Nida Lu Handmade
Meet the maker: Nida Lu Handmade
Nida Lu’s husband and wife team creates modern handmade shoes in Turkey that are an adaptation of a 700-year-old Turkish-Yemini shoe design. Each pair of shoes are handmade by a family of generational shoemakers and cobblers in Gaziantep, Turkey. These shoes are a heritage product which means they’re supporting the preservation of a heritage craft. Many of the shoemakers that Nida Lu Handmade employees are refugees. Providing employment opportunities and paying living wages to marginalized communities is at the heart of Nida Lu’s business. Nida Lu uses five different kinds of leather that are tanned natural based dyes across their shoe line. Once dyed the leather is softened — making it pliable — then sewn together with a cotton thread that has been soaked in beeswax. Each pair is easily resole-able and designed to last a lifetime.