Bulawayo– A locally made sneaker will soon hit the Zimbabwean market following plans by the Bulawayo Leather Cluster to launch it during the festive season.
The sneaker, which will be made from locally sourced raw material and designed by local footwear experts and will be a game changer in the country with entrepreneurs taking centre stage to revive the ailing local leather industry.
The cluster secretary, Fungai Zvinondiramba, said they are looking to produce about 500 pairs this festive season to kick start the sneaker range.
The shoe factory which benefited from equipment provided by Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), was launched earlier this year after its workers underwent specialized training conducted by a shoe manufacturing expert brought in by the regional body.
It is run by local small scale leather players to beef up the leather value chain and give a lifeline to the fading local leather industry.
At full capacity, the factory will be able to produce about 158 400 pairs of shoes annually.
“We were expecting to do at least 500 pairs for the festive season. We are working with our local tanners but we can’t give precise dates for now,” Zvinondiramba said.
“The sneaker range is on standstill, we want to ensure that at least 95% of the components are locally sourced to avoid importation of components, the idea is to come up with a Zimbabwean sneaker. To achieve this, we’ve given samples of leathers that were brought from Ethiopia for the production of the sneakers to our local tanners so that we substitute with locally tanned leather”
To grow their business and be able to employ more locals, the cluster is looking to push volumes in high demand areas such as nurses’ shoes, school shoes and safety shoes.
He said in the near future, they are looking to employ about 125 people to fully utilize the plant.
“Our factory is basically a footwear plant, we plan to develop formal shoes and some for casual wear but to deal with cost we intend to do duty shoes like safety shoes, shoes for nurses and school shoe ranges. These don’t bring in much profit but they’ve a very high demand and can bring income faster,” he said.
