Printed On 30 Sep 2025
Within the slim alleys of Previous Mosul, as soon as the proud coronary heart of Iraq’s shoemaking business, the workshops are coming alive once more.
After years of battle and destruction, artisans like 58-year-old Saad Abdul Aal are reviving a practice that dates again greater than 1,000 years.
Shoemaking in Iraq, often called al-qandarjiya, flourished throughout the Abbasid Caliphate, when Baghdad was a world hub of commerce and tradition.
Generations of households devoted their lives to remodeling rawhide into sturdy footwear, their expertise handed down from grasp to apprentice.
Earlier than the conflict, the capital metropolis of Baghdad had greater than 250 factories, whereas Mosul boasted over 50. Iraqi-made footwear had been prized for his or her class and resilience – an emblem of nationwide satisfaction.
“Our work started greater than 40 years in the past,” says Abdul Aal, his arms fast and regular as he trims a chunk of leather-based. “I realized the career, fell in love with it, and by no means left it.”
That proud custom almost disappeared in 2014, when ISIL (ISIS) seized Mosul. Workshops and factories had been bombed, looted, or deserted.
Abdul Aal misplaced all the pieces – his tools, his store, his employees. “Bombings, destruction,” he remembers. “There was no cash even to think about beginning once more.”
By the tip of the conflict, Mosul’s 50 factories had dwindled to fewer than 10. 1000’s of shoemakers had been left unemployed, their expertise liable to vanishing.
The turning level got here with the Worldwide Group for Migration’s (IOM’s) Enterprise Growth Fund-Tameer, which supplied grants and coaching to displaced entrepreneurs and returnees.
For Abdul Aal, this was a possibility to purchase stitching and urgent machines, reopen his workshop, and rent employees.
“It’s not straightforward, however little by little we’re shifting ahead,” he says.
Right this moment, Abdul Aal produces about 4 pairs of footwear a day – fewer than earlier than, however sufficient to maintain his enterprise alive. Competitors from low-cost imports is fierce, however he insists Iraqi craftsmanship nonetheless has an edge.
“Our footwear are real leather-based; they final. Imported footwear might seem visually interesting, however they lack high quality.
“In distinction, the footwear produced in my manufacturing facility are visually just like imported footwear however supply superior high quality.
“That’s what makes us proud.”
