Green shoes from Spain, the famous jute espadrilles

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Welcome to EspadrilleStore.com, the only website in North America offering the authentic Spanish espadrilles.

Launched in late 2007, the founders of EspadrilleStore were inspired by the lack in the social marketplace of a truly wearable & affordable ethical clothing brand. With the strong desire to effect positive change in our world, we decided to launch the traditional espadrille responding to the ever increasing demand of eco friendly and hand crafted footwear.

In addition to a feel-good and fun shopping experience, EspadrilleStore.com aims to raise awareness about today’s most pressing global issues. We hope to inspire our consumers to take action and help us uplift the Spanish communities of workers around the world that produce our goods.

Our super soft, super popular espadrilles now available in a wide variety of colors! Made from an incredible 100% organic cotton, our espadrilles are comfortable, stylish and of course ethically made and good for the earth! Featuring a fashionable cut, these cotton and jute shoes are anything but boxy and unflattering. The cotton is ring-spun and combed for extra softness and colored with eco-friendly dyes.

CHOOSE YOUR ESPADRILLES:

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Espadrilles have been worn by many artists such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, their relaxed personal style that helped make the shoes very popular. Afterwards, it was because of celebrities like Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Kennedy, Catherine Deneuve, Caroline de Monaco, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Sophia Loren, Her Majesty Sophia, Queen of Spain and even Jean-Paul II that the espadrilles’ popularity continued to grow. Even Gaston Lagaffe (Euro-comic book hero) made it his trade-mark shoe.

Salvador Dali

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly with Cary Grant in Barcelona, 1952

Penelope Cruz

Doña Sofia, queen of Spain

Gaston Lagaffe

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ESPADRILLES WHOLESALE

The Advantages of purchasing directly from Espadrilles
By purchasing directly from Espadrilles you will receive special newsletters, up-to-date product information and outstanding customer service from our friendly sales team. We will also assign you a dedicated sales representative who will make purchasing from Espadrilles an easy, enjoyable and profitable experience. New account "specials" are always available and low initial order minimums will help you get started selling the Spanish espadrilles today.

Let's get your account started
Wholesale pricing is available to those who have a business license and/or resale certificate, and meet the criteria of having a brick and mortar store, an online store or operate a print catalog business. Espadrilles is no longer taking on Ebay only accounts. If you are interested in becoming a wholesale account customer, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.

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ECO friendly

Today, with the tremendous increase in consumption and pollution, there are growing concerns about the environment. It is therefore very important to offer to the public products using less and less polluting chemical substances. This is why we have chosen the espadrille, a shoe that meets all environmental criteria.

-it is completely biodegradable

-no chemical products are used in its manufacture

-it is made with natural fibres only (flax and jute)

-natural rather than artificial rubber is used to waterproof the sole

All the materials used in the manufacture of the espadrille are described below:

Jute

Jute is used to make the soles. The use of jute is beneficial for the environment since this natural and renewable fibre is also completely biodegradable and can be used as a fertilizer. This is one of the most environment friendly material as its cultivativation does not require pesticides and its transformation does not require environmentally harmful products unlike cotton, the conventional cultivation of which uses 24% of the pesticides sold in the world and represents only 2.4% of the agricultural area in use.

Few materials are as environmentally safe as jute.

Flax

Flax is the oldest textile material. It is also one of the few textile fibres producing plant gowing in Europe. The technical charateristics of flax fibres are rather exceptional. Flax can absorb a lot of water and its fibre is very strong and fine. Unlike its synthetic competitors, this fibre is not affected by UV radiation from the sun.

Flax cultivation and transformation are very safe for the environment. An environmental balance established over a period of a year and a half shows that flax wins one of the first places as far as compliance with environmental legislation is concerned. This is why it is so popular today.

Natural rubber

Rubber is an elastic waterproof material made with the latex produced by the rubber tree growing in southern regions. It is first dried and then purified by a boiling and cleaning process. Natural rubber has properties that cannot be matched by synthetic rubber made from oil. Its production is less energy-consuming and polluting than synthetic rubber.

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HAND SEWN ESPADRILLES

Allow me to introduce you to Rosa, one of the many “abuelas” (grandmothers) living in a small village (population 2000) in the north of Spain. In a hand full of Spanish villages, the centuries old tradition of villagers hand sowing the espadrille in the comfort of their own home still remains.

These adorable abuelas sew the espadrilles by hand with an ancestral technique, always using the same tools and making the exact same motions. The pictures below will help you appreciate in detail the full charm of the technique.

See for yourself how Rosa receives at home the different elements (sole, fabric and thread) and assembles them with amazing speed while gossiping with friends.

BRAIDING THE JUTE ROPE

These braiding machines dating from the 50's are still in use in the village. The jute thread spins and forms the rope used to make the soles of the espadrilles.

PREPARING THE JUTE SOLES

And here’s Ramon Junior! Now that the rope is ready, his work consists in rolling the jute in order to form the soles. To do so, he uses a turning table that has been used for generations by his family.

SEWING THE SOLES

Hand sewing the soles is the key to a solid espadrille; as you can see, Ramon sews on a special bench called "banco alpargatero", used in his family for many generations.

SOLES MADE OF NATURAL RUBBER

Paco the rubber man! In order to finish the sole, natural rubber will be vulcanized to the jute with the help of a heated mold (400º Celsius). This rubber sole will solidify the jute and provide a good grip to the sole.

THE DELICATE ART OF TAILORING

Here's Ramon again! He will not share the responsibility of his delicate tailoring job, cutting the fabric is the most difficult part of the "espadrille" operation!

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The history of the espadrille

The espadrille has been around for centuries maybe even thousands of years. The Archaeological museum of Granada owns a pair of espadrilles that were found on human remains inside the “cueva de los murielagos” (the bat-cave). It is estimated that these shoes are around 4000 years old. Clearly, they are a very primitive version of today’s alpargatas.

Hemp espadrille, 10th century

The espadrille, also known as alpargata or espardenya ,is believed to originate from the Basque country in Spain. During the 13th century, the King of Aragons’ infantry men use to wear espadrilles made of esparto, a cactus plant that was originally burned then braided to make the soles.

It was during the 19th century that the production of these shoes truly spread. Since it is a handcrafted shoe, making the treads employs many workers. The alpargatero’s (or espadrille maker) only job was to make the rope soles, while the seamstresses sewed the fabric and the band. At the beginning of the XIX century, Mauléon (a French city located in the Atlantic Pyrenees) began selling them in vast quantities. The first people to wear them were the catalano-aragonese military soldiers then subsequently by the priests. Around 1880, most espadrilles were sold to mine workers, but they were also exported to South America. It was the time of the “hirondelles”, which were young girls from the aragonese valleys who came to work in the espadrille factories between the fall and winter seasons.

Traditionally, the alpargata was either black or it was left in its natural coloured fabric (the lighter version was worn on Sundays and the darker version during the week), and each region makes the alpargata in its own unique way. The ones made in Emporda are white and decorated with five bands of colour over the top of the shoe. One of the most famous designs made of white single-coloured fabric is worn by the Sardanes Dancers (traditional catalan dance).

Around 1950, fashion evolved and this forced alpargata makers to reinvent the shoe with a more sophisticated design that was better suited to the times. This contributed, during the 1960s, to a special order of shoes for the Parisian festivities by the most celebrated designer of the time, Mr. Yves St-Laurent. He asked for an espadrille with a heel, which had never been done before. Suddenly, it was all the rage! Today, almost all the women who live in the southern regions have a pair of alpargatas with heels and ribbons that tie around the ankle.

Today, espadrilles are still extremely popular both in France and in Spain, especially in the summer. People seemed to like it because of the sole, which is 100% natural, molds itself to the shape of the foot, and allows the skin to breathe. The simplicity of this shoe makes very versatile and therefore easy to match with all sorts of different styles. If the espadrille has already been around for 4000 years then it’s not about to go out of fashion now!!

Enjoy the following historical pictures

Salvador Dali and his famous sandals espadrilles

1885, Bordeaux, France.

Making espadrilles in Vallespir, a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales.

Alpargatero in the streets of Sevilla, late 19th century

"txakabrankua" war dance, Basque Country.

Family picture, early 20th century

Beautiful anonymous picture, early 70`s

1909, espadrille store in Madrid, Spain