El Secreto: Why Choose Zapas

Genuine Spanish handcraft

Espadrilles were invented in Spain hundreds of years ago and Eastern Mediterranean villages have been making espadrilles for generations. The craft has been passed on in between families and the secrets of making durable and comfortable jute soles remain within the trade.

There are lots of espadrilles nowadays coming from many places but the experienced hands, meticulous attention to detail and dedication of Spanish artisans has no comparison.

Artisanal finish = unique espadrille

There are no two equal espadrilles. Each espadrille is assembled by hand by an artisan making the little imperfections or variations part of having a shoe that has been crafted one by one, instead of churned by the thousands in a factory.

Soles made in Spain out of high quality jute

Did you know many jute soles are now imported to Spain where the upper is sewn to claim it as a Spanish product? We made sure all the parts and materials where made in Spain as part of our compromise to contribute to the Spanish economy.

High quality jute is used in all our soles. The fibres are compacted into braids and pressed keeping a minimum sole thickness to ensure you can enjoy your espadrilles for a longer time.

100% Original Prints
All our prints are 100% original designs made by us! You won’t find them anywhere else.

The Spanish Connection

When designing our espadrilles, we wanted to bring little details, memories and flavours of Spain to Australia without resorting to the most typical items. Spain has such a varied and muti-faceted culture that surely surpasses paella and bulls. Our Pieces of Spain collection is the first one of many to come highlighting Spain with a modern twist.

Support Small Businesses

Wearing ZAPAS you are supporting fair artisanal work coming from small production factories that are now under struggle because of the larger bulk producing factories overseas.

Attention to Detail

We are quite perfectionist and bring that to our work. We check every single pair of our espadrilles to ensure we are providing quality and comfort. You can see that in the robustness of our soles and the quality of the hand sewing.

Biodegradable and eco-friendly

We know that bringing shoes from Spain via boat isn’t the best way to be sustainable but we considered that helping our homeland’s economy was worth it anyways. We are currently looking for ways to offset our carbon emissions accordingly but in the meantime we have made sure our product is as green as it gets. We don’t have shoe boxes because the majority end up in the bin and save cardboard. We don’t print invoices because you can obtain e-copies through Paypal. The jute sole is biodegradable and the rest of the shoe is eco-friendly.