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Chances are, at one point, you’ve seen a pair of Sabahs somewhere in the world. They are optimal travel shoes (in addition to being just plain fantastic for summer and/or warmer climes). They are unisex slippers, but they are hardy, with replaceable rubber soles; they are casual, but can be dressed up, as has been done often for weddings, especially; they are unobtrusive yet very, very stylish in tandem. This writer has six pairs and wears them to the treads. Friends of this writer have more than six pairs, and they, too, have their Sabahs on full rotation. In a way, it is the unicorn indie brand that is both working and growing but staying indie—the Sabah model has a family feel but a millennial magnetism. Founder Mickey Ashmore seems to have hit a sweet spot, and, five years in, he says his approach is “about the same as when we started.”
Today, just in time for the long Memorial Day weekend, Ashmore and his team will open a pop-up store in Amagansett, New York, for the summer season. (Amagansett is located, conveniently, between East Hampton and Montauk—it is as good a place to stop as any while en route to Long Island’s easternmost tip.) His retail model is singular and flexible, and he calls his stores “houses.” “With Sabah House Amagansett, we’ll be operating five stores concurrently, three of which are permanent, in New York, Dallas, and Venice Beach. Then there’s our online business,” he says. In addition to these, Sabah also has “short-term residencies, from a weekend to a week long.” Temporary activations, in particular, have been very effective in building brand buzz and awareness—especially in the experiential economy we now live in. With Sabah, the experience is as relaxed as they come (beers, good music, cool decor, no expectations) and it’s this easygoing verve that has led to such fandom. “We like to put ourselves out there in the world, but offline,” says Ashmore. “We like to let our energy and service, plus great retail product, lead the way.”
The family that made Ashmore’s first prototype is still making Sabah’s shoes, though the team, located in Gaziantep, Turkey, near the Syrian border, has expanded to 30 people to keep up with demand. There is now a Baba backless slide, as well, along with kids’ options. But that’s it; two adult products offered in unique and often quite cleverly named colorways. “I don’t like to pretend that Sabah is any sort of special social mission business. We didn’t set out to change people’s lives or help the disenfranchised through our work. We just wanted to make great shoes with integrity,” says Ashmore. All the same, he has been able to give back to the local area: “In the beginning, it was just five craftsmen . . . I’d argue their pay, job security, and passion was limited by their local market. Sabah is an original take on a traditional shoe—we’ve been able to invest back into the workshop, bring on more people, provide higher wages, and more job security. We also employ a few Syrian refugees due to our proximity to Syria. That’s been special to me.”
Sabah House Amagansett will see the introduction of a Biarritz Blue Baba. This Yves Klein cyan-like hue “was a signature for Sabah,” says Ashmore, “but the supplier of the dye we used for tanning went out of business as the Turkish economy stumbled. We’d get asked where it went all the time. This new color is 98 percent identical, so we are re-releasing it this summer.” There will also be new Rose and Samsun Blue styles available on the original Sabah shape—two of the company’s most popular dyes, but with “a little piping and a slightly different texture.”
To return to the first point about you having seen Sabahs somewhere across the globe, it could’ve possibly been on . . . well, Tinder. “I recently heard a story about a couple that connected via a dating app,” says Ashmore. “The guy mentioned that he owned a pair of Sabahs after seeing the woman wearing them in her profile picture. More than a year later, they’re still together. They came to an event recently, hand in hand, Sabahs next to Sabahs—which made me smile!”
Sabah House Amagansett is located at 137 Main Street, Amagansett, New York.