Country: Swaziland

Oliberté Footwear, the first show company to make premium shoes in Africa using materials from those countries and creating jobs there, and well-known for its Ethiopian-produced line of shoes for men, women and children, will be launching a new Women’s collection, in collaboration with Boabab Batik, a Swaziland-based enterprise doing business in locally sourced printed fabrics.

The collection will come out in two styles — Kinsha, a lace-up retailing for $100, and the Mbozi, a slip-on at $90; both of which will be available in two colour ways. The collection will be available online from March 28 at Oliberte. This will also the first ever for women. Earlier, Oliberté, which was founded by Canadian entrepreneur Tal Dehtiar as a sustainable brand supporting workers’ rights in sub-Saharan Africa in 2009, had partnered with designer Mark McNairy for a men’s line.

According to a statement issued by Oliberté, the collaboration was “a natural one”, given that both companies aim on promoting social enterprise. With its over 20 years experience in handcrafting uniquely dyed fabrics for scarves, pillows and dolls, its collaboration with Oliberté was definitely a natural one. The Canadian footwear firm now owns its own factory in Addis Ababa, where its entire collection is produced. For this collection, Oliberté has worked closely with Baobab to produce the fabrics, with the help of local workers. Both companies are also Fair Trade Certified, which signifies they are made with respect to people and planet.

Phumelele Dlamini, CEO, Swaziland Investments Promotions Authority (SIPA) has said that two textiles firms in Swaziland are expected to create around 800 jobs in the country soon. She informed, “We are expecting that these factory shells (situated in Nhlangano and Matsanjeni) will provide job opportunities that will amount to 800. We expect 400 job opportunities from each of the factory shells. Government initially pumped US $ 8.3 million into the factory shells projects, and then pumped in US $ 1.4 million afterward. “We implore workers to work hard and cooperate with their employees so that they can establish a mutually beneficial working relationship with their employers,” Dlamini added.

Sukano, a Switzerland based manufacturer of masterbatches and compounds, has expanded the team which handles its fibres division. Roberto Parenzan as product development leader (Textiles & Fibres) will take care of the technical management of fibre projects and new product developments. Michael de Braaf, CEO of Sukano AG said, “The new Sukano fibres team is part of our mission towards even more customer focus and service.” The Sukano portfolio for fibre applications has a masterbatch range to improve functionality and look of fibre products, like high performance UV masterbatches and ultra durable antimicrobial masterbatches.