Ideas begin
with encounters.
Le Malindine was inspired by a meaningful encounter with a Kenyan artisan on the stunning shores of Watamu.
We watch him threading and stitching colorful beads onto leather flowers, hand-cutting soles and uppers, and we realize we’ve discovered something truly special: a handmade ‘jewel sandal’, a one-of-a-kind, unrepeatable piece. We feel an urge to share our discovery with our friends.
We share a photo of the flip-flop on Facebook, and it instantly gets unanimous love and praise.
We then decided to export these true works of art and later create our own collection of flip-flops and sandals, born from the meeting of Kenyan artisans’ know-how and Italian taste and style.
And that’s how we came up with Le Malindine.
I Prodotti
A real encounter with a masterpiece
Our sandals are unique, entirely handmade pieces. They are crafted from leather and natural materials. But the highlight is the thousands of colorful beads meticulously applied following the ancient traditions of the Kenyan people from the East Coast region.
The production process of our sandals is an art that also requires great patience and time. Crafting a pair of sandals takes an entire day’s work. The final product, born from the artistic talent of our artisans, is an original and unique shoe, far removed from anything destined for the mass market.
Gli Artigiani
An encounter between the italian design and kenyan handicraft
Le Malindine are the result of a collaboration between people from different backgrounds and cultures. On one side, there are us Italians, with our unmistakable taste and style designing the models, and on the other, the master Kenyan artisans who handcraft the beautiful sandals.
Etica
We encounter and address the needs of the local community.
We work with people from a small Kenyan village with the goal of boosting their local economy by providing jobs to the men and women of this community.
We take pride in providing our artisans with a steady workflow, purchasing their crafts at fair prices, and always paying for orders in advance.
We ask our suppliers to pay their staff fair wages, ensure good working conditions, treat them with respect, and hire only personnel of appropriate working age.