We believe making, creating and sharing
will bring us together
Ritika Wahal is a designer and creator based in both in Brooklyn and in Hudson Valley where the majority of the products are made in a small studio setting.
As a child growing up in India, she spent her summers with her mother and grandmother visiting the local silk saree weavers, wooden toy makers and batik craftspeople in Calcutta and Varanasi. From there, the love of color, pattern, and working with your hands and respect for design became something ingrained at an early age. That passion and joy eventually led her to making shoes over a decade ago. With internships at Harper's Bazaar, Fairchild Publications, a fashion design degree from FIT and extensive fashion industry product and design experience including Ferragamo and Coach, starting her own brand was a natural step. The next challenging training led Ritika to Budapest, Hungary where she apprenticed under master shoemaker, Marcell Mrsan learning traditional bespoke shoe making techniques passed down over generations.
After leaving behind the frenetic fast fashion industry after her son was born, the idea for making gorgeous, high quality handmade shoes in America was also born when there was no viable shoe industry left in Amerixca.
Today, it is nearly 7 years since she started making children's shoes and accessories (and occasionally for adults) which are all are hand painted and fully handmade in her studios in Hudson Valley and Brooklyn.
Every shoe starts with the best materials. The best eco friendly, non toxic paints and water based adhesives.
It is that simple.
Vegetable tanned leather free of chromium and aluminum that are so soft and supple that there is no 'breaking in' as well as viable, natural 'leathers' derived from cactus and pineapple along with the loveliest European wool.
Our
Values
We believe in supporting children so when COVID hit New York State in Spring 2020, we decided to make a simple handmade
slipper kids to donate to local kids in the Hudson Valley and beyond. Thanks the help of makers like Lisa Kim and Paul Krause who donated material along with our own donations, we worked over Zoom to show kids how to measure feet, explain design and color and pick their materials.
With every sale of Kicks by Me shoemaking kits, we will allocate 10% of net profits towards arts and design materials. And, we will give 26% of net profits of the "Slipper Kit" towards making more donation kits. What does that mean? That means the net profits goes towards purchasing the raw materials. Labor is donated by Kicks by Me and any volunteers. The goal is to help kids without financial access have to viable arts and design, connect and learn and make something! We will have in person classes at our studio Hudson valley monthly to support this and Zooms calls for those not in the area.
