Hollywood Stylist Anita Patrickson’s Amanu Sandal Brand Sets Hotel Partnership
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Hollywood stylist Anita Patrickson has aligned with Singita luxury lodges to bring her made-to-order Amanu sandals to resorts in South Africa. It’s the first move into the hospitality sector for the brand, and a full circle moment for Patrickson, who originally hails from Capetown.
She parlayed her work as a fashion stylist for Julianne Hough, Portia de Rossi and others into a custom shoe business that launched last year in L.A., inspired both by traditional sandals made using tire rubber in Africa, and the tradition of resort sandal making on the island of Capri.
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Now she’s bringing the eco-conscious, high-touch experience customers get in her West Hollywood flagship to guests at Singita. In June, Patrickson traveled to South Africa with one of the U.S. makers to train the staff at Singita Ebony Lodge and Lemombo Lodge to cobble the shoes, priced $160 to $275, from an array of leathers, with pony hair and feather trim, in under an hour.
“My parents were both born in Kenya, and I thought this was a cool way to be able to take this craft back and teach somebody a skillset—and a way to be able to go home more,” Patrickson laughed, adding of her brand mission, “It feels more mindful of how we are consuming to see what goes into making something.”
“I really wanted to be in Africa with the brand. I think we are going to try to go into Rwanda and Tanzania with Singita as well,” she continued. “I’d also love to work with them to use byproducts like impala hides, ostrich, which we eat a lot of in Africa, and plain game skins in the shoes.”
At her West Hollywood store, an oasis of safari style with Tanzanian rugs, bowls from Malawi, and stools from Ivory Coast, Patrickson is also expanding into gift items, offering her famous orange peel and chamomile tea for sale, alongside locally-made sculptural white ceramic tea cups, artwork and more.
Also on the horizon for the summer, Amanu will be popping up with Goop over the Fourth of the July in the Hamptons, and dabbling in wholesale with the soon-to-open Re:Store in San Francisco, which is bringing together 60 (mostly) digitally-native brands under one brick-and-mortar roof.
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