Mickey Ashmore left his finance job to sell his modern take on Aladdin slippers out of his Manhattan apartment. In December, the Dallas, and Forest Hills native brought his business home when he opened a second shop, Sabah House, on a quiet Uptown street in State Thomas.

In 2013, Mickey Ashmore created a magical pair of leather shoes with a family of craftsmen in southeast Turkey. He called them Sabahs, an original shoe based on a traditional shoemaking method. “They’re like genie slippers but without that curly front toe,” he says during a recent phone interview from his Manhattan retail outlet. “Instead of a leather sole, which just gets destroyed, I added rubber. So you can walk on pavement to the subway and back.”

Celebrated for their quality, comfort and unique look, Sabahs are still entirely handmade by that same family and they now travel the world selling them, one pair at a time. In addition to their traveling Dealer, Sabahs can be purchased in-person from the Sabah Houses in Dallas, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and by web order at the Sabah Portal.

What does “sabah” mean? “Morningtime” in Turkish. His buddy said this was the shoe you put on in the morning and never take off. It just sort of stuck.

http://sabah.am/