An in-depth interview with Affan Mohamed of Bridlen Shoes, which gives an interesting insight into the shoe industry in India and how it is to produce fine Goodyear welted shoes there, how one go about to have people in the west appreciate their quality, and much more.
Affan Mohamed is the Managing Director of Bridlen Shoes, an Indian maker of Goodyear welted footwear that is getting more and more attention both domestically and internationally. Founded by Affan’s father Hasan who had worked his whole life with leather craft and shoemaking, and Mr. Watanabe from Japan, who among other things was involved in the start of Meermin.
Affan Mohamed.
To make high quality Goodyear welted shoes like Bridlen in India, a country with lower wages which mainly has a reputation of doing cheaper shoes, comes with its own set of challenges. We talked a lot around this topic, about how India is going through a big transformation in many regards, about Bridlen’s special construction techniques like stitching the Goodyear seam directly to the leather insole and what they call “3D upper making”, and lots of other things.
Listen to the episode below, or in your preferred podcast player. All episodes of the Shoegazing Podcast can be found here. If you like the podcast, please give it a good rating or comment in your podcast player.
Your shoes are top tier, I’ll love to shop with you some day..