Where are Juta Shoes made?
Our shoes are handmade in East London. Our studio is in Bethnal Green, where we run our free employability skills session for local women, host our public shoemaking classes, and we hand-make, pack up and ship out your orders. Many of our makers also take their craft home with them and do much of their sewing on their own time.
What materials are Juta Shoes made from?
Our soles are made from jute - a fast-growing, environmentally friendly fibre - and finished with vulcanised rubber, made in a family-run company factory in Spain. Our leather is all offcuts, leftovers, and reclaimed waste from local upholsterers, factories, and companies. Because our patterns use small and unusual shapes, we are able to repurpose leftover pieces of leather and save them from going to landfill. We also work with vegan materials, both reclaimed vegan leather and other fabrics. Our shoes are hand-stitched together with waxed linen thread.
Who makes Juta Shoes?
Our makers are passionate, skilled East London women with creativity and entrepreneurial flair. We recruit and train women from Tower Hamlets and nearby neighbourhoods who are unemployed or underemployed and are looking for flexible, supportive, creative work.
How do the women you work with benefit?
Juta Shoes provides meaningful and empowering work for the women who make our espadrilles. Our making sessions are supportive community spaces for therapeutic creativity and building confidence. We offer at least the London Living Wage for their work, opportunities to get involved in all aspects of the business, and work experience to help them build their CVs.
Are you a charity?
No, we are proudly a social enterprise! That means that we have the same social mission as a charity, but we aim to make money so that we can afford to keep doing good in a sustainable way.
Do you make vegan shoes?
Yes, we often get reclaimed vegan leather and faux fur. We put these special edition shoes up on our website whenever we have them, so keep an eye out!
Why Juta?
Juta (জুতা) means 'shoes' in Bengali. Because the soles are also made from jute, we get extra mileage out of the name!
How do your shoes fit?
We use EU sizing, because our soles come from sunny Spain, and we carry sizes 35-46. You can find our sizing guide here.
How comfortable are they?
We may be biased, but we think they're unbelievably comfortable! Espadrilles, like all flat-soled shoes, don't have as much arch support as moulded sole shoes, but our soles are particularly thick and cushiony, and fit to your feet over time. You can also wear your Jutas with insoles for extra support (we'd recommend going a size up if this is your plan).
