Veldskoen
Veldskoen is the big surprise in the fashion brand world right now. Worn by the first settlers as far back as 400 years ago, it was inspired by shoes the Khoisan wore to traverse the South African landscape. It was not exactly seen as the coolest shoe for the past decades, but its reinvention has been a massive success.
It all started on that fateful day the country sat in shock seeing our Olympic team walk the field and getting on podiums in the most horrendous ill-fitting track suits. It started a conversation amongst school friends Nick Dreyer, Ross Zondagh and Nic Latouf. The question was raised, what is actually our heritage in clothing, what is truly South African? The answer of course is the Veldskoen.
The Veldskoen reimagined, soles and details in great, bright colours, propelled this brand into international acclaim. Prince Harry was featured in the British press wearing his, causing a huge spike in sales. Then Ashton Kutcher and Marc Cuban bought shares in company for the US market, and Brian Joffe’s Long4Life invested - and BOOM! Veldskoen went international and the most desired shoes in the market.
The shoes will not be made anywhere but in Durban- so there is great pride taken in our local industry.
You cannot walk any where wearing Veldskoen, without it being a conversation starter. Such an obvious, simple idea, executed so brilliantly - and we now have a Proudly South African mega brand.
Production: Dossier Magazine
Photographer : Neil Kirby
Retoucher: Gisela Calitz
Models: Sello and Angella from BOSS Models
Make up: Deirdre Holtzer
