Michelle Hill lost her job, turned entrepreneur, and offers a new shoe, ethically sourced, in traditional Indian fashion with her “Paduka Sandals.”
York, PA resident, Michelle Hill worked as a high-end ceramic tile designer but lost that job to a tough economy. She realized her calling was somewhere else, finding her new mission on a trip to India.
“I have been on several volunteer trips, sometimes for months at a time to Africa and Haiti, but nothing touched me quite like India did.”
On a 3 month “bucket list” trip to India in 2011 she found and bought a really unique pair of sandals from a vendor on the street.
“When I returned to the States, I couldn’t go ten steps on the sidewalk without a woman stopping me to find out where they could get a pair for themselves.”
“I decided they should just get them from me! Paduka Sandals was born.”
The only trouble was trying to find the one shoemaker out of over 1 billion people with absolutely no shop name, no receipt, no shoe box or even logo on the sandals to work with.
“To make a long story short, I tracked down the hostel owner who tracked down the rickshaw driver who tracked down the shoemaker. It was one lucky break after another.”
“For some reason it was important to me to try to have the line manufactured by the people who sold them to me first. It was their sandal and I thought I owed them at least the chance.”
Hill eventually learned that the beading on the sandals is done by rural village women who would not have work otherwise. Beautiful sandals AND socially responsible? Sold.
“Paduka Sandals has evolved into several collections and styles and is starting to look like a real business.”
“Most important to me is that the women who buy them can feel good about helping our sisters 7000 miles away. The support I am receiving from women here who care about those village women in India is overwhelming.”
Paduka Sandals are available on Hill’s Kickstarter campaign starting at $30.
Some of the village kids. They made me promise I would try to make them famous… (Here ya go boys! I’m trying!)
