Moccasins, as we make them, are very soft shoes. Some call them(ultra)minimalist or barefoot shoes. For us, they'remostlycomfortable, practical, and all-purposefootwear.
The tradition of moccasins is not only Native American, as leather shoes have been worn all around the globe for millions of years.The variety of soft leather footwear that was found throughout history is incredible, since each ethnic group developed their own designs according to their needs and resources over a long period…Our designs are made to fit men and women, and all purposes of modern life.Wewear them all year round, as slippers or hiking shoes, in the garden orintown, except, it's true when it's too cold and rainy…
Link to Gofar
We tested them over the years and throughout our travels in the most extreme climates. We lived in the hot and humid weather of Indonesia and North Australia as well as in the rocky, sandy, and dry lands of the volcanic islands of Canaries, and now in the temperate weather of France with all its season changes and cold winters.Rich from these experiences, we can confidently say that we have never found better footwear for that:
- it respects the natural balance of our feet and body
- it is odorless and highly breathable
- it is extremely soft and light but totally protective at the same time
- it is zero-drop and gives high sensory feedback
- it is durable and repairable
- it it fast to make and doesn't require machinery
- it is made from natural and eco-friendly material
- and more...
Since , we have made and sold hundreds, if not thousands of moccasins. We custom-make them locally for craft markets and medieval fairs, but also to ship worldwide. When we don't have the opportunity to meet in person, we ask for pictures of the feet, a few measurements, and a scan of the outline of the feet. From there, wedraw an individual pattern for each online customer to ensure the best possible fit.
Simultaneously, we offer everyone the chance to learn the skill of moccasin-making with our video and PDF tutorials.
What's interesting is that one can follow our teachings and use our patterns even without prior experience in leather work or sewing. Yes, making shoes is accessible to all since making authentic moccasins only requires a minimum of hand tools: scissors to cut the leather, an awl to pierce it, wax thread, and a large needle to sew it. With a little practice, a pair can be achieved in just 2 or 3 hours.
But as we all know, finding shoe that really fit well can truly be a struggle, so how can one be sure that our patterns will work for them?
What makes our patterns different is that, they come in a large set of sizes based on the width of the foot and not the length. In practice, after choosing the right pattern size for the width of your feet, you (or we) would sew the front of the moccasin before sewing the heel perfectly to the right size after trying it on already. Therefore, our shoe patterns allow making moccasins for any morphology type (thin, normal, or wide feet…) and in any length.
The pictures here are for you to realize that even from the ready-made-patterns, it is possible to adjust the toe-shape to your needs. Of course, we don't expect beginners to do that, but after getting familiar with the craft, one could easily understand how to adapt the pattern on their own. If it was still too complicated for you, Lougaya can draw patterns on demand.
If ever your feet were really too “different” to fit our basic templates, we offer two options: an extensive tutorial to initiate you in drawing your own patterns or to order a custom-made pattern that we would draw just for you.
For children, a simple lacing system allows you to make “growing-shoes” so that even toddlers or teenagers can get through the year with just one pair.
To conclude, we offer a variety of ready-to-print patterns for children and adults to make different styles of low moccasins, sandals, boots, and house-shoes. These all come with step-by-step written and video tutorials that can be watched and replayed until you can repeat the same gesture and fully integrate this skill of moccasin-making.
We also supply completekits with the leather and tools, so you can get started with everything in hand, without having to worry about finding the right leather or the right tools when you might know nothing about it all!
Overall, becoming your shoemaker can become very interesting, not just to save money or end the struggle of shopping for shoes, but above all for the comfort of having truly comfortable shoes! What's more, made from noble, natural, and breathable materials…
So, all it takes is a bit of time and hand to start making shoes for yourself and, maybe, for the whole family…
At the dawn of the colonization of the St. Lawrence Valley, the skill for making the European moccasin had been lost to a more modern fashion. However, French leather shoes fitted on wooden heels were poorly adapted to the North American winter, and the first Europeans did not hesitate to buy “Indian shoes” from the Indigenous people, whose deer or stag leather retained its suppleness even at extreme temperatures. This suppleness made it possible, among other things, to put on snowshoes or to travel in a bark canoe without damaging it, qualities appreciated by the coureurs des bois who, faced with the rigours of the climate, began to dress quite naturally, “in the style of the Natives.”4
Their shoes are made of deer, bear and beaver hides of which they use many.
.” - Samuel de Champlain5
At the turn of the 20th century, production peaked: more than 7,000 pairs of snowshoes and 140,000 pairs of moccasins were produced annually by a population of no more than 400 souls. The Industrial Revolution transformed manufacturing methods, introducing so-called “piecework”: starting in , the pieces of leather that used to be cut with a knife were now cut in the factory by experienced cutters and then distributed to craftsmen for assemble, beading and lacing operations remunerated with a fixed fee for each dozen moccasins.
For more Moccasin Slipper Manufacturerinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
Beading consists of decorating the moccasin with numerous small beads of various colours. The more complex the pattern, the longer it takes to complete. Since this work is done at home in the communities of Loretteville, Saint-Émile and Lac-Saint-Charles, it is not uncommon to see all the members of a family participate from a very young age, in order to increase the family income9. As they are learning, the children are given more demanding tasks, so that sometimes several generations of beading artists are found within a same family.
Now in fierce competition with imported products, Québec moccasin production continues to rely on the expertise of a local workforce that continues to preserve a typically Canadian tradition and a know-how that dates back to the origins of mankind.
Samuel de Champlain recounts in his travelogues that on May 27, , a coalition of about 1,000 Innu, Algonquins and Etchemins celebrated their victory over the Iroquois at the mouth of the Saguenay River. Upon the arrival of the French, the host of the event, the Innu chief Anadabijou (“grand sagamo”), received them according to the custom of the country. At the end of the meeting, he declared that they are welcome and that they will be able to populate these lands on the condition that they help them fight their enemies10, a promise that Champlain honoured six years later at the lake that now bears his name.
"This first Franco-Aboriginal alliance not only paved the way for the French colonization of the continent, but also for the blending of the cultures and knowledge of two worlds no longer separated by an ocean."
Samuel Venière
Consulting Historian
1 La plus vieille chaussure du monde, Le Monde.fr
2 Histoire de raconter : le travail du cuir à domicile, Ville de Québec - Patrimoine
3 Marc Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle-France Contenant les navigations, découvertes, & habitations faites par les François en Indes Occidentales & Nouvelle-France, Chapitre VIII, Paris, .
4 Pehr Kalm, Voyage de Pehr Kalm au Canada en , traduit et annoté par Jacques Rousseau, Guy Béthune et Pierre Moresset, Montréal, Pierre Tisseyre, , folio 929.
5 Œuvres de Champlain, Publié par l'Université Laval en , seconde édition, Tome 1
6 Rapport de l'archiviste de la Province de Québec (R.A.P.Q.) -, Québec, Imprimeur du Roi, p. 57 : Mémoire Bougainville.
7 M.-A. Bluteau, J.-P, Charland et M. Thivierge, Les cordonniers artisans du cuir, Montréal, Boréal Express, , p. 38-39 ; Bernard Audet, Op. cit., p. 56
8 Histoire de raconter : le travail du cuir à domicile
9 Op. Cit. Histoire de raconter : le travail du cuir à domicile.
10 La Grande tabagie de , Entrevue avec Éric Bédard historien, à Radio-Canada
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