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how soleRebels is  making the world a better place. One step at a time 


:workers FIRST- PROUD wages that are on average 4 times the legal  minimum wage & 3 times the industry average wage for similar work :
just look at our pay stubs!!

we began soleRebels to bring jobs to our community, a place where there literally were NONE. This hurt  us  because where we work + are based is the community where we grew up, where our father grew and where our grandma settled  when she migrated from the countryside in Gojjam  to Addis Ababa here in ETHIOPIA   in search of "a better life". by the time we were growing up it was clear that a better life was  non existent for this community.   so we committed ourselves to not only creating jobs for our fellow citizens but EXCELLENT paying ones, ones that were FAR + ABOVE what other local employers were paying for similar work! with wages that provided  a decent standard of living for  workers + their  families  and most importantly JOBS that  were RIGHT THERE in the middle of where we all lived !   our wages on average  are over 233% higherthan the industry average . what that means is that our average  workers earn   a full 4-5  times the legal minimum wage and over 3  TIMES the industry avg. Many workers earn much more !  that's what we mean  by a PROUD WAGE!

:recycling + using locally sourced organic materials +  using talented hands  = environmental respect + low carbon footprint + CooL PRODUCTS
here in ethiopia recycling things is a way of life; in fact we’ve been recycling for YEARS without ever calling it recycling. When you have limited resources everything is valued + valuable, everything has a purpose even if not the original purpose it was intended for - and if not one can be found for it. So for us here in ethiopia its equal parts ingenuity + resourcefulness that equals TRUE RECYCLING. an example? we've been re-imagining  the traditional selate shoe (recycled tire shoe)  in a dynamic new fashions for a few years now , turning something that would be clogging up the landfills (used tires) into a HIP +vibrant product!!!  AND we do MUCH more .... challenging ourselves to find new uses for indigenous and reCycled materials comes very naturally to us. if you wear our shoes you know what we mean. if not check some out - from camouflages that we have put into peaceful use to our ingenious uses for Ethiopian hemps and then on to the most wild uses of tires and inner tubes you can imagine,  you will quickly see what we mean when we say: "here in ethiopia recycling things is a way of life"...

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cultural preservation ... leveraging our unique heritage to build a global+market leading  eco-ethical brand  
everything we do is aimed at applying the unique cultural arts we have practiced here in ethiopia for millennia . we do so in  fresh , dynamic new fashions thereby BOTH preserving important cultural assets AND  giving our customers [thats YOU]  incredibly cool + stylish things to wear ! Combining the expertise of several traditional Ethiopian artisan areas - from hand spinning organic cotton to artisan looming fabrics and on to footwear hand crafting -  we  fuse these arts with  unique + innovative design  sensibilities,  always delivering EXCITING  creations. the result is something we like to call FUSIONFASHION - the ultimate marriage between traditional cultural crafts  and contemporary  design. in  doing this over the last few years something deeply  exciting has happened, something  many thought impossible: we have leveraged our unique heritages and nurtured soleRebels into a  market  leading global eco-ethical  brand , an important FIRST for a developing world country like ethiopian, AND a feat which  holds the seeds of greater shared prosperity here . we plan on doing so much more for YOU + our community so stay tuned- it promises to be a great ride! ALWAYS each+every single soleRebel :right to organize and bargain collectively  proudly our Constitution here in ethiopia  protects the right of collective bargaining for most workers, and ALL our workers  exercise this right freely

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100% medical coverage + free doctor run medical checks 
sadly ours  is a country with one of the lowest doctor:patient ratios on EARTH!!! Just getting to a doctor  can be tough. not to mention a COMPETENT doctor, not to mention getting one self transported to SEE the doctor, which for most govt. run hospitals can mean hours of commuting. all the doctors  who do our site checks are board certified practitioners . and we have a no hassle 100% medial coverage program covering workers + their  families. and why do we do this - because  let’s face it : NO ONE SHOULD BE AN ILLNESS AWAY FROM DESTITUTION or have to chose between fighting an illness and feeding their kids !! right.

:transportation provision for workers with disabilities  .
historically persons with disabilities have had it VERY HARD here in ethiopia finding and keeping work owing to systemic discrimination AND  difficulties just getting to their work. Even though our worksite is within walking distance of our  workers homes , we provide transportation TO + FROM  the worksite for those workers with disabilities.    

:straight wage. No QUOTAS
the quota system of work , endemic in the fashion business (footwear + garments) always struck us as truly demeaning. It is a system that  shows no confidence that workers can  be incentivized  to achieve targets and it creates a hostile working environment. soleRebels pays ALL workers based on negotiated wages that are NOT subject to quotas but rather on mutually agreed company-wide goals. this means that we are ALL in it together in terms of making sure that deadlines are met and TOP NOTCH product quality is always achieved !!

 :community dedication -giving back 2 where we come from
we believe in building power for our workers + OUR community - we have deep roots in zenabwork, the community where we work . these are roots that span back three generations to our grandmother one of the villages first residents and herself an impoverished rural migrant, migrating here to the environs of addis ababa  in search of a better life. So every action we take  is with the communities betterment in mind. so aside from creating a myriad of employment opportunities and always seeking to increase these , we  ALWAYS  challenge ourselves to do MORE + MORE + MORE.  like our artisan education fund which funds the education of our artisans children + or close relative children. this fund is accessible TWICE yearly.  like ALL OUR PROGRAMS it is   flexible+ demand driven. the workers decide on where to allocate money. the artisans education fund exemplifies this as everyone agreed that the best investment is the one we make in our children’s educational needs. we could not agree more or be prouder!

: the worlds 1st WFTO/IFAT  FAIR TRADE certified Fair Trade footwear company +FAIR TRADING since we began  = everyone wins!
we have always practiced fair trade principles since our founding .  we are doubly proud that  our FAIR TRADE  practices are IFAT ACCREDITED [ by IFAT the ONLY certifier of FAIR TRADE companies - the first footwear company in ethiopia to  be cErtified and one of the only ones in the world!!!!  ; and its why our products are being sold in over 14 countries around the globe in market leading retailers like WHOLE FOODS + URBAN OUTFITTERS (www.urbanoutfitters.com) , AMAZON.COM + ENDLESS.COM [www.endless.com]  in the USA and many other retailers in places  including Japan, Canada , the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland , Portugal, Germany ,and more being added every day. We happily reply to ANY questions you may have about our work at [email protected]....better yet we invite ANY + ALL persons to come and visit us .any time.