Do you know how much sandals made of tires cost in Kenya or elsewhere?

I don’t know the answer, but perhaps one of the items on this search list will help you.

Thank you, elegant pointer :)

Search terms: Masai sandals, thousand miler sandals, michelin sandals.

This is a good lead

While probably most of us can’t imagine running a marathon even in normal running shoes, in 2008, six Maasai men came from Northern Tanzania to run the London Marathon to raise money to provide their village with clean water. They ran in their full traditional Maasai dress, including spears and tire sandals. They may not have won but they easily raised enough money to finance the much needed infrastructure.

Lots of tourists traveling to Africa are fascinated by those sandals. A couple from Britain was so intrigued that they even opened an online store, Jambo Jambo, that sells tire sandals in various designs, made by men and women who live in Kibera the biggest slum in Sub-Saharan Africa. If you watch the film the Constant Gardener you get a bit of a romanticized idea of Kibera (it was actually partly filmed there).

Curious? If you want to make your own tire sandals, maybe you can use schickchick’s flip flop creation as pattern.

You could track down the shoes from the lead above, our you could track down sources for tires, and hire people to make the shoes.

Immense thanks. You are being so helpful.

Our sandals are made from Kenya. The sandals inner sole and straps are made of leather while the outer sole are made from old tires. The sandals are known as swahili sandals and designs are derived from the swahili culture. The sandals are beautifully beaded on the straps in different designs and colours. We have sandals for men, women and kids. The sandals are very durable. Visit www.africanashop.co.cc to view our products. If you would like to buy in wholesale we can negotiate the price.

@gatune2001 Thanks for chiming in. I must say though that we are looking to setup a non-profit operation, where money will only be made by people actually doing manufacturing, etc… To keep the costs to the lowest and the effect to the maximum… I would be interested in what is your profit margin though.

Check out www.tzandals.org

They’re in Tanzania:

“Keeping our startup costs low has allowed us already to ensure that a minimum of 38% of every purchase goes toward your selected cause. Our goal is to increase this percentage to over 60% by the end of this year.”

Selling for $20 each, and donating/reinvesting 38%, they must be pretty cheap to produce.