I met someone tonight who was wearing these sandals. (Click the pic to get to the site where he bought them.)
He called them "Celtic sandals." Looks like the more accurate name is "Ghillies." If you're a dancer, you might be familiar with that term. There are a lot of Ghillies made specifically for dancing.
The Neoprene sole appeared to be about 8 mm thick (estimate.) His looked much softer than these; I'm sure they were "broken in." The soles looked flexible too--somehow they really looked more minimalist than they do in this pic! They looked really secure and comfortable, and I thought they might be a really nice running alternative to huaraches to those of us who feel like huaraches are a little too "loose." I didn't realize they laced around the ankle (as he was wearing jeans) but I'm sure you could try different lacing techniques to find what's most comfortable.
As I did some searching I found these Low Top Moccasins from the Medieval Moccasins site. Again, click on the pic for the site that sells them.
They also have Neoprene soles. More info on their construction here. They're basically the same shoe as the Ghillies above, but the leather strips at the forefoot are narrower and offer more coverage. This leather appers to be thinner to me. The toebox doesn't look roomy, but they are completely adjustable--I think the person in this pic is wearing them pretty tight.
Then I found a tutorial on how to make 100% leather "Viking shoes" (Ghillies.) Click on the pic for the tutorial. (If you go all the way to the last page of the tutorial there is a PDF version available.)
Each shoe is made from one piece of leather (for sole & upper) plus leather laces (or whatever you want your laces made from.) Pretty cool! (And of course you don't have to wear felted leather socks with them in summer!)
I may eventually try making some of these. A thin Vibram sole could probably be glued on the bottom too, for a little more traction. Anyone else think that Ghillies might be an interesting alternative to huaraches?
He called them "Celtic sandals." Looks like the more accurate name is "Ghillies." If you're a dancer, you might be familiar with that term. There are a lot of Ghillies made specifically for dancing.
The Neoprene sole appeared to be about 8 mm thick (estimate.) His looked much softer than these; I'm sure they were "broken in." The soles looked flexible too--somehow they really looked more minimalist than they do in this pic! They looked really secure and comfortable, and I thought they might be a really nice running alternative to huaraches to those of us who feel like huaraches are a little too "loose." I didn't realize they laced around the ankle (as he was wearing jeans) but I'm sure you could try different lacing techniques to find what's most comfortable.
As I did some searching I found these Low Top Moccasins from the Medieval Moccasins site. Again, click on the pic for the site that sells them.
They also have Neoprene soles. More info on their construction here. They're basically the same shoe as the Ghillies above, but the leather strips at the forefoot are narrower and offer more coverage. This leather appers to be thinner to me. The toebox doesn't look roomy, but they are completely adjustable--I think the person in this pic is wearing them pretty tight.
Then I found a tutorial on how to make 100% leather "Viking shoes" (Ghillies.) Click on the pic for the tutorial. (If you go all the way to the last page of the tutorial there is a PDF version available.)
Each shoe is made from one piece of leather (for sole & upper) plus leather laces (or whatever you want your laces made from.) Pretty cool! (And of course you don't have to wear felted leather socks with them in summer!)
I may eventually try making some of these. A thin Vibram sole could probably be glued on the bottom too, for a little more traction. Anyone else think that Ghillies might be an interesting alternative to huaraches?
