From community project to Silicon Valley

From community project to Silicon Valley

 
Ten years on, SoleRebels, a rapidly emerging footwear maker based in Ethiopia, is increasingly distancing its from its humble beginning as a simple community project to a reputable international brand, attaining another milestone by unveiling a new international store in Silicon Valley, a home to global tech brands such as Apple.

This month, the eco-friendly footwear brand, founded by renowned Ethiopian entrepreneur Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu will see its first US store begin operation in the popular Westfield Valley Fair Mall, a major retail destination in San Jose, California.

The birth of SoleRebels' flagship store at the United States makes the Ethiopian shoe maker the first African consumer brand to open a stand-alone retail outlet in the United States after successfully flagging off over 15 stores across Africa, Asia and the Europe.

"I am totally vibed to open our first US SoleRebels store in Silicon Valley," Bethlehem said, describing the new outlet as "a place that epitomized the creativity, innovation, craziness, disruption and the overall WALK NAKED ethos that SoleRebels is all about."

"Silicon Valley is the epicentre of all these things and so it's the perfect place to launch our US retail store business and I imagine there are quite a few folks in and around Silicon Valley who can't wait to be able to 'walk naked," she added.

In four years time, Bethlehem plans to open 50 stand alone SoleRebels stores across the United States and scale up its global footprint to 500.

Bethlehem, an accountant turn footwear entrepreneur, created SoleRebels as a way of unlocking entrepreneurial energy in her community, Zenabwork – a small village in the outskirts of Addis Ababa. She was inspired to turn the unexploited artisan skill of the community to a worldwide eco-sensible product.

SoleRebels is a re-invention of the renowned Selate and Barabasso shoe worn by the then Ethiopian rebels who were vehemently opposed to western colonialisation.

The hand-crafted footwear are made from recycled weather-beaten car tires with series of recycled and sustainable ingredient like handspun organic cotton, hand loomed organic fabrics and a palette unique natural fibres including pure organic Abyssinian jutes and pure Abyssinian koba plants.

As the first green global footwear brand to emerge from a developing country and the first World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) Fairtrade Certified footwear company in the world, SoleRebels expects to generate over 10 million USD by 2016. However, the continuous launch of new stores across the globe may spur the company's revenue growth farther.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia's footwear industry and its leather sector in general enjoy significant international comparative advantages owing to its abundant and available raw materials, highly disciplined workforce and cheap prices. Ethiopia boasts the largest livestock production in Africa, and the 10th largest in the world. Ethiopia annually produces 2.7 million hides, 8.1 million sheepskin and 7.5 million goatskin. This comparative advantage is further underlined by the fact that the costs of raw hides and skin constitute on average 55-60 per cent of the production of semi-processed leather.

Ethiopia's leather and leather product sector produce a range of products from semi-processed leather in various forms to processed leathers including shoe uppers, leather garments, stitched upholstery, backpacks, purses, industrial gloves and finished leather.

Ethiopian leather products have been exported to markets in Europe (especially Italy and the UK), America, Canada, China, Japan and other Far Eastern countries and the Middle East. Leather is also exported to other African countries including Nigeria and Uganda.

Ethiopian footwear factories produce men's casual shoes and children's shoe-uppers made from pure leather. Additionally, the factories:
• Sell directly to overseas importers/wholesalers, or to direct buying offices;
• Facilitate the production and export of footwear under the private labels of department stores, boutiques, shoe retail chains and mail-order houses;
• Source out from Ethiopia and other nations in East Africa and re-export;
• Facilitate the production and export of internationally well-known brands under contract.
The Ethiopian footwear industry produces shoes that are globally competitive in terms of both quality and price. Due focus is given to maintaining the quality of the hides and skins, leather and leather products for export. All exports are tested by the Quality and Standards certifying institutions.
(Source: Ethiopian Herald)