One of India’s most famous monuments is: the Taj Mahal in Agra! Unfortunately, this year’s January was not the perfect month for visiting Agra, as the weather was foggy most of the time and clear sight with blue sky was only a matter of luck. But we managed to see the impressive white marble mausoleum built from Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his dead wife Mumtaz Mahal. The creation which started in 1632 took 20 years and about 20.000 workers.

Beside cultural sights, the city is known for its more than 1.500 shoe factories. Especially the export of high-quality leather shoes for the Western market is a big business. Spieth&Wensky, the producer of our Lederhosen, arranged a company visit to Atlex Exports which enabled us to see how and where some of their own shoe collections are fabricated. Due to the great hospitality of the company founders, the brothers Rakesh and Vinod Shrivastava, we experienced the complex making of a leather shoe from prototyping to packaging. More than 200 skilled employees including several external and internal inspection officers ensure that the end product is of highest quality.