Caboclo - Ethical Handmade Leather Shoes

Caboclo

Behind the Brand

Where Did It All Start?:

In Barcelona, Spain the year of 2005 Caboclo started with a goal, to produce high-quality, sustainable leather shoes.

Caboclo's Objectives:

To work ethically and closely with small, independent artisans, and make sure each product is made with a low environmental impact.  Caboclo's mission statement: "The mission is to create unique and timeless products using environmentally friendly materials."

How Are The Shoes Made?:

The only machines used to make the shoes are for cutting the recycled tires for the outer soles.  Besides that, each shoe is made entirely by hand in limited numbers and the materials are sourced locally and domestically first.  At first Caboclo started out with just the natural color of the leather however Juliano Lima wanted to expand to other colors like green, red, etc. but wanted to do so in a eco-friendly way.  So each shoe is treated naturally using only vegetable dyes which offers a nice variation in tones of colors.  Each shoe is tanned in a ecological way, instead of using chrome to tan the leather, which would mean soaking the leather used for the shoes in a water bath with chrome and other chemicals, they use the skin of some trees to tan the leather of each shoe.  The water used in this process contains no chemicals so you can then use this water for other things. 

The Team:

Juliano Lima is the brand founder along with co-founder, Leonardo Lima.

Tatiana is a designer who works along closely with the craftsmen. 

They collaborate with a passionate team of small, independent artisans from Cariri in northeast Brazil helping these people to grow their business.

A Review: 

A famous Brazilian musician Rodrigo Amarante purchased a pair of these shoes and had nothing but good things to say: 'I was pleased to see the shoes were made in Brazil they reminded me of the sandals I wore in my youth, simple, rustic and yet elegant and classy.  I fell in love with your shoe, your work ethic, and design.  I’m proud to see your initiative excel when people are used to accepting that clothes and footwear are not ethically made it’s refreshing to find something quite the opposite.'

In Conclusion:

If you are looking for a truly sustainable and ethical brand to support and purchase footwear through this is the place.  I am truly impressed by the passion Caboclo has for what they do.  

You can watch a great video here about their brand: Caboclo Handmade

Shop their brand here: Shop Now

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