On one fateful day in Laos when Malaysian shoes manufacturer ABARO donated shoes to a local school, the company owners realised that there was a particular need in the community that persisted even back home in Malaysia.
Kevin Soh, Chief Operating Officer for ABARO, confided, “We realised there’s a need to help the students who are struggling such as kids who come from Orang Asli, B40 group, and urban poor families in Malaysia.”
From that day, the leaders of the Klang-based company turned the company’s focus to school shoe manufacturing.
This is the story of ABARO.
Tribute to a father’s dedication
A local manufacturing company under the ownership of Kevin Soh, and couple Bill Siah and Teri Soh, ABARO specialises in the production of school shoes.
Kevin Soh elaborated, “ABARO started off as an OEM business with the name Resta Sdn. Bhd. We were a manufacturer and wholesaler supplying canvas shoes based in Ipoh.”
Initially established by Bill’s father in the 1980s, the venerable manager eventually handed over the reins of the business to Bill in 2001.
It was then that the new company manager rebranded the company name from Resta Sdn. Bhd. to ABARO.
On the name change to ABARO, Kevin explained that Bill chose the name in honour of the latter’s father.
Bill was inspired by his father’s commitment and contributions to the business while holding a passion for the education of children.
That was why he settled on the name of ABARO, which carried the meaning of ‘Abah Is A Hero’, in honour of the founder of the business as well as all fathers everywhere.
In 2014, the company took an increased focus on their digital presence as well as their marketing to end consumers.
As the digitalisation of businesses continued, Bill identified a need to reinvent the business and an opportunity to pivot the business more in line towards the future, and brought in both Kevin and Teri Soh to assist with the business.
Moved by Laos, ABARO turns to school shoes
ABARO’s turning point came from a company trip to Laos in 2016.
There, they observed that school kids in Laos lacked proper shoes to go to school, with some having injured feet from walking barefoot.
The company leaders, who were themselves parents, were moved at the sight.
“It stirred in them a strong desire and mission that no child should go to school without the essentials of proper shoes. Footwear isn’t an accessory, it is a basic necessity for the school day. They decided to donate school shoes to the students, simply to help the kids at Laos,” Kevin explained.
They did not stop there, but decided that from then on, ABARO would focus on the manufacture of shoes for children.
While the company does focus on school shoes, they’ve also continued to expand on available categories of products under the ABARO brand.
Currently, the company boasts a total of 300 designs of footwear.
Nevertheless, Kevin confided that school shoes still contribute to 60% of the company’s total revenue in 2023.
Standing out by helping out
When ABARO first turned its focus towards school shoes, Kevin observed that the market was still fairly open, despite the presence of notable brands such as Bata.
Following that, the company sought to address the deficiencies in children’s school shoes, creating a product practical for school activities while remaining affordable.
For this purpose, as well as wanting to better meet the needs of their target audience, the founding members went down to schools to observe how school shoes were being used, and what difficulties needed solving.
They made two primary observations.
The first was that school shoes would easily get wet, especially during rainy days, and the second being that it was difficult to find one’s own shoes after gatherings, especially with students who wore similar shoes.
From there, ABARO would go on to develop ABARO DryTech™ and ABARO NameTech™ technologies, which are implemented across their products.
ABARO DryTech™ is a water resistant mesh fabric intended to keep the feet dry while still being lightweight, adding that it helps prevent bacterial growth and reduction of odours. Meanwhile, ABARO NameTech™ features a name tag pocket for identification purposes.
Kevin described this effort as how the company creates products for their customers that “meets the needs that they never knew they had”.
The company’s efforts to ease the lives of school children do not just end on the development and manufacturing side.
Beyond meeting functional needs, ever since the company visited Laos, it has also increased its focus towards helping underprivileged elements of its target audience through launching its CSR initiative, ‘Shoes for You. Hopes for Them.’
Their CSR campaign aims to foster relationships with business partners such as Kuok Foundation, Yayasan Petronas, Senheng, government-linked companies, and so on in order to benefit more students nationwide.
The company identifies schools and student groups per the business partner’s requests and links them up for donation arrangements, although ABARO also takes initiative to drive donations on their own.
Most recently, the company has donated 152 brand-new pairs of shoes and socks to B40-category students at Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Gurney (2).
As per this recent donation, ABARO’s total donations of school shoes have reached a grand total of 200,000 pairs.
An optimistic outlook
While ABARO started out as an underdog in the school shoe industry, their continued presence for over two decades in the marketplace is a testament to their tenacity as a shoe manufacturer.
Ever since their rebranding in 2014, Kevin was pleased to inform us that company sales have quadrupled, as of 2023.
Even so, they have not neglected their continued efforts to aid underprivileged groups throughout Malaysia.
With their innovations and the commitment of their team members, Kevin is confident that the company will continue to grow and prosper in the years to come.
Featured Image Credit: ABARO
