The VIVOBAREFOOT HANDCUT range is designed in London, crafted in Portugal by highly skilled artisans, and is made using only the finest Tuscan leather. To tell the story of our luxury Handcut range, we took a select group of journalists to Portugal, to show them the unique process of craftmanship every VIVOBAREFOOT Handcut shoe goes through.
Our journey started in the beautiful countryside around Porto to visit our two specialised factories. These guys understand our philosophy and we trust them to make footwear that stays true to what we believe. Each factory has their own unique way of working. The teams here specialise in making certain types of shoe constructions, that match the two main types of HANDCUT shoes we design.
Limak is where the Opanka is made. Opanka is made using a Moccasin like construction. A single piece of leather or suede is wrapped around the foot from the footbed and stitched to the upper, finished with a bold hand-stitch.
Pilar Here we make our stitch down soles, like you see on the Porto Rockers. The upper leather is stitched directly onto the sole unit. It wraps around the heel and up the back of the foot, following the shape of the ankle, with our striking Heel Rocker.
Our trip to Portugal was a chance to showcase our exciting future productions, our SS17 HANDCUT range and some exclusive new collaborations. It was also a great opportunity to introduce a group of relative barefoot newbies to the biomechanical thinking behind our designs.
The Heel Rocker. We make all our HANDCUT shoes with a curved, heel shaped heel. It follows the natural shape of your foot, allowing for a smooth, natural walking motion- a heel stroke, not a heel strike.
The leather foot bed. Natural leather moves and breathes as you do, so the foot bed, over time, will take the natural form of your feet, helping you move as nature intended.
After a few days of barefoot education, custom shoe designing and a few too many bottles of Portuguese wine, we headed back to London, where it all began, for an intimate follow up event at The Blues Kitchen. A night of live music and chicken wings, with the chance to hear what our journalists really thought of our footwear.
“The shoes…equal parts rustic and stylish, are top quality too.” Lucy Sheref – The Express
We caught up with the guests from our Porto trip and they each collected their pair of custom designed Vivos. It was great to hear such positive feedback, not only on the look of the shoes but also about our philosophy, and the importance of looking after your feet – the natural way.
So will our HANDCUT guests be ditching their padded trainers and going barefoot? Maybe not full time, just yet, but if we’ve convinced a few more people to start thinking seriously about healthy, natural feet, we’re walking in the right direction.
