Traditional Nigerian footwear includes a variety of styles:
Babanriga sandals, simple leather or fabric open-toed sandals often adorned with patterns; Kwararafa sandals, distinctive northeastern sandals made from grass and leather with woven designs; Avarca sandals, Spanish-origin leather sandals known for comfort and decoration; Oja shoes, locally handmade leather slippers with varying designs for special occasions; Kano sandals, vibrant woven leather sandals from northern Nigeria; Okuku (Drummer) sandals, leather sandals with exposed heels resembling traditional drummers' footwear; Tukus sandals, woven fabric or straw sandals for hot climates; Alibabe sandals, closed-toe Yoruba sandals with woven leather and natural pigments; and Gurara sandals, woven fiber and leather sandals popular among the Hausa people for ceremonies.
Since 2019 there has been a surge in the popularity of quality handmade shoes in Nigeria. The footwear market currently valued at US$2.40 billion is projected to grow annually by an 8.43 percent CAGR from 2023 to 2028. The Nigerian Institute of Leather Science and Technology (NILEST) reports that Nigeria has the capacity to make 200 million pairs of shoes yearly, valued at more than $1.4 billion.
This surge combined with the Government initiative to uplift the once second-class local shoe market has cobblers from Lagos searching the world for quality decorations, sewing materials, leather, and rubber soles.
We received an inspection request to inspect a shipment of rubber soles destined for a community upliftment program just outside of Lagos, that manufactures traditional sandals.
The inspection was to make sure of the quality, quantity, and sizing of each of the 1200 pairs of soles ranging from size 4-13 for men and 2 – 8 for women.
The inspection happened at the manufacturer's location in India, Agra Uttar Pradesh. The order was placed through an Indian marketplace but the organization wanted a third-party inspection as they had received sub-par quality imports before.
The inspector that was awarded the contract knew the neighborhood and could get to the shipment before it was packaged for transit. He did the inspection with a portion of it live on a video call. The report followed the next day. With the quality assurance now established the final payment was made and the shipment was packed and sent.
The fast turnaround time of the inspection had a follow on effect of the shipment reaching Nigeria two weeks ahead of schedule -