Your cart
There are no more items in your cart
Unlike rubber-soled slippers, our felt and latex-soled slippers do not leave any marks on parquet flooring and protect your feet from the outside temperature. If you have already read our “Perfect, natural soles” article, then you will already know that we use natural latex, - an emulsion with a rubbery consistency, extracted from the bark of various trees - to manufacture our footwear.
Latex boasts anti-mould and antibacterial properties and is the most elastic natural material: it immediately bounces back to its original shape after having been compressed or stretched. Due to its characteristics, latex is widely used in the health sector, and also involved in the production of mattresses, children’s products and sporting goods.
The ancient tradition of Tyrolean slippers
In ancient times, families living in Trentino-Alto Adige, and more specifically South Tyrol, sewed slippers out of the materials they had available. They would use wool from their own sheep for the upper and old rags for the sole, often sewing several of these together in order to obtain a thick, insulating layer.
They would use these felt and boiled wool slippers to keep their feet warm during winter, as the only heated room in the house was usually the living room.
Therefore, we decided to create soles inspired by this ancient tradition by combining the heat-insulating and stretch properties of felt with those of natural latex; the finished result is an ultra-comfortable and durable slipper.
How we manufacture our slipper soles
We use three different techniques to produce the soles for our slippers:
1. For some models such as Homy, we sew the felt sole to the upper and dip the slippers in a natural latex mixture. We then peg them on a drying rack and leave them to dry for 4-5 days at room temperature.
2. For other models such as Easy, we glue the felt sole to the upper and spray the natural latex using an airbrush-like tool. Again, we leave the slippers to dry naturally for a few days.
Warm, durable and fully breathable slippers with a felt and latex sole are produced as follows: the latex is absorbed by the wool and fills any holes created by the seams, without altering the typical porosity of this material which, in turn, allows the foot to breathe.
3. When producing mule slippers such as Lace or Root, the latex is mixed with cork to create a durable sole that is also suitable for outdoor use.
Just like the ancient Tyrolean tradition, we produce our soles by hand; these are painstakingly hand-sewn or glued one by one, and we then create a latex solution that was perfected by our father’s stubborn initial attempts. He was a “potions master”; someone who after countless failed attempts and adjustments, eventually found the secret to the perfect mix. For this reason, each Löwenweiss slipper reflects our family’s passion for products that have been made with care and attention to detail.