Rope-soled shoes have soles (and possibly other parts) made from rope or rope fibres. They were formerly a cheap, disposable, hand-made item. However, the widely made

espadrille Espadrilles (Spanish: ''alpargatas or esparteñas''; Catalan: ''espardenyes''; Basque: ''espartinak'') are casual, rope-soled, flat but sometimes high-heeled shoes. They usually have a canvas or cotton fabric upper and a flexible sole made of ...

comes in many styles and can include expensive fashion items.

Espadrille

Espadrille Espadrilles (Spanish: ''alpargatas or esparteñas''; Catalan: ''espardenyes''; Basque: ''espartinak'') are casual, rope-soled, flat but sometimes high-heeled shoes. They usually have a canvas or cotton fabric upper and a flexible sole made of ...

s are traditional rope-soled shoes originating in the Basque Country,

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

and

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

regions of Spain. They typically have a sandal-like form with woven straps or else a canvas upper. They were originally made from woven

esparto Esparto, halfah grass, or esparto grass is a fiber produced from two species of perennial grasses of north Africa, Spain and Portugal. It is used for crafts, such as cords, basketry, and espadrilles. ''Stipa tenacissima'' and ''Lygeum spartum ...

(hence the name), but modern mass-produced shoes are more commonly made from the cheaper

jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...

giving the modern shoe a distinctive bright white colour. Espadrilles are now made in many countries including Spain, France, Italy, and many South American countries. Typically nowadays though, manufacturers import pre-made rope soles from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, a major source of jute, with the finishing and styling taking place in the local country. Esparto espadrilles

Bast shoe

Bast shoe Bast shoes are shoes made primarily from bast — fiber taken from the bark of trees such as linden. They are a kind of basket, woven and fitted to the shape of a foot. Bast shoes are a traditional footwear of the forest areas of Northern E ...

s are made from

bast fibre Bast fibre (also called phloem fibre or skin fibre) is plant fibre collected from the phloem (the "inner bark", sometimes called "skin") or bast surrounding the stem of certain dicotyledonous plants. It supports the conductive cells of the phl ...

s. They were traditional shoes of the peoples of the

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruce ...

forests of northern Europe and Russia. Bast shoes were an item worn by the rural poor; leather was preferred in cities. Bast shoes were time-consuming to make. The bark from three or four saplings was soaked in a press for a long period. Despite this, the shoes were somewhat disposable, only lasting a week or so. Bast shoes were used until the mid-twentieth century. They did not always have a rope-like sole as in the picture. Perhaps more commonly they were crudely woven strips of bark.

''Waraji''

Waraji () are light tie-on sandals, made from (usually straw) ropemaking fibers, that were the standard footwear of the common people in Japan. Use resemble other forms of traditional Japanese footwear, such as zori and geta, with a few key diffe ...

'' are traditional Japanese shoes made from rope fibres (usually rice straw). They are cheap, disposable footwear not expected to last more than a day.

Maritime use

Disposable working shoes very similar to espadrilles were at one time worn by sailors, particularly in hot regions. They were hand made on board ship by each sailor individually. The soles and straps were made by the plaiting technique of

sennit Sennit is a type of cordage made by plaiting strands of dried fibre or grass. It can be used ornamentally in crafts, like a kind of ''macramé'', or to make straw hats. Sennit is an important material in the cultures of Oceania, where it is use ...

using rope yarns. Rope and canvas were materials readily available on sailing ships. The practice was definitely still current in the 1940s and may have continued into the 1960s in some places."Rope soled canvas shoes"
Accession number 1984.327, National Museums Liverpool, archived from
the original
2 August 2012.

References

{{reflist Shoes Sandals Folk footwear