Blog
Perth Sandals
Luxury, limited edition Swarovski crystal sandals, handcrafted with love by Cheryl Botha of Ankalia in Perth, Western Australia. Feminine and timeless Sandals for the woman who desires a life less ordinary. Sandals designed and made in Australia by a female owned and female operated business. That’s me! I hope you love my Sandal designs and I hope you feel very special when you wear them. Lots of love, Cheryl xx
Sisterhood Start-Up Success
Sisters do it for themselves in start-ups Recently we celebrated the United Nation’s Small and Medium Enterprise Day. Not surprisingly the evolution of “womenpreneurs” was identified as one of the Top 10 trends of the year. In Australia, female entrepreneurship is also an emerging trend with women-owned, women led enterprises increasing at a faster rate than male-owned businesses, according to small business and family enterprise ombudsman Bruce Billson. In Australia, approximately 38 percent of small businesses are owned by women and I’m sure this percentage will keep growing. In 2019, of the 171,000 new businesses set-up in Australia, two-thirds were...
Something Blue for the Bride
"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” This is the traditional rhyme that details what a bride should wear to her wedding for good luck. The historical thinking with this rhyme is the old item provides protection for the baby to come. The new item offers optimism for the future. The item borrowed from another happily married couple ensures good luck and the colour blue is a sign of purity and fidelity. In 2011, at the wedding of Catherine Middleton and Prince William, the bride (Kate) had: Something old – Carrickmacross lace in her wedding dress. Something new –...
Samantha Wills of Gold & Dust
They say the average CEO reads 60 books a year, or 5 books per month. Reading to me is certainly a way to keep learning and to learn from others. I find that reading about the journey of other successful business and career women helps me on my journey with Ankalia. It’s always great to read about the successes, challenges, ideas, wins and losses that other women have experienced along their journey of life, career, business, romance and family. My latest read was Of Gold & Dust – A Memoir of a Creative Life by Samantha Wills. Samantha’s an Aussie...
The Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever
Made in Australia Sandals We all know that most Mums tend to put their family and children first everyday of the year, year-in-year-out. Mother’s Day is the extra special day to show Mum how much you appreciate her and love her. It’s a day to spoil her as much as possible. As the years go by it’s harder and harder to surprise Mum with a really unique gift that she’ll genuinely love. That’s where I recommend my Sandals. They’re handcrafted with love (by me) in limited edition quantities, so they are genuinely unique. I’m sure Mum will feel pretty special...
Fast Fashion Faux Pas
Slow fashion versus fast fashion. The biggest fashion faux pas of the last few years is people’s tendency to buy “fast fashion” which is bad for the environment in so many ways. My Ankalia customers certainly understand and appreciate “slow fashion.” I want all consumers to place value on the clothing and footwear they buy and avoid “fast fashion” as much as possible. They should invest in quality pieces and ensure they only buy things they will wear and treasure for many, many years to come. I urge all shoppers to only buy things they feel instantly great in and...
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