Elegant black ankle boots, with stylish tapered tips. This is the latest pair of boots produced by Manisa Company Ltd, the firm that supplies Julien R sales outlets in Rose-Hill, Curepipe, Port-Louis and the latest one in Ebene. Ranging from classical black shoes for men, to intricately designed women?s sandals and slinky boots, the range of footwear offered in Julien R shops is wide enough to suit anyone.

Always striving to improve their quality, the firm, which started in the early 90s, is soon to change its packaging design, with black and red paper carrier bags and matching boxes, ?to be more environment-friendly,? says Dev Santchurn, one of the four owners of the company.

Next to the factory warehouse where are piled rolls of different coloured leather, all imported from Italy, one of the designers is at work, drawing the patterns for the next collection. "We make several series of samples before actually producing for the public, with a committee to verify that quality-wise, we are producing good shoes," indicates Dev. The initial concept of any shoes or boots comes from their partners in Italy. They are right in the midst of the latest trends in Europe and send pictures of their creations. ?Our local designers then adapt the Italian creations and work on their own samples.?

Once everyone has approved the sample, the designer makes the final patterns that will be used for production. Two workers are cutting out different parts of the shoes using a sharp little cutter. Next to them, a woman is cutting out the lining of the shoes. ?We use leather even for the lining,? points out Dev. This is done manually too with scissors. Behind her, sewing machines are whizzing on, sewing seams together and zips on the sides of boots. Someone is using the skiving machine, which is used to thin the leather. ?It makes the stitches stronger and the shoes more comfortable,? explains Dev. Then another worker checks that the parts have been correctly sewn together and gently hits the seams with a hammer to flatten them down, once again for the comfort of the wearer.

On the other side of the factory, two workers are busy assembling the various parts of the shoe. They have shapes for each size of shoe called lasts. One of them is sitting in front of a table covered with glue and is placing the leather on the last, then gluing the insole to the leather. When his colleague has tapped the whole thing with a hammer, it forms the basis of the shoe.

The shoe is then sent to the other side of the factory, where another worker smoothes down the sides. He puts it on a machine, which is basically a set of different-sized revolving rollers. He pushes the sides of the shoe against the rollers and the uneven bits of leather are smoothed down.

Once this is done, more workers glue on the sole or screw on the heels if it is a woman?s high-heeled shoe. It is then pressed in a machine that properly fixes all the parts together.

Only the last details are left now. Edwin, one of the employees, takes out the creases if there are any in the shoe. He uses either a hot gun that blows hot air onto the leather or a specially designed iron. He wets the hot end of the iron and presses it against the crease. In a matter of seconds, the crease has disappeared. ?You've got to know exactly what temperature to use for each type of leather so as not to burn it,? he says, visibly used to this job. He then points towards a long machine with a set of brushes inside. He switches it on and shows us how he polishes, brushes and shines the shoe. Finally, the lining with the Julien R label is stuck on the insole and, after a last check, the shoes are packaged.

The factory, that employs 35 workers produces 800 pairs of shoes per month but has the ?capacity to produce 400 pairs per day,? says Dev. He explains that they believe quality is more important than quantity but admits: ?We do have a lot of difficulty surviving by producing high-class shoes in a country where people buy so many imported, poor-quality shoes.?