The leather used to make this shoe was produced by ALLPI and Zambian SMEs Cluster during the vegetable tanning training of artisans and SMEs at co-operative college using one of ALLPI’s designed curricula for short courses. The objective of the training was to provide skills development to artisans at cottage and SME level to facilitate the transfer of technology in aspects of rural tanning based techniques. The raw material used to produce the leather was sourced locally while the processing of the leather was carried manually in a rural set up using plastic containers as tanning vessels.
The leather was taken to Ethiopia to make the end product (shoe) as per the sample shown. This is a breakthrough as the sample (shoe) produced weigh only 300 gms (0.3 kg) which is the recommended limit of 500 gms (0.5 kg). This is important to ensure that we produce lighter shoes that remain strong and versatile.