Irfan emailed Nina and wanted to know if we would share her story. For me, this story makes me think about how fortunate we really are and it also is very encouraging to see Irfan continue to make her business work. Perserverence and persistance do eventually pay off and I hope this is the case for our friend from the Middle East. Here is her letter…

I am a garment manufacturing technologist and have done production for various leading brands in the industry. It was 3 years ago that   I ventured into leather garment, accessories and shoe manufacturing. I started production in a very small factory on the outskirts of Karachi (Pakistan’s largest city and the business hub).

I initially sustained heavy losses and as a result I had to close the production facility.

While I was in the process of closing I realized that I would laying off 25 workers who were in dire need of employment and most were already living below the poverty line. All they know is how to make these women’s sandals by hand.  This is a dying art, even in our country with all the recent advances with laser cutting technology.  These men have become expendable. Everything they make is hand crafted which is very hard to find these days.

So, as I was ready to close, I realized that I would be able to get another job or explore any of my many options that I had but wondered  what these men would do since their trade was slowly dying, and there was not much work.  

In order to keep these dedicated employees working, I decided to continue operating and while initially we had problems competing with Chinese products, people slowly have started to recognize our quality and style.

Our biggest challenge is marketing and even today especially in the western world; we have difficulty selling our product.

We have sent out some shipments but unfortunately our customers abroad experienced financial problems and have been unable to pay us for our hard work.

We are not going to give up yet, and we are planning to penetrate into the western market once again!! Please send us well wishes as we like everyone try to stay in the game.

 Thank you!

-Irfan Moeen

irfan.moeen@gmail.com