behind our summer sandals

We’ve got a new shoe manufacturer in Dongguan, China, and we are pretty stoked with the quality of their workmanship and their workplace practices. Take a trip behind the scenes to meet our makers...

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Transitioning to a new footwear manufacturer - one who would offer a superior product and greater transparency in their production processes - took extensive research. But it is our new maker’s company ethos that drew us to working with them. They are wholly committed to making small run designer footwear that meets high ethical and environmental standards, with leather sourced from farmed animals and tanneries that have strict environmental controls.

(Top) Technician Jiang crafts all patterns by hand // (Middle) Colour sampling for our MEMENTO SLIDE // (Bottom) The view from our shoemaker's workshop over central Dongguan.

After impressive initial samples of our designs, it was time for me to hop on a plane to meet the makers, experience first hand their working conditions and see our shoes being made. Because we produce limited quantity of each shoe style, all shoes are made in this centrally-based workshop (check out that view!). 

While our summer sandals went into production, I was also there to observe Li (middle left) working on sampling our Winter 2019 boot designs.

A family business, director Carl (pictured below) took over the company from his father. It is clear that he has the highest respect for his team, providing them with fair remuneration and a safe, light-filled workspace that reminded me a lot of our own studio in Melbourne!

We’re sure that their decades of specialist craftmanship and their passion for investigating new ethical materials and processes means it will be a fruitful collaboration for years to come!