Third-generation shoemakers Karen and Dante Oberes are among the footwear entrepreneurs in Carcar—a city in Cebu province known for its high-quality footwear.
Their story is a continuing narrative of shared optimism among the community of shoe entrepreneurs in Carcar. Shoemaking in Carcar is a bustling industry, a thriving heritage handed down from generation to generation.
It is Karen’s family who is into the shoe business. She recalled how the travails of a small family business shaped her dreams and aspirations as a child, despite the challenges she met as she journeyed her way to be the brand owner that she is now.
“Born into a family of shoemakers, I haven’t the faintest doubt that I may, someday, be the owner of a similar enterprise. My lolo and lola were both shoemakers. Since a child, I’ve been helping out. I love to watch how the shoes come to being. The piecing of the parts has a mesmerizing effect on me,” she said, adding how it amazed her too see a pile of cloth or rolled PVC turn into a beautiful piece of handcrafted shoes.
Back then, money was scarce with only the shoe factory putting food on the table and providing for the basic needs of her family. She, her mom and a sibling were abandoned by her father whom she had not seen since she was on her first grade.
It was all through Lolo and Lola’s help that the family managed to survived while her mom also helps out at the factory. Karen still remembers how hard those times were, having only salted rice or salted corn during most days.
Karen recalls how her grandparents used to toil as first generation shoemakers of her clan in Carcar. They were not the first shoemakers in the city. Many other families, older than theirs, have had their fair share of the city’s shoe industry.
Luck has not been kind to Karen, who had to stop her college schooling. Her earnings from reselling the shoes made from her aunt’s factory was not enough to pay for school. Her aunt took over the family business her Lolo built but failed to sustain.
Facebook was relatively new then and the idea of selling through social platforms still novel, not even known at the time, but Karen had the foresight to utilize the platform to earn a living.
At first, order came in trickles, one, two at most three in week or so, from Bicol, Davao, Manila and other parts of the country.
“That is how I managed to earn my keep. Despite that, I barely had enough saved to pay for tuition. I decided to look for a day job at a piggery. I worked for three years there and in 2013, my husband said he wanted me to finish college. So he went to Qatar and paid for my schooling while I continue selling online,” said Karen who graduated in 2018.
Both had been burning the midnight oil, was Dan worked over time as a contractual worker in Qatar and Karen, a student by day and a reseller at night.
“From 2012 to 2019, I was selling through Facebook. I get orders by posting the products online. After several months of posting and selling only so many pairs, I got orders by volume. This further fueled the desire to have my own shoe business and that desire grows every time I sold a piece,” she added.
That was in 2012, a relatively long stretch before digitalization in trade boomed in the Philippines. Karen who was just 22 years old then, was able to use the technology for trade.
And since online selling is virtually borderless, queries from distant countries came in. Middle Eastern countries are the most active markets, during that time.
But when her aunt’s business folded, she and her husband decided to make a go for the business. Starting from where her aunt ended, the couple gathered the workers who lost their jobs to start anew.
With the money saved from working overseas, the couple started a small shoe factory, like that of Karen’s grandparents. They only have thirteen pairs of hands to manage orders which had been slow at first but the prestige of Carcar shoes being well-built was what buttressed the business. Othel V. Campos
“From my Lolo to my aunt, I guess the problem was lack of capital and the means to market the products. Since I have seen the business from a vantage point though not totally detached, I have a few ideas on how to run and improve the business. And that’s when we decided to start on our own,” Karen said.
Now proud owners of Daren Kate Footwear, Karen and Dan, armed with sheer determination, successfully established 3 outlets in Cebu—2 in Carcar and 1 in Naga, Cebu, short of 3 years.
The first branch is a 7 square meter cubbyhole right in Carcar City. From the 7 sqm booth, Daren Kate moved on to a second branch in Naga City, Cebu, which is 7 times bigger than the first one. At 48 sqm, the store can accommodate about 20 to 30 shoppers. The third and latest is 38 sqm branch, the second in Carcar.
Daren Kate, a mixed derivative of their names, is the brand of choice by many resellers. At any given time, the brand has more than 300 styles clients can choose from. Most clients are bulk buyers who resell and rebrand the shoes.
Daren Kate produces in-demand styles like flats, slides, slip-ons, sandals, clogs, heeled shoes, moccasins, loafers and boots, among many others. The brand caters to women’s preferred shoes but it also manufactures customized shoes for men, women and children. The brand has served the footwear requirement of several marching bands in Cebu to as far as Zamboanga.
Through clients from Cebu, Daren Kate Footwear has reached foreign markets like Japan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
An online-first enterprise, Daren Kate decided to expand its exposure by joining the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) One Town, One Product (OTOP) fair in Cebu in November 2022. The opportunity opened a new window for the couple to market their products and meet buyers and clients.
Carcar shoes are known for their mastery, durability, and best of all, affordability. A pair of sandals or slip-ons would cost no more expensive than P300.
The Oberes couple have never once complained how clients profit from their hard work. They knew, for a fact, that consignment inside malls costs a lot, if not a fortune, for small traders. If only they have the means, they themselves would love to have their own shoe display inside the malls.
The mark-up, they said, can go thrice to four times for products that are relabeled. Rebranded Daren Kate shoes have lined the footwear shelves of Park Mall and Ayala Mall in Cebu.
While there are many shoemakers in Carcar, Karen and Dan believe in “live and let live” mentality, derived from an old quote from James Frey.
“We owe it to our co-entrepreneurs to promote our city and make it as the go to destination for Philippine-made footwear. The world is big enough for us to co-exist. We support each other like family. Carcar is a small community of big-hearted and honest shoemakers,” Dan said.
Both believe it possible to revive a sunset industry. As it is, shoemaking is a declining industry in the Philippines. With the entry of China-made brands that are way cheaper, Philippine-made footwear has to settle for second choice.
Karen and Dan vowed to continue the legacy of beautifully-crafted and hardwearing handmade shoes. With right marketing plan and tools, Daren Kate expect to produce one-of-a-kind pieces that will promote Carcar as an emerging source of quality footwear.
While building her empire, Karen has never lost hope to one day she will reunite with her father again. She found him in FB, the very platform she uses to sell her footwear.
“He’s old now. But I really wanted to meet him,” she said, adding that her family may visit Manila soon to meet her long lost Dad.
