Before I get into how ridiculously awesome these African-made boots are, I need you to recall a few things.
First, you know Toms Shoes? The California-based company that donates a pair of shoes to an impoverished country for every pair they sell in the developed world? It’s a pretty amazing company – the world needs more like it.
Now, remember that old adage – give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day; give teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime? If Toms is the “give a man a shoe” company, then Oliberté is the “teach a man to locally source materials and manufacture a profitable, eco-friendly footwear line” company.
Everything used to make these boots – the leather, the rubber, the labor, and even the machines and tools used to put everything together – is obtained from Ethiopia or other Sub-Saharan countries. From the very beginning, it’s been Oliberté founder Tal Dehtiar’s goal to help Africa develop a thriving middle class through creating jobs – and what better way to do it than with a line of high-end leather shoes?
The materials used to construct the boots are simple and natural. Things like hand-stitched leather exteriors, goat-leather linings, vegetable tanned leather midsoles, and crepe rubber soles – they all come together to form a correspondingly classic and uncomplicated look. Check out Oliberté’s site to see the full line.
