Most shoemakers left the United States for cheaper factories abroad decades ago. Here’s how two small, family-owned firms with strong consumer followings—Sabah and Okabashi—are bucking the trend. by amyfeldman
Courtesy of Sabah
Okabashi CEO Sara Irvani at the company’s Buford, Georgia, factory, which is getting a $20 million expansion.to its own 100,000-square-foot American factory. Okabashi, whose founding family is Iranian and once owned the largest footwear business in the Middle East, has been manufacturing in Buford, Georgia, since its 1984 start. Its recycled men’s and women’s flip-flops and kids’ rain boots are sold at Walmart and Target, as well as online.
A decade ago, Sabah’s Ashmore, a former finance guy and Microsoft employee who’d lived in Istanbul, fell in love with his gifted Turkish slippers. Back in New York City, he searched for a shoemaker who could make him a modified version with a more modern look and higher-quality materials.
With the new, 3,000-square-foot factory, he hopes to produce higher-top boots that will blend the heritages of Turkey and Texas, as well as new versions of its existing slippers with new materials and designs. Its first run of slippers made with undyed saddle leather launched June 11 and sold out in seven hours, he says. A second run sold out quickly as well.
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