A Note from Mickey 👋 🇹🇷 🇮🇹 🇺🇸

Nov 13, 2025, 10:05 PM•sabah

Evenin' Sabah People,

I wanted to share some thoughts with you, perhaps because we're headed into the holidays and, more likely, because I'm gearing up for what is something like my 25th trip to visit our workshop in Gaziantep, Turkey.

When I started Sabah 13 years ago - I don't think I understood the difference between handmade and not. I didn't have an understanding of craft or quality materials, nor what it takes to make something really, really well.

I was a consumer - I bought things I liked, and tended toward the less commercial, but without much thought into the hands & names behind it.

That all changed in 2012 when I met Orhan, our longtime partner in Gaziantep, and his family, literally & symbolically, of craftspeople.

I've always been moved by people: their stories, their origins, their recipes, their faces, and what makes them tick. So to uncover a world of shoemaking that was as much about the people as the shoes, as much about the hands as the leather, and where everyday we got to eat delicious kebab and lahmacun at the workshop -- that got me going.

To this day, as our business has expanded from one workshop in Gaziantep to several in Texas, Italy and Turkey; from a single style of shoe (the Sabah) to several silhouettes & constructions, one thing has held true: it's all about craft. And craft is people; by hand and by name, we like to say.

That means we commit to working with independently-owned, family-run workshops & factories that focus on traditional shoemaking techniques and with whom we build deep & real relationships. That means we strive to understand our supply chain from the rubber soles to the rough out suedes and ensure we're working with makers we know, trust and believe are doing things at the highest possible quality.

Why? Because if we're going to make things and put 'em out into the world, over & over, let's make sure they're made well, in every sense of the word, and be proud about that output.

So there it goes... some thoughts, with a bit more detail and plenty of photos below about our workshops & craftspeople in Turkey, Texas and Italy.

Write back with any questions... Otherwise, Sabah UP!

Sincerely,
The Sabah Dealer
--

Southeastern Turkey

Gaziantep, Turkey

Where it all started back in 2013. What began as a small workshop of just six or seven shoemakers in an old house in Antep's ancient bazaar is now a much larger operation employing nearly 50 craftspeople and working with the best leather suppliers across Turkey.

But what we're most proud of is what's remained the same; despite growing larger in our production capacity, we still make every pair the same way since day one -- entirely by hand, one pair at a time, every step of the way.

SHOP MADE IN TURKEY

Le Marche, Italy

Tavullia, Italy

A small family-owned shoe factory in the north of Le Marche along the border of Emilia Romagna, Daniele and his crew specialize in a few very specific & difficult shoemaking techniques.

One such technique involves dyeing vegetable tanned leathers in-house and then running the finished sandals through a special process of pumice stones & water to burnish, soften and give further expression to the look. This is the basis for our Porto & Lido sandals which we released this year!

PS. We loved that Daniele employs men and women from the community, many of which bicycle or walk to work everyday... a happy place indeed!

Monte San Giusto, Italy

Perched on top of a hill with a view to the Adriatic Sea out the backdoor, this small workshop has been around for nearly 50 years and specializes in the traditional stitch-down construction.

The owner is an eccentric Italian man with a huge smile and an easy laugh named Peppe who's been making shoes since he was a kid. The team is passionate about shoemaking -- and that's evident in the quality of craft infused into every piece cut, sewn, and assembled, creating shoes as artfully as Michelangelo made sculpture in marble.

SHOP ITALY MADE

West Texas

El Paso, Texas

We built our own workshop in El Paso - from the ground up - in 2021. We currently employ fifteen shoemakers there; a mix of veteran cowboy boot makers and total novices who are learning the craft.

The El Paso workshop is also our design studio - a creative place we can tinker, test and express our most novel ideas using special materials found the world over... like the Bernie, for example; or our Tokyo Babas that use vegetable-tanned leather woven in Chennai, India. This El Paso workshop is a project we're especially proud of.

SHOP EL PASO MADE

Where to Next?

Out to lunch with our friend (and foodie), Diane, to one of her favorite noodle spots in NYC's Chinatown; see the footage here.

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The Sabah Dealer 56 Bleecker Street New York, New York 10012

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