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Today, I bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor Aurora Shoe Company. In their words:
"The Aurora Shoe Company was founded on the idea that a good pair of shoes should be made well and fit comfortably. We use American made materials and create all of our shoes in house and by hand. Assembled organically, using simple cuts of leather and minimal stitching, our shoes mold to their owners’ feet the way that only natural materials and careful design can."
SouleMama: Your web presence is fairly new. How has this affected the way you work?
Aurora Shoe Co.: We've created a blog to help to bridge the gap between our new and sort of professional looking website and the friendly and informal shop in Aurora. Taking the leap to sell our shoes online was a huge one and has greatly changed the way we do business. In the past people have had to come into our shop, meet our pets and talk with us to buy our shoes. Now they can just browse a webpage and click a few buttons. In the spirit of bringing the two worlds together, we've worked to make our blog a space that reflects the reality of who and where we are.
SouleMama: What inspires you?
Aurora Shoe Co.: We're always inspired by other small business owners who, like us, have committed to a culture and a lifestyle that build our local economies and support our own ideals. It's so easy to become a blind consumer today, always buying the cheapest goods without taking the time to think about where they've come from or what their real value is.
We're proud to be a part of the growing sector of America that is much more conscious of how their money is spent and where their goods come from. On our blog, we've begun a series we call "Meet the Neighbors". It's an attempt to recognize other small local businesses and to encourage our readers to think about how and where their food and goods are made. Our latest post features a local fabric designer. There is so much creativity and industry all around us - we just have to be willing to look a little farther (or in our case, closer) than the nearest strip mall to find it!
SouleMama: Why do you think it's important to support handmade goods?
Aurora Shoe Co.: When we buy handmade we're demonstrating a value that goes beyond price. To buy handmade is to invest in an art form, a way of life and a cultural ideal. It's to take part in a system that supports the individual, the artist and the entrepreneur in a society and an economic system that leans in the opposite direction.
At the Aurora Shoe Company we are proud to be a part of the handmade culture. Aurora Shoes are made with pride in Upstate New York using only American sourced materials. This means a lot in an age when many products are assembled under sub-standard or unregulated working conditions using materials that are often produced in even less desirable ways. All of these materials and products travel great distances to finally make it onto the shelves of American shops where the shipping, import taxes and marketing costs result in products whose pricing does not reflect their quality.
For today's giveaway, Aurora Shoe Company is generously offering the following to ONE winner:
~ A free pair of shoes, any size, color and style!
(The beauty of our handmade shoes is that they're built to fit your feet and we're happy to work with you to get the sizing just right!)
In addition, Aurora Shoe Company is offering all readers who make a shoe purchase: Free Shipping plus a $20 gift certificate to Madder Root (a Maine-based Etsy shop specializing in hand printed organic fabric goods). To redeem, enter "soulemama" at checkout. Offer expires April 1, 2011.
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Thank you to Aurora Shoe Co.!
To enter, please leave a comment in today's post (one entry per person, please). Comments will close on Sunday by 8:00am EST. Winners will be chosen by Random Number Generator and announced here in this post by Monday evening.
Comments closed! The winner is...
They are beautiful shoes
Posted by: Sara Gaullagher
