Huaraches, or Mexican Huarache Sandals; how do I begin describing what they are?
After over 5 years researching this fascinating Mexican footwear I’m not sure where to begin? I can say this, that comparing a freshly made pair of Huaraches to boxed leather shoes, is like comparing home made pasta to canned spaghetti. I’ve seen Huaraches made with freshly tanned leather and they almost looked edible..thats how fresh the leather looked.
Mexican Huaraches are the inspiration behind all the best know woven Nike footwear designs, like the NikeAir Woven. And few people know that Nike designers also travelled to Mexico to research Huaraches in early 2000.
Made with leather than is tanned for weeks and sometimes months, in an organic wood and water solution, a few craftsmen also tan the leather to make their Huaraches, so can literally make footwear from a cow.
The upper is woven sequentially into the sole from sometimes just a single strip of leather. Meaning there is just one start point and one end point and you can’t put one weave out of place or the final design will not take form.
True classics, many Huarache styles have remained unchanged for over 80 years.
With almost 3GB worth of high resolution photos of original Huarache styles, check out Huaraches at Huarache Blog HERE
74 FOOTWEAR DESIGN CONSULTING 