Ali working in his shop
Persian handicrafts have a long history, as Iranians have always excelled in art and culture. One of the articraft to be found in Abadeh, and specifically in Timche Sarafian caravanserai, is the Giveh traditional Iranian shoes.
I became acquainted with these kind of shoes thanks to a chat with a young artisan, Ali, who has a small shop inside Timche Sarafian. Ali tells me that in the golden age, a thousand craftsmen in the Timche area produced Giveh shoes. Now Ali is one of the few artisans left; he learned the trade from his grandfather, and they have been artisan shoemakers for four generations. Ali started learning his skills at the age of 16 and is now 25.
WHY THEY ARE SO POPULAR
One of the parts of the sole
Giveh shoes, also know as Kalash in other areas of Iran where they are also produced, like Marivan in the Iranian Kurdistan, are a durable kind of traditional slippers made by the villagers, and used to be very popular all over Iran in the past thanks to their suitability for long marches. But this is not the only feature of these amazing shoes.
One of the great characteristics of Giveh shoes is that they keep your feet cool thanks to the specific and natural materials used to make them, as well as the presence of pores in the fabric of the shoe top that allows ventilation inside the shoes, thus preventing any unpleasant odour. This is a real godsend if you think of the extreme heat in the Iranian summertime. Giveh shoes adapt perfectly to the the shape and morphology of the feet, from their top to their soles, the more you walk in them. They are also known to relieve fatigue and pain in the legs while walking. These features make Giveh shoes still very popular in spite of the huge number of modern shoes manufactured by shoe factories in the market.
GIVEH PRODUCTION
Women producing the upper part of the sole
These are shoes that last a lifetime, and they have a lot of work behind them. All stages of the production of Giveh shoes are manual. Their top is generally made of two types of silk thread and cotton thread, and it can be washed innumerable times. Their sole has 3 layers, one of cotton, one of cowhide and one of leather (or rubber). Giveh shoes top is made mostly by women, always and religiously by hand, and on average a woman takes about 20 to 40 days to weave a pair of shoes, depending on the number of twists in the cotton and silk thread. Their soles and the final assembling is a men’s job. If you wander an Iranian market you can often see artisans making Giveh shoes inside small shops or make-shift stalls.
Interestingly enough Giveh shoes have no right or left pair. Each of these handmade shoes can be worn either by the right or the left foot. Also, Giveh shoes have no variety of colours and are only made in plain white.
GIVEH USAGE
A section of the sole
Give shoes were intended for and are typically worn by males. Initially they had a bow tie that was tangled to tight them to the feet, and they were heavily tipped, as men wore them while working.
They traditionally have no female version; however, in some regions, Giveh shoes are also welcomed by women in the hot summertime. Hence, some producers have come up with designs intended for women, beautiful and attractive designs with colourful bows and cottons and even some decorations that make Giveh shoes suitable for pairing with all kinds of fashionable clothes.
Before starting to use Giveh shoes, they need to be rubbed on the grass so that any holes left in the soles are filled by it; this way, Giveh shoes will be naturally waterproof.
EXPENSIVE BUT GREEN
Giveh in the making
The price of Giveh shoes is high by the local standards, costing from 2 million to 6 million tomans (40 to 120 euros). The price mainly depends on the type of sole and on the weaves in the cotton and silk thread with which the shoe covers are made.
Giveh shoes is definitely an investment from the point of view of the environment: as they are made only by natural materials, they do not cause any environmental pollution during their production. And even after many years, as their materials are completely natural and decompose in less than a year, returning to their natural elements.
I take leave of Ali, but not before ordering my tailor-made Giveh shoes. Not only do I buy an excellent product that will remind me of this amazing country each time I wear it, but I will also sponsor a young and enthusiastic artisan that keeps alive this incredible Iran art.
