When Mostafa Korany looked at the Egyptian home textiles market in 2012, he saw a three-way split with a missing middle. “The market was split between cheap imports from China, very expensive French or English brands, and traditional local brands,” he tells EnterpriseAM. “There was nothing in the middle — affordable yet design-led.” Inca & Co., the textiles and home furnishings brand he co-founded with Mostafa El Nahawy in 2014, has spent 10 years building that middle tier. Along the way, Inca has shifted most of its production from imported to local.

The idea started in Marylebone: Korany was completing his business degree in London, living on Marylebone High Street above the British textiles brand Designers Guild. “It made me wonder why we didn’t have an Egyptian home textiles brand that could go global,” he tells EnterpriseAM. As a side hustle while studying, he and El Nahawy started making bean bags with silk-screen print fabrics, selling them out of a friend’s garage in Cairo.

Korany returned to Egypt in 2011 after a master’s in supply chain and did six months at the family’s textile manufacturing and trading business, Korany Brothers. He calls it the worst six months of his life. He wanted to build a company driven by art and design — a different vision. “I told my father, ‘Give me six months to figure out something on my own. If it works, you support me; if not, I’ll shut up and come back,’” Korany says. He was 22. El Nahawy, in a parallel family-textile situation, joined him.

The two spent time benchmarking global brands and mapping the domestic market before landing on the middle-tier positioning. The name came from their reading of the Inca civilization in Peru, and one in which the more prints and colors a person wore, the higher their social hierarchy. “That resonated with us because we wanted a very colorful brand,” Korany says. The target consumer was defined narrowly: the creative class who appreciate art and travel.

Inca launched in a 3-by-4 sqm space inside Pop-Up Shop in Downtown Katameya in late 2014. The first physical store followed in Zamalek in 2015. Today the brand runs four stores — in Zamalek, Downtown Katameya, District 5, and Arkan — plus e-commerce operations in Egypt and the UAE that now account for roughly 25% of the business. The product mix has moved with customer demand, from an 80% fabrics weighting at launch to a 50/50 split between fabrics and furniture today. The UAE business is growing, particularly on project-based work, with Morocco flagged as the next expansion market.

The production trajectory is where the Made in Egypt wave’s structural question lands most directly. Inca began by designing in Egypt and sourcing from India, Indonesia, and Spain: India for embroidery, Indonesia for materials like olefin for outdoor use, and Spain for capabilities Egyptian manufacturers didn’t have. Post-Covid and after the successive EGP devaluations, that math changed. Today 80% of Inca’s production is local; 20% remains imported. Third-party facilities handled manufacturing until the brand opened its own boutique factory in 2024.

The reference-point moment, Korany says, was manufacturing the Dior throws distributed to attendees at the 2022 Dior men’s show at the Pyramids. “If I can manufacture a product that would pass the strict quality inspection of LVMH, I can do anything.”

The operating challenge now, he says, is finding the balance between going mass-market and staying boutique. It’s the same tension every scaling homegrown brand in the series has flagged. For Inca, the middle tier it was built to occupy is the same tier it’s now trying to occupy at scale.

We tested shoes from four Egyptian brands over the past few months — clogs, loafers, mules, heels, and lace-ups — at price points ranging from EGP 1.7k to EGP 4k. Some hit the mark; others offered lessons in what shopping local does and doesn’t cover. Our take on each below.

Zee

This homegrown shoe brand, founded in 2018, showed up on our TikTok feed enough times to convince us to buy. We ordered the suede chocolate-brown loafers, going a size up from our usual because Egyptian brands rarely run true. When the loafers arrived three days later in a cardboard box, they were too big. The website and Instagram page carry no clear exchange process; Instagram DMs returned only automated responses. We ended up going to the District 5 branch in person to resolve what should have been a simple return.

The store visit produced a swap for the Zee clogs because the loafers weren’t available in a size that fit. The clogs are a Birkenstock dupe, and an honest reviewer-wear comparison against actual Birkenstocks says Zee’s are more comfortable, thanks to a cushioned sole where Birkenstock’s classic footbed runs stiff. After two weeks of daily wear as running-errands shoes, the pair shows no visible wear and tear. The black suede picks up dust easily, which makes them a chore to clean.

Did Zee do something new? Yes, on comfort. A Birkenstock-style clog at EGP 1.9k with a softer footbed is a real product plus.

Worth it? Yes, for a comfortable everyday clog at roughly a fifth of the Birkenstock price. Not yet for anything that requires a functioning returns process.

Best for: Everyday casual wear, running errands.

Price: EGP 1.9k.

Where to buy: Online or at the District 5 store.

Sole22

Our track record with Egyptian-made shoes hadn’t been great, so expectations were measured. The brand’s premier collection — mainly ballet flats and loafers designed by Hana Ghazi — held up on first look: modern shapes, saturated colors (electric blue, mustard, red, green), and materials on par with international brands we regularly buy from.

We bought the Mary Jane Del Sol in red mantilla. The soft velvet upper and cushioned insole run true to size and are comfortable. After five months of frequent wear, the shoe has held its shape and looks close to new. The buttery-yellow shoe box and dust bag give the brand an understated luxury feel that lifts the whole unboxing.

Months later, we ordered a second style online: the Silent Mile Runner in havan, a slender suede-and-leather lace-up resembling a bowling shoe that is so lightweight you can barely feel it on your feet. We ordered true-to-size; in retrospect, this style needed one size bigger. The order process was straightforward, though delivery took over a week after multiple follow-ups with the shipping company.

Did Sole22 do something new? Yes. The color palette, the design flair, and the sustained wear performance across five months put Sole22 ahead of the mainstream Egyptian shoe brands. The luxury-adjacent packaging is a distinct signal.

Worth it? Yes. At an average of EGP 4k, the shoes aren’t cheap — but they’re better made and more stylish than international counterparts at the same price point.

Best for: Anyone who wants design flair and comfort in one shoe, from Gen Z to millennial buyers.

Price: c. EGP 4k average.

Where to buy: Online at the Sole22 website.

Achilles

First impressions from Instagram and the website: a top-tier global brand available at home, with accessible prices. The catalogue is broad — boots, heels, flats, slippers — and the order process was seamless. Customer service was attentive on Instagram DMs when we caught our own sizing mistake early and helped resolve the issue swiftly. Positioned on style and quality, Achilles competes with Mango and Zara.

We ordered the Asymmetric Strappy Stiletto with a gold disc. The mid-height heels are classic, adaptable from business casual to dressed-up occasions, and have shown no wear over moderate use. Two things stood out on unboxing, though. Glue residue on the hardware and an insole that carried a “Made in China” stamp. Every visit to the website, even months later, turned up the same slashed prices — a permanent “sale” that functions more as anchor pricing than an actual reduction.

Did Achilles do something new? Yes, on style and price accessibility for the design language. Less so on the “Made in Egypt” proposition itself, at least for this product.

Worth it? Yes, for the design and the price point, but it depends on what “Made in Egypt” means to the buyer.

Best for: Work-to-evening versatility, dressed up or down.

Price: On the website for EGP 3k, but really the price is 1.8k.

Where to buy: Online or in-store at The Yard Mall, New Cairo.

Pavo

We had a very last-minute need for footwear suitable for a conference, and Pavo came to the rescue. Our search quickly filtered to what we needed: a black slingback that could work across versatile settings. The order process was straightforward, and our shoes arrived within days.

The shoes delivered on the key test for heels: comfort over sustained wear. We wore the pair for roughly eight hours as the first wear-test, and finished the day without sore spots, rubbing, or the kind of discomfort that normally comes with breaking in a new pair of heels. The footbed is well-cushioned, and the fit was true from the first wear.

Did Pavo do something new? We think so. Comfortable heels at this price point occupy a category that’s hard to get right locally — most mid-tier heels, imported or local, require a break-in period that Pavo’s apparently doesn’t. The slingback design is a versatile silhouette that works across occasions, which the brand is pricing against mid-tier international equivalents from Zara or Aldo at comparable or lower price points.

Worth it? Yes. The comfort-on-first-wear is a very good indicator of a brand that takes customer satisfaction seriously.

Best for: Business and formal wear — any occasion that requires sustained standing or walking.

Price: EGP 2.3k.

Where to buy: At their District 5 store, or online at bypavo.com.