Espadrilles, part by part: the rope, the canvas and the stitching

By Porter Lang

Turn the shoe over. That is where the argument is. The sole of an espadrille is rope, and what the rope is made of, how it is held together and what sits underneath it are the three questions that separate one pair from another.

What the sole is made of

Wikipedia says espadrilles are casual shoes with soles of esparto rope, usually flat and sometimes high-heeled, with uppers of canvas or cotton. It also says modern soles are often jute rope or braid, typically with vulcanised rubber underneath. A Barcelona espadrille shop, described in a Permanent Style article, gives the order a different way: esparto grass was the original fibre, hemp followed, and jute is now the fibre of choice. That article says jute is softer than esparto, gets softer with wear, is smoother to work and absorbs less water than hemp. Hemp, it says, is soft and flexible but hairy, hard to machine and holds water. It also says hemp growing was restricted in Spain for many years. We report that as the shop’s account.

So the word on the label, esparto or jute, tells you something. According to Wikipedia the name comes from the Catalan espardenya, which refers to esparto grass, and a modern sole may well be jute. Both can be true of the same pair of shoes.

How a hand-stitched sole goes together

Permanent Style describes the steps for the Barcelona shop. Jute rope is coiled into a loose outline of the sole. A thick needle with a wooden handle is pushed through the coils, and each pull squeezes the coils closer together. One example sole is made from around six coils of rope. The canvas upper is then stitched to the sole by hand, and finishing touches such as ribbons are added. The article puts the whole job at roughly two to three hours. It names a last, hammered into the toe cap, to bring back the shape of a shoe that has lain flat for too long.

Wikipedia describes the factory route. Jute twine is machine-braided, shaped by hand and pressed with heat, then stitched with espadrille needles and vulcanised underneath. Heels are glued on and more braid is wrapped around the sole, and the uppers are attached last. It adds that in the traditional construction the canvas upper’s toe and vamp are cut in one piece and seamed to the sole at the sides.

Stitched or glued

The Permanent Style article says a hand-stitched sole is flexible, while a machine-made, glued sole is noticeably stiffer. It also says glued pairs are less suited to machine washing, because the wash can soften the glue, and stitched pairs can be washed. It gives a method for the stitched kind: cold water, neutral soap, two or three spins, and drying sole side up out of direct sun. That is the shop’s advice for its own shoes, so check the maker’s instructions for any pair you own.

The oldest date

Wikipedia says Europe has records of the shoe from 1322, when it was described with its current Catalan name, and that espadrilles were common peasant footwear from the fourteenth century at least. It also says the oldest primitive form dates back 9,500 years. Permanent Style says the first espadrilles, of esparto, were made about 7,000 years ago. Two brand blogs go further: one says the earliest shoes of this kind were found in a cave in Spain, with a woven rope sole, and gives their age as both “more than 4000 years” and “a few thousand years” in the same post. The nine-and-a-half-thousand, seven-thousand and four-thousand figures do not agree, and none of the brand blogs cites a source. We show them and choose none.

Who wore them, and where they were made

Both brand blogs say that soldiers of the King of Aragon wore early versions; one calls them infantrymen and gives the cotton-canvas upper and woven jute sole. One of them says the shoe reached Europe in the fourteenth century, during the Hundred Years’ War, and that French manufacture began in the eighteenth century in the French Basque Country, with Mauléon named as the centre. It says seasonal workers from Spain, nicknamed the swallows, came in autumn and left in spring, and that rubber soles came after the First World War. The other says the shoes were found in Occitania and Catalonia and spread to northern French mining workers. These are accounts from companies that sell espadrilles. We read them as stories until a second kind of source backs them.

Wikipedia lists Picasso, Salvador Dalí, John F. Kennedy and Yves Saint Laurent among those who popularised the shoe, and says Castañer, a Spanish maker, made the wedge espadrilles after a meeting with Saint Laurent at a Paris trade fair in 1970. A brand blog places the wedge in the 1960s, and Permanent Style says the Barcelona shop’s wedge-heel pairs appeared about 30 years before the runway version. The dates differ.

Where they are made now

Wikipedia says that “ninety percent of the world’s total production” of complete espadrilles and jute soles is made in Bangladesh, and that complete pairs are also assembled in several countries in South America. Permanent Style says Bangladesh grows most of the world’s jute and that the shop makes most of its shoes in Barcelona, in a factory near Tibidabo or in a small workshop behind the shop. So “Spanish espadrille” can mean a design, a place of assembly or a maker’s home, and the label may not say which.

Dates in order

1322: records of the shoe with its Catalan name, according to Wikipedia.
14th century: common peasant footwear, according to Wikipedia; arrival in Europe, according to a brand blog.
18th century: French manufacture at Mauléon begins, according to a brand blog.
1940: the Barcelona shop opens, according to Permanent Style.
1948: Lauren Bacall wears ankle-laced pairs in Key Largo, according to Wikipedia.
1955: a pair from the Barcelona shop is in the Met Museum collection, according to Permanent Style.
1970: Castañer and Saint Laurent meet at a Paris trade fair, according to Wikipedia.

Side by side

Oldest date: 1322 for the Catalan name (Wikipedia) against thousands of years for the shoe type (several sources). Sole fibre: esparto (original, in the name), hemp, then jute. Wedge: about 30 years before the runway version (the shop’s claim) or popularised from 1970 (Wikipedia). Our reading: a name can be recorded long after the shoe it describes, which would explain some of the gaps. None of the sources says that.

What kind of sources these are

Wikipedia, which anyone can edit; a menswear magazine’s article about one Barcelona shop (Permanent Style), which describes a single maker; and two brand blogs from companies that sell espadrilles, neither with named sources. We read no museum or trade-body page.

Questions a buyer would ask

What is the sole made of, and is it stitched or glued? Is the rope esparto, hemp or jute? What sits under the rope? Where was the pair assembled? We name no maker as a recommendation, and we give no prices.

What we left out

We left out the number of models and staff at the shop, which are the shop’s own figures. We left out the claims about the Spanish Civil War, mining work and South American exports, because each rested on a single brand blog. We left out low-cost industrial competition, where the blog gave no figure.

Quick answers

What is an espadrille sole made of? According to Wikipedia, traditionally esparto rope, with modern soles often jute rope or braid and vulcanised rubber underneath. A Barcelona shop’s article says jute is now the fibre of choice.

Are hand-stitched espadrilles different from glued ones? According to a Permanent Style article about one shop, a hand-stitched sole is flexible while a machine-made, glued sole is noticeably stiffer.

Where does the word espadrille come from? Wikipedia says it comes from the Catalan espardenya, which refers to esparto grass, with the French term arriving by way of Occitan.

Roam first. Shop later.

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