Entrepreneurs Danielle Cunningham and Summer Tie Shue, co-founders of the local handmade leather footwear company Jamaica Sandals Co, have not looked back since their 2014 debut on Deco Drive; indeed, a recent appearance has created even more of a buzz than their initial pinch-me moment. “This year we did it again,” shared Cunningham. “ We had a different aspect included this year on our production featuring a shot of one of our handcrafters at work in our factory. Well, this feature created such buzz that we were also on the Channel 7 News the following morning (see link below) where they aired the Deco Drive feature again.”

What was all the fuss about? According to Deco Drive, it was about the perfect pair of personalised sandals that leaves the finishing touches to the customer. “What’s special about our sandals is that you can customise it the way you would like it,” said Summer Tie Shue. “You start your design from the ground up. We have base sandals, for example, that come in various colours. And you can choose what colour straps you would like to put in there. You can choose various embellishments that you can put on there.”

The company’s website is where the fun of creating your personal design begins. “You have a product customisation box where you can decide if you’d like your Lucy to be yellow, pink, green or blue… it just depends on how you would like it.”

“The Aphrodite really lets your imagination run wild, this because,” continued Tie Shue, “it has a certain amount of prongs that you would string your laces through. Once you choose the straps that appeal to you, it’s time to add the embellishments. For summer, it’s definitely very fashionable for all girls to have their summer catchphrases — ‘xoxo,’ ‘faith,’ ‘love,’ ‘believe’ — those are some of our very big ones.”

The leather-top sandals are handmade in Jamaica. Besides looking great, Tie Shue speaks to the use of a “rubber support system on the bottom which helps with comfort, so you can stand all day”.

The plus for All Woman Fashion (AWF) is that packing for the weekend just got that much easier. Fact is, Tie Shue puts it perfectly: “… one sandal… several different straps, 100 different embellishments and change your outfit every single day.”