Huaraches are historically Mexican hand-made shoes. Since we became fixated on a shoe that was born and produced by artisans in México, it was clear to us that the right thing to do was to keep the production in their hands, enlist them as suppliers, and pay them fairly for their work.

For that reason, in Espíritu we’ve divided our manufacturing process to be inclusive to the people of the Mexican region:

THE WORKSHOP PROCESS:

At the core of it all are local and highly skilled artisans. With the necessary knowledge for this craft, the artisans select the leather and the color with which each piece will be vegetable tanned. They then go into the procedure of cutting and mounting the pieces together.

MEET THE ARTISANS BEHIND YOUR SOLES

THE WEAVING PROCESS:

The pieces are delivered to the homes of over 240 Native Mexican families in the region to allow them to work from their homes. In this way, we offer stay-at-home mothers and fathers a job opportunity while they continue to stay close to their growing children and receive a paycheck at the same time.

Once they receive the pieces, the artisans then begin the lengthy process of weaving them into the final shape of our huaraches, which is the essence of their hard work. We pay a flat fee per batch of shoes woven to each artisan family -- equivalent to 50% of the wholesale price of our shoes.

THE QUALITY PROCESS:

Finally, the woven shoes are taken back to the workshop where our in-house team makes sure that the shoes are assembled to the highest quality standards of the world. We're not producing just any huarache -- we're offering a modern, high-class, and comfortable one. In fact, our huarache is intentionally designed with these four points:

1. Genuine leather helps for painless stretching

2. Ergonomically arch support

3. Tripled cushioned soles for extra comfort

4. Anti-slip, recycled rubber soles (made from recycled IV BAGS) that last over 10 years

5. Vegetable-based dyes

This whole process allows the artisans of the region to be part of preserving a craft that has been passed down through many generations while providing them with the opportunity to have a sustainable economy in collaboration with the Espiritu team.

It is worth pointing out that given our commitment to keep production with the artisans, it is difficult for us to meet a sky-scraping demand for our huaraches on a timely basis. This is why we recommend our customers to buy the pair they love before they're gone!

At Espíritu we #ShareOurSouls with the people of our beautiful country, México.