Our factory, Hopewell Footwear, is located in the beautiful city of Durban on the East Coast of South Africa, surfing capital of the country. It is a 3rd generation, locally owned, family business. The 4th generation is studying a footwear degree in London, and will be working in Italy to prepare him to take over the family business. Owner Mohammed says many of the employees have been with them for as long as he can remember.
South Africa has a 30% unemployment so it's important to us to help support the local people and economy.
We do this by sourcing most of the footwear components locally. This enables us to support a wide range of South African companies, and reduce our carbon footprint.
Hopewell is a member of fairfactories.org. They are continuously audited by Open Source to remain an internationally approved Veldskoen supplier.
They take full accountability in running their factory in an ethical and transparent manner, with very strict fair labour, health and safety procedures. The longest serving employee has been there 48 years. In short, people love working there.
Each shoe is individually hand cut and sewn, making it completely unique. The leather hide we use is a single hide. We don’t use compressed composite leather. This means you get a soft, comfy and exceptionally durable shoe that lasts and lasts.
There is a very strong bond between all the workers and management and they are looked after very well. As a result workers take huge pride in their work and many have been there for over 20 years.