Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Veldskoen Shoes, which went into business rescue in July, “is trading much better than it was when we started”, BR practitioner Julian Empedocles, of Almaz Consulting, said on Friday.“There’s been an amazing turnaround. I decided to move the business back from Woodstock to its origina ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – The founders of Veldskoen Shoes, Ross Zondagh and Nick Dreyer, have both resigned from the company and have set up a new business which will concentrate on promoting South African made products in North America and Europe.Dreyer resigned in August, Zondagh in September, following court cases in February and ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Yes, we’re still exporting to the U.S., and the new tariffs will have an impact on our business and there’s no denying that. But it’s a challenge we accept with open eyes and the kind of resolve that defines South African entrepreneurs.We respect the right of the U.S. government to make dec ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – When they started, in 2016, they had no footwear background at all. By last year, they were responsible for between 13% and 18% of SA’s footwear exports by pairs, and probably at least as much by value.Anyone who knows much about SA’s footwear exports will know the reference is to Veldskoen (Pty) ...more

Export via chain retailers, export via brands, export via fairs – all roads that lead to export growth are worth exploring. ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Veldskoen has partnered with Softer Shoes to make the ultimate school shoes for SA kids. It aims to raise awareness about the critical role that proper footwear plays in supporting a child's overall well-being and educational development.The Softer x Veldskoen ‘Schoolskoen’ is designed and made w ...more

How long will stitchdowns be a fashion item this time around?I expect stitchdowns (vellies) to stay in the agricultural market forever. You would, however, have to be very creative in 5 years’ time to still ride the current wave in the malls of SA and the overseas market. Vellies will always be part of “Die Boer” and his ...more

How long will stitchdowns be a fashion item this time around?Normally the product life cycle follows a pattern which, towards the tail end, attracts many rats and mice or so-called fly-by-nights. We have an increasing number of the afore-mentioned, which usually precipitates a fall off of business as the category becomes cheapened and hea ...more

How long will stitchdowns be a fashion item this time around?We would like to see this carry on of course for a long time to come, and we are always looking at new designs and concepts as well, but we also need to focus on growing our brand internationally, and you can’t just release new leathers and designs all the time, it takes t ...more

The name is derived from the Afrikaans vel, later assimilated with veld, and skoene. They were first made by the Dutch settlers in the mid-17th century. The design is believed to be based on the traditional Khoisan footwear observed by these settlers. The footwear was later embedded into the South African cultural psyche, the rest is hist ...more

Stitchdowns have been riding a global wave for several years now.  What makes that special for the southern African footwear industry is that a) it's an evergreen item for a core (and not insignificant) customer group and b), it's a construction that has been made locally since - well forever, really - meaning they have a realistic o ...more

What's in a name? A group of outsiders show the footwear industry how it's done.It's probably fair to say that Digital Online Retail Platforms (DORP) - better known as Veldskoen - is South Africa's first global footwear brand. The genius of its creators has been to take a generic South African name, tap into an international market create ...more