Let Your Sole Glow

The Jamaican shoe industry is aligned to the story of the country's dedication to production. The HEART vocational training institute has also added to young men learning the basics of the industry.  It cant however be said that this has been the best prescription for the local industry related to shoe manufacture and repair. The Shoemaker (you are presumptuous to call them cobbler) is mostly an apprentice built talent, rather than a classroom. The Captains of the industry are driven and so motivated that they now know that their effort is hardwired into their financial success.

Shoe repair/manufacture has been a manipulation of very limited rraw material types to keep costs down and compatible and competitive with cheap imported shoes, travel bags, handbags and luggage. Bridget's sandals have not only led a wondrous charge but is also teaching the industry to charge properly for hard handmade work. Thank you @bridgetsandalsja for lighting the tunnel to a potentially positive future. In the past shoe making and repair was just something old men did to maintain "babymothers" gambling debts, and bar tabs. of course this is a generalization but the problem was so pervasive that sufficiently talented people really saw no success on the scale of Bridget Sandals or anywhere near.

But something else happened, the shoe market in Jamaica maintained a love affair that was no secret:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFYtre2q6uo

Any shoe branded Clark's is a prize known to all Jamaicans but primarily to the Jamaican male. Clark's transcended class and colour. Clarks are a legacy of the colonial past but it must be said Jamaican men own it and in much the same way the Nike Air Jordan(Jumpman) infected urban populations of USA. The struggling local industry started an underground movement of copywright infringement as the individual income in the Jamaican market for Clark's really couldnt afford the brands relative luxury pricing. The local copies exploded in the market and were created and dispensed so widely that nobody could tell them different. They were leather and suede; stitched neatly, authentic tags and branding. the copies ARE high quality shoes in their own right. So we can make quality shoes...YES. 

Is it collective laziness and indifference that has prevented real production? Maybe its market driven necessity to be static in styling? its as if the market will only buy Jamaican if they are tricked or its a strong copy of some first world brand that already has made its name. Bridget taught us that none of this is true. Bridget sandals is such a great brand now that they are being copied and there is a surge in modern Jamaican sandal makers, with the most innovative boasting exceptional talent on instagram profiles like these:

@jasandalco

@elmartondesign

@dnextstepsandals

...and others. We surely have an island of feet to cover as well as a burgeoning Jamaican sandal industry- that is the real "Brand Jamaica"! Where do we go from here then? 

The Heel Bar Shoe Repair wants to consolidate the industry into a juggernaut. A network of partners ready to serve. We intend to lobby for public sector facilitation en bloc and build this industry.  The industry benefits from some of the government leniency via Jamaica Customs and the breaks thereof.