SHOPPER’S WORLD : Spanish Shoes Are Not Just for the Well-Heeled

When you walk into another culture, you can sometimes find the appropriate shoes.

In Catalonia, the culturally rich region in the northeastern corner of Spain, that means stepping into a pair of espadrilles--shoes that have been worn there for thousands of years.

Fashioned in hundreds of different styles, espadrille designs are linked with particular towns or stretches of Spanish countryside.

In Catalan, most espadrilles--known as espardenya --are made of canvas with a sole made of braided rope wound into a coil. Styles range from the no-frills version in a variety of colors to fancy footwear with embroidered tops to sporty, sneaker-like lace-ups.

Espadrilles are sold in department stores, boutiques and tourist shops throughout Spain, but most of those have machine-stitched soles. Better quality espadrilles, made the traditional way with hand-coiled and hand-sewn soles, can be difficult to find. The search is worth the effort, however.

Handmade espadrilles are more cushioned than machine-made, fit better, wear longer and are offered in a wider variety of styles. They cost from $5 to $30 a pair, about 25% more than their mass-produced counterparts.

La Manual Alpargatera (The Handmade Shoe Shop), a 48-year-old store in the heart of the ciutat vella , or old city, is the best source for espadrilles in Barcelona. Not only does La Manual Alpargatera have all the charm of an old-fashioned shop, it offers approximately 100 styles, all handmade.

Owner Joana Tasies, who runs the shop with her husband, Francisco, and their sons, Juan Carlos and Javier, will proudly pull out vintage snapshots to share with patrons interested in the shop’s history. Old photos show La Manual Alpargatera during the early 1950s. Very little about the shop has changed since then.

Joana Tasies also has an informal collection of illustrations showing the history of espadrilles from ancient times. One poster shows a slipper woven of grass that was found in a cave near Granada. The slipper dates back about 4,000 years.

“Some of the styles we make in the shop have been worn in Catalonia for about 500 years,” Joana Tasies said. “But we also make styles that are quite new. We even have a style that looks like a boot.”

One of the most popular styles is a simple white canvas shoe with a white ribbon stitched around the opening (about $10 per pair). This style has been traditionally worn for the Catalonian folk dance, the sardana . Although prohibited during Franco’s reign, the dance has endured and so has the shoe.

More unusual are specialty espadrilles, such as an open-toe version hand-woven of hemp and worn in the rice fields near Valencia. (The open-toe design allowed water to run out.)

Espadrilles from Ibiza are also made without canvas. The tops are of a tightly woven, pale gold straw.

A variation was worn by artist Salvador Dali, who was born in Catalonia and visited La Manual Alpargatera annually to purchase a supply of espadrilles. Dali’s favorite was a white canvas shoe with decorative black ribbon sewn in a “V” on the top. Known as calle pinxo, the style is priced at about $15 a pair.

A bootlike model (about $15) is made in a deep brown or off- white. The sneakerlike variety (about $16) is made in many colors, as well as in canvas with pink and white or blue and white stripes.

Women’s espadrilles with flat soles are made in a variety of colors (from about $8), as well as pin stripes and floral prints. The women’s generic style with a wedge heel is sold in all the colors for about $10 a pair.

La Manual Alpargatera will accommodate special orders for unusual colors. If you need a standard size, the order can be filled in a few hours.

If finding the right fit is a problem, La Manual Alpargatera will custom-fit your espadrilles. Such shoes cost about $25 and take about three to four weeks to make and one to six weeks to deliver. The templates are kept for future orders.

Joana Tasies oversees the making of La Manual Alpargatera’s “orthopedic” espadrille. This model has a lace-up canvas top fitted over a cushioned sole with a flat or low heel. It looks much like a sneaker, but is roomier.

La Manual Alpargatera also makes espadrilles for children, from toddlers to teens in a variety of styles and colors ($5 to $10 a pair).

La Manual Alpargatera (telephone 301-0172) is on Calle Avino, just off Calle Fernando, which runs between the Ramblas and Placa San Jaume. Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 4:40 to 7:30 p.m. The shop is a short walk from the Barcelona cathedral where, on Sundays just before noon, people gather wearing espardenya to dance the sardana .

Prices quoted in this article reflect currency exchange rates at the time of writing.