A hipster alert resounded through Guadalajara and a sea of black-clad “under 30-something’s” descended on Andares Mall last Thursday as Boutique Elnierika hosted a launch party for a limited edition sale of VANS footwear – not just any model of the globally popular skateboard shoe, mind you, but sneakers and high-tops with designs created and hand-sewn by Jalisco’s native Huichol Indians.
The Huichol series of VANS shoes is the dream child of store owners Adfolfo Rabadan Pasten and partner Jaramara Mendoza Sandoval, who have had longtime relations with artisan Rosendo Lopez Garcia and his family, who conceived the designs and hand-worked all 360 pairs of the limited edition run.
The shoes were then divided among a handful of VANS boutiques in North America; with the Guadalajara store receiving a mere 40 pairs for sale.
“We worked for two years on this project,” noted Rabadan, who owns two other similar shoe boutiques in Canada and the United States. “We have the deepest respect for the traditions of the Huichols. Our boutique name, Elnierika, is a Huichol name that means ‘Eye of the Earth,’ and it was Jaramara’s idea to bring together this relationship in a creative project that would showcase these artists to the rest of the world.”
The resulting colorful sneakers, with the characteristic VANS’ black and white checkerboard vamp sewn in the vivid rainbow colors that mark Huichol work, are a cut far above the ordinary. They and the snake-motif high-tops are truly art pieces to wear proudly for the lucky 40 clients who rushed to the boutique on October 3 to take a ticket for the opportunity to buy a single pair of shoes on the following day.
Lopez and his family negotiated a fair trade fee for their work, as well as receiving a portion of the sales of their many yarn and bead decorated objets d’art that festooned the boutique over the weekend. Familiar Huichol objects such as human and deer skulls, as well as brilliantly decorated skateboards and an enormous rendition of the VANS high-top shoe went to collectors. Despite the heavy interest, a few pieces of Huichol art were still available for purchase this week.
“Humans play to be gods,” said Lopez of his collaboration with the VANS Corporation and his friends who facilitated the project. “We share our culture so that it can live.”