In 2013, our cofounder Afshan Abbas was visiting her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan. Afshan is a shoe lover, who has also acquired an appreciation for art over the years, with an eye for discovering things that really stand out. The brightly colored sandals known as "kolhapuri" had their own special appeal in the market that day. There, she was pleasantly surprised by the amount of attention the sa
ndals attracted, whether she was at work as a software engineer at Microsoft, shopping near her home in Bellevue, or just taking a stroll along the waterfront. Realizing the appeal, she teamed up with other fellow engineers from Microsoft and together they began researching the Pakistani handmade shoe industry. The team discovered how under appreciated the shoe making craft is and the array of challenges shoe artisans trudge through. The lack of support of their craft & low wages force them to look for work elsewhere when the season goes out. True to their discipline as engineers, the partners began with a small shipment of handmade leather ballet flats known as "khussas" from artisans in the small village of Sangla. The first shipment of 300 shoes received rave reviews from friends and coworkers, and in that moment, Fuchsia was born. After such an incredible endorsement by the target audience, Abbas and Sajwani decided to quit their jobs at Microsoft and AMAZON to pursue the venture full time. They aim to provide a unique experience to shoppers by empowering the artisans specially women workers by leveraging today's technologies.
