The Souvenir: The Espadrille Sandal

Last week I was walking around our local seaside town of Soulac-sur-Mer, and discovered a shoe store on a side street I’d never walked down. The owner had a great selection of sandals and espadrilles, and in this case, a combo of the two. I’d never seen an espadrille sandal—my daughter said they looked “so Alaia,” which definitely influenced my purchase—but I also liked how the leather covered so much of the foot; I’m not a fan of sandals where your feet flop all over. She explained that they come from a small family-owned company who have been making them by hand since 1960, in the Landes region just below the Médoc. Because they’re so close to us here in the southwest of France, and because it’s not every day that you hear about a family-run business making cool espadrilles by hand, I looked them up, and now I’m even more excited about them. They have great trad espadrilles in such good color ways which both Matt and I immediately became obsessed with, and you have to watch their video on how they make them from start to finish. It’s fascinating how much goes into making these simple shoes, that, in France, cost at most, 25 euros. 

If you’re shipping to the States, it’s 40 euros just for the shipping—so it really only makes sense if you’re buying several pairs. But once you’re on the site, that won’t be a problem—there are so many great colors and designs. We just bought 6 pairs, and with shipping, it was 144 euros. They also arrived at our office in NYC in three days!