Osay’s Hand Made Tunisian Slippers Tell A Rich Story Of Friendship, Cultural Identity, And Craftsmanship.

When Kenza Fourati and Simone Carrica, childhood buddies from Tunisia and co-founders of Osay, reconnected in New York after years of following their particular person paths within the style business, they found a shared nostalgia for his or her residence nation and a robust sentiment for accountable actions throughout the style group.

Fourati, an internationally acknowledged style mannequin and one of many first Arab Muslim girls to grace the quilt of Sports activities Illustrated, has been a relentless and prolific speaker of ladies’s rights and a free speech advocate as a supporter of Human Rights Watch in Tunisia. As a member of the Mannequin Alliance and Mannequin Mafia, she has used her affect and voice to advertise safety and security within the work setting and equitable remedy of fashions throughout the style business.

Carrica, who attended EDC Enterprise College in Paris, held quite a few ahead going through roles inside world style firms equivalent to BCBG Max Azria and Catherine Malandrino, earlier than launching her first enterprise of Misplaced Candor, a house items firm, the place she labored with Tunisian artists to provide luxurious residence decor. As an avid entrepreneur, she created and hosted quite a few cultural occasions celebrating Tunisian artistry and craftsmanship on the Alliance Francaise Institute in New York.

It was throughout one in all these occasions the place the childhood buddies reconnected and hatched an concept to create a market the place they might spotlight the workmanship and finesse of Tunisian craftsmanship, whereas offering merchandise that might fulfill their core values of accountable manufacturing and affordability in luxurious items.

“We felt strongly that there needed to be a technique to eat otherwise, with extra integrity, function, conscience, empathy, compassion, and soul. However we struggled to seek out manufacturers that precisely represented who we had been as girls, mirrored our values, and we may afford,” says Carrica.

Osay launched in 2018, initially as a touring pop up bazaar, promoting quite a lot of luxurious, socially minded Tunisian merchandise to US customers who had a watch for prime finish world merchandise. For Fourati and Carrica, it was a possibility to have a good time the creativity and heritage craftsmanship of Tunisian artisans whereas connecting with their customers, and studying their shopping for behaviors. Within the intimate setting of the pop ups, the founders had been in a position to construct a group of like minded customers who appreciated high quality items that might be included into their busy, each day lives. This proved useful throughout the pandemic when their enterprise continued to develop throughout the top of lockdown.

On one of many shopping for journeys to Tunisia, the companions had been launched to a household owned atelier who holds an ancestral lineage of hand making footwear.

In collaboration with the atelier’s proprietor, Moex Ben Fradj, and Grasp Artisan, Mansour Hosni, Fourati and Carrica refocused Osay from a pop up bazaar right into a shoe model, launching with the basic Center Japanese/North African slipper, La Babouche. The slipper, a ubiquitous image of each day life, was designed from their signature silhouette, a slide-in flat shoe which may be worn as a idler, or, with a fold down heel characteristic, worn as a slipper.

The leathers used for the footwear are remnants from earlier seasons and extra materials from luxurious homes, which highlights the brief run of every fabrication. In the course of the design course of, the slipper was modernized with a reminiscence foam cushioned sole giving it a consolation degree for all day put on. It takes 24 hours for every slipper to be handcrafted and sewn. With the optionality of sporting the heel up or down, La Babouche retains its cultural heritage whereas embracing each conceivable city utilization of the fashionable day flat. Designed to transition from day into night, it’s the stylish “elevated fundamental” that matches a girl’s busy life.

Osay, an acronym for Our Tales Are Yours, prides itself on their product providing and their shared messaging of commonality. With a group minded narrative, Osay strives to have a good time world girls and to attach with them by way of mutual experiences within the roles girls play; motherhood, sisterhood, daughters, companions, and dealing professionals. And in sharing Osay’s origin story in addition to their very own journeys, of childhoods in Tunisia to globe trotting professionals working within the highest echelons of the style business, Fourati and Carrica, each Arabic and Muslim girls, hope to reshape the narrative of their very own heritage.

Since launching in 2019 as a shoe model, their largest market has been the US to this point. With the pandemic, the founders switched to a Direct to Shopper mannequin and launched a publication to proceed to have interaction with their prospects. With repeat prospects shopping for for multi-generational girls of their households, their low return fee of 4% speaks to their shut reference to their customers and their private contact level with the merchandise and the enterprise. Osay’s DTC mannequin additionally permits the founders to have meticulous oversight within the design course of whereas retaining the prices low.

“We didn’t need to be simply one other style model. We wished to make merchandise with the best high quality supplies and handmade craftsmanship, however nonetheless at an attainable value,” says Fourati.

Osay’s subsequent steps are to concentrate on progress and innovation. The founders have been experimenting with concepts of alternate sustainable supplies equivalent to rubber, fish leather-based, and recycled shaved wool, the place the sheep stays unhurt. They’ve lately launched a mode for males and can proceed to develop the enterprise with Carrica relocating to Paris to broaden the European market.

With the world opening up, Fourati and Carrica are contemplating potential investments into advertising and marketing and public relations, however stay steadfast in regularly participating with their prospects by way of a shared tradition of storytelling.

“ We named it Osay, as a result of we actually consider that social empathy, and strolling a mile in another person’s footwear, is the important thing to human thriving,” say Fourati and Carrica.

Osay

Obtainable on-line. Beginning at $148