Search This Blog

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

vietnam

okay family. i am on a new adventure. i'm looking to start a vegan (no animal products), eco-friendly line of shoes. i need to find a manufacturer that will make prototypes of my designs and then be able to produce large quantities of them for retail. i'm thinking about looking in vietnam. thien, chin, dung, truc in particular....any suggestions on how i might find these places? i am willing to travel there and research. i just don't know where to begin :)

5 comments:

Laure said...

Ooouuh that's a great idea !!!

Tam Thien said...

Hi Sarah, I am talking about what i saw: there is the water hyacinth that can do multiple things. Furniture, lamps and even shoes. I saw flip flops made from water hyacinth. At the orphanage, I saw people who teach the technic of dried water hyacinth. These people may be making your shoes. it may be an idea? The Vietnamese can make anything you ask them to do. manpower is not at all expensive .
Tam

templin said...

I remember in 1980 with ngoai visiting us in Houston,
We had just moved to Houston. To make extra money,
mom found a company that will allow us to hand stitch moccasins for $.25 a pair. We did bags and bags, ngoai did many pairs with us.

Are you leaning towards casual, fancy, sports shoes?

I am using photo paper made from bamboo and sugar cane. Water hyacinth, wow!!!

sarah-mai said...

Well I'd like to do vintage style shoes so I'll need to actually get into faux leather, faux suede, etc. Everyday shoes and shoes for going out. I'd eventually like to have a full line...boots, sandals, etc. I'd like to sell them at some of the main shoe stores, like Zappos, Moo Shoes (which specializes in only vegan shoes). So they need to be comparable to the leather shoes out there now, just no harm done to animals or the earth. I ultimately want it to be a great shoe line that just happens to be vegan and eco-friendly.

sarah-mai said...

That's a really good idea Thien. I will work on some designs for espadrille type sandals! When are you going to Vietnam next???