Today, Olib­erté footwear debuts on The Clymb with men’s footwear made from 100% nat­ur­al leather and in Africa. Yes, Africa.

Olib­erté cur­rent­ly oper­ates in Liberia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, pro­vid­ing thou­sands of Africans with safe work­ing envi­ron­ments, fair pay, and an oppor­tu­ni­ty to help stim­u­late their coun­tries’ economies and sup­port their mid­dle class.

Each fac­to­ry is cho­sen by Olib­erté’s ‘fair play’ code and close­ly mon­i­tored to ensure that they com­ply with the com­pa­ny’s stan­dards and prac­tices: They require that all of their leather tan­ner­ies are either ISO 14001 cer­ti­fied or at min­i­mum, have water treat­ment plants that are con­stant­ly inspect­ed, the leather is sourced from cows, sheep, and goats that are free range and hor­mone free, and they offer an excel­lent recy­cling pro­gram where they will take back your used Olib­erté shoes and reuse the materials.

Near­ly 50% of the work­force is com­prised of women, includ­ing roles in junior and senior admin­is­tra­tive posi­tions, and they’re pro­vid­ed job secu­ri­ty through mater­ni­ty leave. Olib­erté looks to fur­ther improve their work envi­ron­ments by imple­ment­ing health and life insur­ance, train­ing, and cred­it sav­ing pro­grams. They’re also hop­ing to expand in the next few years with fac­to­ries in Cameroon, Con­go, Ugan­da and Zambia.

You can stay updat­ed on Olib­erté’s efforts on their blog.