What!! It takes more than 30 steps to prepare Fuchsia Flats (Khusas, کھسہ).
That was my initial reaction when I was told by my artisans. So I decided to spend a week with them in their factory and see it myself how Fuchsia Shoes are made.
Our artisans usually work on a batch of 40 to 60 pairs in one cycle and it takes them around a week (sometimes 2 weeks) to complete a cycle. The usually follow assembly line for their manufacturing. Some steps take from hours to days depending on weather and climate. Since a lot of people were interested in learning about the overall manufacturing process, I have listed down all the major steps of manufacturing process. We have made a condensed video of all these steps here.
- Acquire leather from tanneries.
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2. Wash it with water, and let it dry. In summer it takes about 2 hours but in winter it can be up to 3 days.
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3. Bring it to factory.
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4. Out line the sizing with lead pencil.
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5. Cut it with one side cutter called Rumbi.
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6. Make the gauge of the leather thin using a peeler.
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7. Put tartar in water and let the leather soak in it. Now wash the leather to remove any spot or stains.
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8. Apply tool (they call it ‘Guti’, yes it seems like some gaming character name :) to make it thin and get water and dirt out.
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9. Put it outdoor to let it dry. In winter it takes up to 2 to 3 days in order for the leather to dry completely.
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10. Apply the same tool again to give leather shine.
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11. Lining with ball point and make it prominent.
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12. Cutting the leather, following the outlines.
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13. Apply solution to the cutting and let the solution dry.
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14a . Embroidery is done in parallel. The embroidery artisans work in isolation. A single artisan cannot make more then 8 pairs per day (depending on the details of the embroidery)
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14 b. Paste embroidery upper on leather.
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15. Cut the edges with scissor.
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16. Fold the inner suede and apply solution to edges.
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17. Now come another fun part which is ‘Shoe stitching’. A typical artisan stitch between 10 to 15 shoes per day.
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18. Apply shoe tree for sizing.
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19. Clean the edges.
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20. Take shoes out from shoe tree and apply tools to make the edges smooth and bring some shine on edges.
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21. Apply solution to insole.
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22. Paste inner sole and cover it.
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23. Fuchsia Shoes are ready to be packed in a box.
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