A new industry is emerging in Kenya albeit unexpectedly. What started out as a craft industry is now taking new heights.
In the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s open leather shoes made in Kenya were special treats you bought as a souvenior. Then came the “akala” i.e shoe made of tyres usually worn by the maasai. This was an everlasting shoe worn in rural ares never taken seriously until about year 2000 when some young men from eastlands part of Nairobi started funkidizing them! That caught the attention of youth and in a short while they were being exported as environmentally friendly shoes. Meanwhile the shoe industry was being controlled by ‘Bata’ an international outfit and a few imported shoes from India,pakistan and Europe. However in the 2000′s Ethiopia began exporting through Eastliegh(little Mogadishu in Nairobi) their leather shoes. This upped the game in closed shoes with Bata going high end. That ‘Akala’shoe had set a spark in Kenyans imagination and shortly someone started imitating Bata’s popular ‘Safari Boot’ closed shoes. In a short while Bata took Legal action because of loss of local Market – Bata had sold their shoe at a premium,while the cottage industry sold as common mans shoe, therefore low priced(pocket friendly). But by this time the cottage industry had discovered a mass market and were unstoppable, they quickly tapped into Bata’sschool designs which even had a bigger market! More market, more employment, more money (never give a Kenyan a chance to put in a toe). These same Kenyans soon started looking back at the Akalla success, and the Kenyan Curio market which they soon realised had a clientel known as women who loved open shoes. Creativity that brought the Akalla to the market was applied to the open souvenier leather shoes and the rest is History. Today Bata is copying designs from that cottage industry which seems to evolve weekly and expand too as production is sectionalised and people specialize in different sections of the shoe production. Prices are coming down and so is the indstry expanding with exploration of different manufacture materials. Watch out for shoes from Kenya, born and breed at Kariokor cottage industry – Kenyas new home to low end leather shoes for Africans! ps:Image shoesa shopper (possibly) wholeseller buyer shopping at Kariokor.
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