Marilee van der Walt

Freedom of Movement was founded in 2013 by brothers who had a passion for design and entrepreneurship, as well as a dream to create a proudly South African-born lifestyle brand. At the outset, our vision was to create a proudly South African lifestyle brand that was founded on the core principles of quality, longevity, value and worth. We saw leather as the raw material that epitomised all four of these principles and so it was a natural starting point for our aspiring brand. So, we launched the business out of a small room at the University of Stellenbosch, with one leather craftsman named Benjamin and a very old traditional leather-stitching machine. After a few months of determination and prototyping, we had developed two products that we took to market, the Benjamin a classic leather briefcase, and the Bobby, a full leather adventure backpack. And the rest is history… 10 years on and we have continued to improve and grow our product offering that now includes a wide range of premium lifestyle companions, available online and in 15 retail stores across the country. OUR MISSION We want to be known as an aspirational and responsible South African brand that connects people through delivering authentic lifestyle products and experiences. OUR VISION The foundation on which our brand was originally built, rings true 10 years on, with the aim of inspiring others along the way to create their own destiny and live their lives with true FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT: the Freedom to dream | the Freedom to create | the Freedom to move. STAY FREE AND KEEP MOVING