Basketball superstars are known for having super-sized feet usually shod in top-dollar brand sneakers but Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has taken a liking in traditional local leather ware for South African feet – the veldskoen.
Thanks to his substantial investment in the inaugural product by a home grown company, Digital Online Retail Products and Platform (Dorp), the local manufacturer’s shoes, fondly called vellies, now have an ideal shoe-in to the US market.
Dorp CEO Nick Dreyer said they could not believe their luck following the news that Dorp’s humble trotters would now also make tracks in the US.
But the shoes, that apparently have also become a hit with actor Ashton Kutcher, have proven phenomenally successful ever since their in the UK last year.
Their rapid success was underscored by a 49% buy-in by Long4Life, the lifestyle and leisure brand run by investor Brian Joffe.
Together with his partners, Ross Zondagh and Nic Latouf, Dreyer said the small little e-commerce outfit he launched early last year had received a massive leg up through Joffe’s investment.
And although only trading online at the moment, Dorp is positioning itself to enter the traditional retail space with extended ambitions of introducing its shoes to Germany, the Netherlands and Austria.
Next in the line for the company’s product range, Dreyer said, was a shoe called ‘plakkie’, the local name used for referring to flip-flops.
And no, this is not a belated April fool’s story.
