After watching the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Nick Dreyer and Ross Zondagh were very unimpressed with the South African kit. They began imagining what the athletes could have been wearing that would have better represented the country.
Zondagh suggested a pair of leather Vellies, because they are iconic South African shoes. Dreyer responded that most Vellies are also iconically ugly. And so, they began chatting about ways to make our “national shoe” more attractive.
The answer came in the form of the brightly coloured soles and laces; VELDSKOEN’s trademark look today.
To help their shoes walk the globe, the entrepreneurs enlisted the skills and imagination of old school friend, and digital marketing expert Nic Latouf. Latouf’s clever internet marketing quickly created a strong online footprint that helped the brand transcend South Africa’s physical borders.
Local Investment from Long4Life, aided the company’s international expansion plans in 2018. In 2019 VELDSKOEN gained the attention of international celebrity investors Marc Cuban, and Ashton Kutcher, and a United States leg of the business was started up. VELDSKOEN is currently selling in 23 countries, with independent online stores and also large retail partners like Takealot and Outdoor Warehouse.
