GEORGE TOWN: Wooden clogs, or known in the Malay language as ‘terompah’, used to be a common item in many households in the 1970s.
These days, however, the wooden clogs can rarely be found anywhere. But they have made an appearance courtesy of the 2018 World Cup.
Nestled along a row of shophouses at Jalan Burma here is a couple who runs Eng Ong Heong Trading.
They started off selling prayer items. Today, after nearly four years in business, Teh Guan Heng and his wife, Angeli Choo, both 50, have ventured into selling numerous traditional items once popular in many households, including the wooden clogs, in a bid to revive an age old tradition.
To coincide with the ongoing 2018 World Cup, they have come up with a special collection of wooden clogs hand-painted in the colour of flags of participating countries – the hot favourites that is. Among them are Germany, Brazil, Spain, France, Uruguay, England and host country, Russia.
Teh, an avid football fan himself, said what started out as “something fun”, turned into a business venture.
“I did not expect this to turn out to be one of the hot selling items during this World Cup season.
“I started hand-painting and selling the wooden clogs two days before the 2018 World Cup kicked off in June 14. Today, I have managed to produce nearly 80 such clogs of the favourite countries and sold more than half of them.
“Even tourists, particularly foreigners, are buying them as souvenirs,” he told the NSTP when met at his shop this afternoon.
The rubber wood clogs, which takes more than an hour to produce, is sold at RM38 each. The normal clogs are sold for RM20 each.
Teh said since the World Cup wooden clogs have gained such popularity, he would produce a special collection on the country’s 14 states next.
Meanwhile, Choo said many of the younger generation these days were not familiar with the wooden clogs.
“This is why we want to reintroduce this, but with a twist for modern times,” she added.
The wooden clogs are carefully-shaped pieces of wood with a strap to sheath one’s feet in.