Syrian refugee launches high-end tennis shoe brand name in France

The 30-year-old studied fashion in Damascus but deserted hopes of a profession in his homeland and ran away the war to settle in Lille, near the Belgian border.

His simple however stylish leather tennis shoes with a strip of elastic material rather than laces sell for an average rate of 330 euros ($390).

Starlet Whoopi Goldberg placed an order after identifying a model pair on a good friend’s feet at a fashion program in the United States and asked who the designer was, Essa informed Reuters from a shop that stocks 28 style of his shoes.

His very first shop opens in the next two weeks. The shoes are currently on sale in Beverly Hills, Paris and Ajaccio, Corsica.

Taught to stitch by his grandmother, Essa needed to persuade his parents that style was not simply something for ladies.

“The rest of my household protested it since it wasn’t a man’s job, it was a woman’s task. So it was our little secret in between my grandmother and me, doing it behind my family’s back,” he stated.

It was a tough decision to leave Damascus, which, unlike his home town of Homs, had actually left the worst of the combating, especially as Essa had actually already set up a workshop and shop in the capital.

“We saw that the war had begun to reach Damascus. There were attacks nearly every day and I saw my friends and numerous families beginning to leave one after the other – obviously, the fortunate ones, those who might pay for to go.” He has not seen his family since he ran away.

Each set of Daniel Essa shoes is engraved with a word under the tongue: “Liberty”, “Kisses”, or “Peace”.

“Everybody talks about world peace, however I truly hope that a person day we will have peace in our world,” Essa stated.