From the moment Tal Dehtiar started selling the only up-market shoes made in Africa for western markets, the Canadian knew he was onto something special.

Dehtiar’s company, Oliberté, offered local employees in Addis Ababa a wage of $75 every 20 days, better than they would find in other factories in the Ethiopian capital. Dehtiar also offered child care, medical care and bought picnic tables where employees could eat during lunch breaks.

For customers, there was the chance to buy stylish $150 leather shoes — with the bonus of knowing they had helped Africans through jobs, not aid.

It was a business model that turned heads in the footwear sector. The U.S. retail giant Timberland last year offered to buy Oliberté, a bid that was rejected.

Four years after he began selling African-made shoes, Dehtiar’s business model has a noteworthy stamp of approval.

As his company grows — sales in 2013 will be about $1.2 million and are expected to grow to $2 million next year — Oliberté has become fair trade certified, according to FairTrade USA, becoming the first shoe company to earn that certification.

The International Fair Trade Association, an umbrella group of organizations in more than 70 countries, says fair trade-certified companies promote “concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of marginalized small producers” and don’t “maximize profit at their expense.”

According to Fairtrade International, a group of fair trade certifiers, consumers spent approximately $6.1 billion on certified products in 2012, up from $4.2 billion in 2011. The 2012 sales benefited more than 1.3 million farmers and workers in 70 developing countries.

Dehtiar, who is based in Oakville, said fair trade awareness is growing in the same way consumer awareness of organic products did more than a decade ago, as consumers buy fair trade products such as coffee, cocoa and cotton. And now shoes.

During the approval process, Dehtiar, 33, said it was unnerving watching many of his 68 employees file in small groups into a room for a private 90-minute chat with an auditor about factory conditions.

“We did OK,” Dehtiar said. “We weren’t perfect. In some of the dust areas, our employees had been given masks but they weren’t wearing them. They are uncomfortable. We had to start enforcing those rules.”

As a fair trade certified company, Dehtiar will be required to start contributing 5 per cent of his sales to a community fund for employees. That could work out to about $2,500 in October alone, when Oliberté is scheduled to ship 2,300 pairs of shoes to retailers such as Town Shoes in Canada.

“We don’t see it as an expense,” Dehtiar said. “It’s just what needs to be done and I challenge other shoe brands and companies to take a look at it and quickly.

“Sure the economy is still hurting and footwear companies are scared still with what’s going on, but if the only way you can save your brand is by continuing to push cheaper or more efficient labour then you suck as a company. In the long run I really believe today’s major consumers will have no more of it. That push back is already starting.”

Fair trade certification is only part of Oliberté’s strategy to lure new customers this year. The company just signed its first endorsement agreements with some of Africa’s leading sports figures.

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“We want to give people a different way to look at Africa,” Dehtiar said. “Our ad features a swimmer, skier and a boxer and we want people to see Africa not with pity. They should see these African sports ambassadors as a symbol of African empowerment.”

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