Respoke repurposes iconic designer scarves into one-of-a-kind products.
HAND-CRAFTING OUR ESPADRILLES
At Respoke, we reimagine iconic designer silk scarves into handmade espadrilles.
Multi-generational craftsmen in La Rioja, a tiny mountain village workshop in Spain, wind the jute into an approximate sole shape. The holes in the metal base indicate what size the sole will be.
Once the initial sole shape has been created, the next step is to sew through the sole to hold it together with jute thread.
After the sole is sewn together, natural rubber is fused onto the jute.
Our craftsmen emulsify natural rubber outsoles with the jute foot bed by using only high heat and pressure. This process is extremely safe and environmentally friendly.
To make the upper rigid enough for footwear, we back every silk scarf with 100% cotton canvas.
To ensure the most cohesive designs and maximizing the use of each scarf, every panel of every shoe is hand selected before laser cutting each section.
Next, our craftsmen sew the edging onto the upper — “pala” in Spanish — then all of the fabric pieces of the upper are sewn together.
Finally, the craftsmen connect the upper part of the espadrilles to the lower part by hand-sewing them together. Today most espadrilles with a toe piece are machine made. But Respoke espadrilles have a hand-stitched toe piece.
Ahí asta! There you have it! Your one of a kind handcrafted espadrilles are now ready to wear!
THE SOUL OF OUR SNEAKERS
Respoke sneakers are handcrafted in Spain using the same process and workshop for our uppers as our espadrilles, but the beauty and soul of the sneaker is in the sole.
We use natural vulcanized rubber that adheres to the fabric by heat and additional stitching, not glue. While the finish may appear imperfect, that is where the perfection begins—making the shoe more adaptable to the foot, more flexible, and ultimately more sustainable.
RESPOKE READY-TO-WEAR
Respoke takes pre-structured garments and embellishes them with iconic designer scarves. We work with artisans in Spain and the United States to source and embellish each piece.
CHRIS BARTICK X RESPOKE FINE ART
By painter, designer, and Respoke co-founder, Chris Bartick.
The designer scarf begins as a piece of hand made art which then gets transposed onto a limited number of luxurious wearable fabrics. Respoke was founded in a quest to turn the most special scarves into re-imagined, up-cycled and fresh footwear. While Respoke makes every effort to use all of the scarf fabric during shoe production, there are inherently remnants. When a pair of very well loved Respokes are ready for retirement, there is also an opportunity to recover remnant fabric. The scarf pieces collected from original production and retired footwear are opportunistically sent on to their final destination—the collages are created with layers of acrylic paint, decoupage, and gloss fixative.