Tag Archives: shoes

San Miguel de Allende

The Story of San Miguel Shoes

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By Ximena Collado—

Walking through the cobbled streets of San Miguel de Allende, it’s easy to believe that memory has a sound—the soft percussion of footsteps on stone, the hum of voices carried by warm air, the slow rhythm of a town that still takes its time. Somewhere in that rhythm lives the story of Don Santiago and Martha, two dreamers whose love gave life to San Miguel Shoes. For them, every pair was more than footwear—it was affection made tangible, a way of stitching home and heart into something you could carry wherever you went.

More than twenty years ago, Don Santiago arrived from León, a shoemaker in search of a new beginning. He found it in San Miguel de Allende, its light, its color, and the woman who would become his lifelong companion, Martha. Together, they imagined shoes that would accompany people through their days – comfortable, enduring, and made with care. The first sandal he crafted for her wasn’t just built to withstand the uneven stones of the city; it became a symbol of their life together – steady, resilient, and full of quiet devotion. Their dream soon grew into a small workshop where every design was shaped with patience and purpose. Each pair was meant to last—to travel through years and stories, just as Santiago and Martha did, side by side.

That same spirit still guides San Miguel Shoes today. Now led by their children, the brand has evolved without losing its soul. The workshop hums with the rhythm of more than fifty artisans, most of them women, whose skill and dedication have turned comfort into an art. From the start, sustainability wasn’t a slogan—it was instinct. Every process is designed to minimize waste, every material chosen for comfort, flexibility, and responsibility.

These shoes aren’t made of leather but of soft, adaptive fabrics that move naturally with the foot. Their light yet durable structure provides a sense of ease and stability, offering the kind of comfort that makes each step confident—even across the cobblestones of San Miguel. Women who wear them often describe the same feeling: a secure, effortless stride that carries them through long days without strain or hesitation. The shoes are made not for fleeting trends but for real lives—workdays, travels, and moments in motion.

Created for women of all ages, San Miguel Shoes blend versatility with timeless style. These are shoes made for real life, practical yet elegant, refined yet easy to wear. Every design reflects the brand’s belief that true luxury lies in quality, comfort, and longevity.

Color, too, plays its part, not as fashion, but as expression. Each year, San Miguel Shoes introduces a new palette inspired by the town itself: the soft blush of morning walls, the golden tones of afternoon light, the earthy reds of sunset. For 2026, the collection turns toward teal, blues, and green tones that capture the freshness of water and the calm of shade on a bright day.

Beyond their beauty, San Miguel Shoes sustains a community. The brand provides dignified work, preserves ancestral techniques, and empowers women who have become masters of their craft. Each pair is unique, an imprint of many hands, shaped by patience and pride. And at the heart of it all remains the story of Don Santiago and Martha. Both passed away during the pandemic, only a month apart. Those who knew them say their love was simply too strong to be separated. Their spirit walks on in every shoe, in every step taken by those who wear them.

Today, anyone can take a piece of that story on their own journey. Each pair is a promise, made to last a lifetime, just like the love of Don Santiago and Martha.
http://www.sanmiguelshoes.com.mx

Huatulco

The Hidden City Behind the World’s Shoes

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By Ximena Collado—

When I tell people I’m from León, they usually smile politely and ask, “Oh, where is that?” Few know that my hometown, tucked right in the heart of Mexico, is actually considered the shoe capital of the world. Not just of the country — of the world.
Not many people think of León as a tourist destination, even though it has a rich culture and great food. Yet it’s one of the closest airports to San Miguel de Allende, so countless travelers who fly in to visit San Miguel arrive through León. Many have unknowingly taken their first step in Guanajuato right here — in the city where the shoes they wear might have been made.
For those of us who grew up here, leather is more than a material; it’s part of our identity, the scent that lingers in the air, the texture of our childhood memories, the heartbeat of our city.
Some of my earliest memories are filled with that smell — the deep, warm leather that seemed to live in every corner of my house. My uncles worked with leather, crafting boots by hand in small workshops scattered across the city. When they hugged me after a long day, they always smelled like leather — rich and earthy, a scent that clung to their clothes and hands. To this day, whenever I catch that smell, it feels like home.
Walking through León, it’s impossible not to feel that connection. The smell of tanned leather still floats from old factories, and the markets shine with beautifully crafted boots and bags.
Our story with leather reaches back to the early 1600s, when León’s artisans began tanning hides and crafting goods by hand. The abundance of cattle in the Bajío region provided plenty of raw material, and the city’s location made it a natural hub for trade. Local histories suggest that Spanish settlers introduced new tanning methods during colonial times, techniques that blended with the skill and ingenuity of local craftspeople. Over the centuries, those small workshops grew into a thriving industry — and with it came a new identity. People from León earned the nickname panza verde, or “green belly,” a name said to come from the dyes and pigments that stained the aprons and skin of the leather workers. Over time, panza verde became more than a nickname; it became a badge of pride, a symbol of the color and character that define our craft.

Today, León produces millions of pairs of shoes every year, from classic cowboy boots to modern sneakers and elegant heels. But what many people don’t realize is that some of the world’s most recognized brands are made right here. I’ve even known friends who produce shoes for brands like Sperry or Steve Madden, proof of how León’s craftsmanship quietly travels the world. Their global designs are brought to life by Mexican hands — by people who’ve learned the balance between precision and intuition, between tradition and trend. If you’re looking for some beautifully made leather shoes, start with local names like Bala di Gala, Flexi, Cuadra, Dante, or Perugia — each one rooted in León’s heritage of craftsmanship and quality.
I always smile when I travel and spot a pair of shoes in a store that I know came from León. There’s something magical about seeing a piece of your city walking around the world — quietly, beautifully, without most people even knowing where it was born.
But León isn’t just an industrial city anymore. It’s transforming into a creative hub, a place where design, fashion, and culture come together. In recent years, I’ve watched boutique studios, design schools, and concept stores pop up all around the city. Events like SAPICA — Latin America’s biggest leather and footwear fair — attract buyers, stylists, and designers from all over the world. León is redefining itself: still rooted in craftsmanship, but now looking boldly toward the future.

Huatulco

Footwear in Mexico

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By Jan Chaiken and Marcia Chaiken

One of our shared characteristics is flat feet. As children, we were among the very few who, while running around a pool, left footprints that displayed a complete foot with no open arch space. But the similarity in our feet ends there; one of us wears a US men’s size 13 shoe and the other a US women’s 5.5 (Mexico, size 22.5). For the latter, looking for smaller than average dress shoes that provide comfortable support was always a challenge in the U.S. – but not in Mexico.

Shopping for Mexican Shoes

For anyone in the United States or Canada whose feet are smaller than the shoes that local footwear brands bother to sell, traveling and shopping in Mexico provides them with a welcome opportunity to explore footwear in a great variety of styles, colors, materials and price ranges. That’s because Mexico has a long history of designing and creating footwear for a population whose mix of foot sizes differs from what is found in the US and Canada.

Production of footwear in Mexico developed gradually out of traditional work of artisans using locally available materials. Now it is one of Latin America’s major industries and collectively aspires to export to the entire world. But that is a comparatively recent development, as the first exports of footwear from Mexico to the United States occurred in 1951.

Before the Spanish conquest of Mexico (16th century), shoe making was already a creative endeavor. As throughout the world, once homo sapiens decided to stand on their own two feet and roam, there was a recognized need to protect soft soles from thorns and other sharp objects. Sandal-type foot coverings were made from bark, animal skins, plant fibers and, in Mesoamerica, from rubber. The nations indigenous to Mexico were creators of prototypes of the earliest artisan shoes – huaraches, an iconic Mexican style of sandals that continues to be popular today. Huaraches were traditionally made from woven leather strips but now are also of synthetic materials, with a distinctive, open-toed design. They come in various styles, from simple everyday versions to more ornate, decorative options. These shoes are not only comfortable and suitable for Mexico’s warm climate but are also a symbol of Mexican craftsmanship.

The conquistadores (and later their families) brought European design expectations with them and created a demand for footwear that was far more elaborate than simple huaraches.

Charro boots, or botas vaqueras, are also a distinctive style of Mexico. Charros are skilled horsemen who participate in rodeo events, and their attire, including the boots, has been widely adopted by Mexicanos. The boots typically feature pointed toes and high heels, have intricate designs and embroidery, and are acceptable at even formal events.

The Mexican Shoe Industry

Although Europeans who flocked to Mexico included shoemakers who started cottage industries to supply locals with footwear, Mexican shoemaking became centralized as the world shifted to mass production. Consider León, a city in the state of Guanajuato that is unofficially considered to be the footwear capital of all of North America – it produces more shoes annually than any other city on the continent. Nearly every major footwear company in Mexico has its headquarters or outlets in León. How did that happen? Well, León is surrounded by cattle ranches, which provide a large supply of hides for tanning, not to mention numerous cowboys needing boots. León also has a ready supply of water for tanneries. Talented shoemakers established factories in León initially to make rugged cowboy boots but gradually expanded to a wide variety of footwear.

While most shoe stores sell shoes for both men and women, the patterns of shopping and purchase differ greatly between them. In Mexico approximately 70% of all footwear purchases are for women’s shoes. Sometimes you may spy a husband or boyfriend just sitting placidly in a shoe store awaiting the woman’s decisions, and perhaps completing the final purchase. Studies show that approximately half of women’s purchases arise out of desire for style or variety rather than for need. A typical average is four pairs of shoes for work, three for exercise, five pairs of walking shoes, and three more for special occasions. Men, by contrast, generally consider only comfort, durability, and cost when buying shoes. Their wardrobe contains on average one pair for casual outings, one for sports or exercise, and two pairs of dress shoes.

The Story of Grupo Flexi

When we first travelled extensively within Mexico (over 25 years ago), quality shoes were readily available only in major cities, notably Guadalajara and Mexico City. Now they are plentiful even in Huatulco, and shoes can be purchased in other outlets such as Coppel or sections attached to supermarkets. Flexi is our go-to store in Mexico and is a typical mid-range store competing against brands such as DSW, Zappos, and ASICS.

Founded in 1935 under the name CESAR, Flexi is now a multi-national company with stores throughout North America, and exports to Europe and Asia. In 1998, Flexi had 30 stores in Mexico; by 2014, it was 300. By 2015, it was producing 16 million pairs of shoes a year; today it produces 22.6 million pairs a year. With $56.4 million in revenues, Flexi is the leading shoe manufacturer in Mexico.

Grupo Flexi now has over 400 physical stores in Mexico, perhaps 4,000 shops within other stores, and stores in a half-dozen other countries; it also runs a strong online business built on the latest SAP technology for e-commerce. Originally focused on outdoor boots, especially worker boots for men, Flexi now has designers who try to keep ahead of the latest styles and materials for women’s shoes.

Therein lies the rub. Finding comfortable dress shoes in size 22.5 for flat feet is not really easy even in Mexico’s Flexi shops. Once found and worn literally to shreds, they cannot be replaced with exactly the same style since designers have moved on to later fashions and models. The only solution is to buy several pairs of exactly the same shoes and hope that customs inspectors do not jump to the conclusion that they are being imported for resale and therefore are not duty-free. But the good news is that the need to shop for shoes in Mexico may prevent us from even considering giving up our annual winters in our home away from home.