It was a match made in heaven. The air controller’s strike forced to mix passengers from different destinations, thus a seller of happiness and Miss “espadrilles” were to give birth to this project.

So begins the story of Dominique and Laetitia, of a businessman with an interest in humanitarian projects and a shoe and bag designer passionate about natural fibers. MADINLOVE is a project designed in heaven to keep our feet on the ground which offers a product that unites East and West: a sandal made with traditional materials and techniques based on three principles: quality and design, respect for the environment and people’s welfare.

Our main characters have agreed to speak with Fabrics For Freedom and answer a few questions.

What and who is part of MADINLOVE?

Madinlove has been created thanks to the meeting and joint effort of two people: a businessman and a shoe designer that have combined their creativity and humanity to launch an ethic and ethnic fashion brand.

What is your work philosophy?

MADINLOVE wants to offer a product made with love and awareness from its conception until its sale through a fairer and more direct trading system.

Therefore, we develop ornaments and parts of the product in Nepal, Bangladesh and Honduras, in collaboration with organizations of rejected and battered women, revaluing their knowledge to be and know-how.

We finish and prepare the product in Majorca, reviving the art and tradition of hand-made footwear.

Mainly, MADINLOVE sells wedge shoes, what is the variety of products you offer?

As for distribution and marketing, we believe that it’s the products themselves that find their customers, firstly attracting them with their originality and then in convincing people with the story that lies behind them. In this way, the woman fall in love with a model, and automatically connects this to evolution of another woman in a complicated situation on the other side of the world.

As launch and test, MADINLOVE has focused on the first jute footwear collection for women.

For the next season, the collection will be extended to include a jute footwear line for men, handbags, and will also have a few surprises in store.

What materials do you use for shoes?

We mainly use fibers such us jute, Allo (Himalayan natural fiber), cotton and silk, natural dyes, flower seeds, protective amulets for embellishments, and eco leather.

Who designs the shoes?

The models are designed by Laetitia in collaboration with women from humanitarian organizations, who also contribute their creativity and knowledge of traditional techniques.

How do you respect and care for the environment in the production of your products?

Although we try to use as far as possible natural fiber materials and manufacturing processes, our primary focus centres on the care of human beings, their way of life and motivations.

What’s the story behind your project? Who do you want to support with your work?

With this project we seek to go beyond our own professional motivations as a business man and fashion designer, combining our spiritual and humanitarian motivations to create a trade that connects the heart of people and their needs between East and West.

To this end we support for training and protecting young women destined to trafficking for sexual exploitation in Nepal, women’s struggle to rediscover their self-esteem in Bangladesh and Honduras, and the art of accuracy and professionalism of people sensitized to the project on the island of Mallorca.

What other organizations are working with you and what are they seeking to achieve? What are the places where products are made?

We work with humanitarian organizations in Bangladesh as Tarango, Acp and Sana Hastakala in Nepal and in FFF in India.

We also collaborate on the creation of a new project called “5 eyes of consciousness” based on the fight against women trafficking in a village in Nepal, with Frederic Heldt, a friend of Dominique and founder of the humanitarian organization “Planéte Enfant”.

In which countries is MADINLOVE present? Where do you sell more of your products? Is the selling of your products only online, through the blog?

MADINLOVE is this summer in windows of Tokyo, with Sybilla, and in Paris, Munich, Antwerp, Bruges, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.

We are looking to reinforcing our online sales. In this way we seek to shorten the classic market chain, too costly, and thus we can better fund the project and its collaborators.