Today we’d like to introduce you to Marua Patel.
Hi Marua, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
So in Austin/Cedar Park, the business is still in its very early stages. I just started with the business earlier this year after moving here from Switzerland, so this spring/summer has been my first season in Austin. The business started out in my hometown Zurich in Switzerland. In 2019, my good friend Manu traveled from Zurich to Vietnam and met Hang, a local shoemaker in Hoi An. Hoi An is famous for its local tailors and shoemakers and many tourists get custom-made clothing or shoes done. Together, Manu and Hang designed two pairs of sandals for Manu’s personal use. Back in Zurich, she received so many compliments and friends and strangers asked where she got the sandals from. She ordered a few more from Vietnam to sell them to her friends. Being a good friends of Manu, together we realized that there is an interest in these sandals, so we decided to order more and created a FB page, an Instagram account and a website. We also started participating at local artisan markets during the summer. This is our third season in Switzerland, and while in the beginning we mainly sold the sandals locally in Zurich, we now get orders from all over the country. In August 2021, I moved from Zurich to Austin with my children and my husband. I wanted to stay involved in the business and since here in Texas it’s sandal weather almost all year round, we decided to start a second location. I’m not as well connected here and my network is a lot smaller than in Switzerland, so there isn’t as much word to moth advertising and it’s a bit different here. I’ve mainly been doing artisan markets in Austin and Cedar Park and have been investing time into our social media accounts for Austin. So far I have received a lot of great feedback and the sandals sell well at markets. The plan moving forward is to keep doing markets and to invest time into our online presence. We are currently in the process of redesigning our website so we can better incorporate our Austin location, and we want to focus on growing our business here.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been a lot of learning by doing, trial and error. Initially, we didn’t really keep track of our orders and inventory, and soon we had too many sandals to keep track of without a system in place. Also, our website has changed several times in the past, looking back we always see things that we could have done better. The AMiGAS business is a side business for both of us, so sometimes it’s hard to find the time that we want to invest. But overall, considering the way the business started, it’s actually been going pretty smoothly without too many struggles.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We sell leather sandals that are handmade in Hoi An, Vietnam, by our friend Hang. She is the owner of a small shoemaking business, and buying our sandals means directly supporting Hang and her employees. We make sure that she receives a fair price for every pair of sandals she and her employees make for us, so fairtrade is an important aspect of our business too. What’s especially cool is that since every pair is handmade, we can also place custom orders for customers with special requests, mostly without additional charges. We have had custom orders for women with especially large feet or with two different shoe sizes, for example. It’s an awesome feeling to be able to help these women with a beautiful, comfortable and affordable pair of sandals while also supporting Hang in Vietnam.
How do you think about happiness?
A glass of red wine, good food, traveling, reading. Helping others and making their lives better. Good company.
Pricing:
- $79 (introductory price, subject to change)
Contact Info:
- Website: amigas-sandals.ch/austin-tx
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amigas_sandals_usa
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amigas.usa
- Others: http://amigas-sandals.ch/austin-tx
Image Credits
Personal photo: Adrianne Schroeder Photography
