Farida Shoes Pvt. Ltd.

At 17 Jalal Road, the day usually starts with the sound of the gate being pulled up. Farida Shoes Pvt. Ltd. operates out of this space, and it’s a fairly basic setup. We aren’t located in a big industrial park; it’s just a regular road where we’ve set up our equipment and benches. The floor is concrete and can get pretty cold in the winter months, but once the machines start running, the place warms up fast. We deal with shoes every single day, from the raw materials arriving in big bundles to the finished pairs getting tucked into their boxes. There’s a lot of dust from the sanding and a lot of scrap leather that needs to be swept up every evening. The staff here are mostly locals who walk or bike to work. We don’t have a big corporate office or a human resources department; if there’s a problem, we just talk it out over a cup of tea. The lighting inside isn't the brightest, but it’s enough to see the stitches. We don't try to impress anyone with how the place looks. It’s a workshop, through and through. Jalal Road can be quiet sometimes, which is nice when we’re trying to concentrate on a tricky batch. We just keep our focus on the benches and the tools in front of us. It’s honest work that keeps us busy from Monday to Saturday, and we’re quite fine with that.