Birthed in 2014, Nineteenth Shoes set out to give a new essence and excellence to shoe making in Nigeria and beyond. Specializing in making hand made shoes defined in top quality materials sourced locally in Nigeria, crafted to perfection by local artisans who with the direction of the company’s Creative Director and CEO, Amosu Babatunde Peter works tirelessly to make shoes that are seasoned with Quality, Uniqueness in designs and style and an assurance it’s end users gets prompt delivery of their wears.
Recently Nineteenth Shoes celebrated its 7 year anniversary as it continues with it’s promises to push a narrative that Nigerians have dreams and applaud positivity. Oftentimes the country has been too stereotyped with negativity but the brand is working tirelessly to change that. And in part of its anniversary the brand is offering about 19 young girls a 6 weeks incubation and free skills acquisitions where they would be taught a wide array of different developmental and empowerment skills which would help secure them a promised future and a means of livelihood.
Detailing why he ventured into shoe making he stated, “Generally for me I have always loved fashion. So there was a day my Mum bought shoes for me from someone that makes handmade shoes and I really liked the shoe and I wore it for a very long time. So I got the contact information of the person from my mum and started transacting some shoes for my friends. Gradually I came up with Nineteenth shoes with the name I got from my birthday which is on the 19th of October. Shoe making was the easiest way for me to enter fashion then.”
In line with how Nineteenth shoes is changing the shoe making industry he stated that, “Over the years I have seen that it has not been easy for people to get the kind of shoes that they want. Sometimes it’s too expensive, sometimes they don’t see what they want. But what we have been able to do is for you to see something that you like and we make it for you. When we started we did generally accepted designs but now we have been able to create our own designs which people can buy from and we can also make to their specifications.
We have unique designs and over the years we have been able to grow our skills in shoe making. We have been able to make quality shoes and this sets us apart. This isn’t just me saying this but our customers attesting to it as well.”
“Right now we are looking at expansion plans but ahead of that we have started keeping up stock of some shoes to be able to deliver faster and we plan to have a store in the heart of Lagos where people can walk in and buy shoes. Also our production capacity which we are always particular about as we are working towards more capacity to produce more shoes to be able to cater for more than we do right now. And we are very interested in more capacity there by creating more jobs for people.” He concluded.
