Interestingly, the Huaraches Mexican Shoes are Pre-Columbian in origin and have been traced to the Cactle of the Nahuati origin. These sandals carry along with rich history; the name “Huarache” is derived the term kwarachi from the Purepecha language which refers to a sandal when translated to English
Early hand-made forms of these shoes were found and traced to the farming communities in North America. These shoes were originally made in an all-leather construction that has not quite faded away since the thong design around the foot is still made with meticulously hand-woven braided straps of leather.
These shoes or rather sandals started to gain great traction in the North-American market in the early 1960s. They slowly permeated into the fancy fashions. Their popularity was clearly depicted in their adoption as part of the hippie lifestyle of the 1960s. These shoes were not limited to North America; they also gained a lot of recognition in South America. Towards the end of the 20th century, the huaraches were found all over South and North America.
The ancient huarache designs vary greatly. They come in vast styles, however, the designs are always very simple without any kind of sophistication. These shoes were originally made of all-leather; the entire sandal initially consisted of only leather. Nevertheless, in recent times, a few aspects of it have changed; the shoe has been successfully blended with other materials. The later designs have blended leather with a variety of materials such as hand-woven string soles and more frequently, thin wooden soles. Subsequently, more appealing and elaborate upper styles were created by leather workers and saddlers. These blended types also gained popularity and quickly penetrated the market, paving way for the modern huarache.
The modern huarache swung into place in the 1930s as a result of the adoption of rubber soles. These were derived and developed from rubber car-tires. It entailed a great deal of creativity to meticulously and beautifully shape the rubber into a sandal sole. There are a variety of modern designs that vary in style from a simplistic shoe to complex sandals. These modern designs employ the use of traditional leather as well as modern synthetic materials.
Huaraches Mexican Shoes have retained their popularity and influence to the present day. However, it is important to note that despite many sandals claiming to be huaraches, shoes can only be considered to be traditional huaraches if they are handmade with woven-leather straps in the upper part.