Collection: Women's Smoking Shoes

Our Designed Loafers and Turkish Kilim Shoes

We do not make 'closet trophies'- those shoes only to be worn on special days. We make a versatile loafer. The rich colors will work with most of the items in your closet. Navy Kilim pairs well as most everything vintage in the closet but makes a dress up shoe as well. [See FAQs for sizing questions]

These women's loafers are made by cobblers in Istanbul with decades of experience. Your pair of one of a kind loafers are handmade on an Italian form with an elegant a chisel toe. These smoking loafers are simply beautiful.

A deep dive into details of our woolie wonders:

Each kilim, tapestry or vintage material is hand selected to assure the provenance and condition;  we know and you know details are important.

Not only are they attractive slipper shoes but they are great walking shoes because, the wool uppers are built on leather soles and leather insoles. There is a small 5/8in heel and leather soles can be redone when needed.  Many people when replacing the soles will use a thin durable plastic sole.

Kilim is flat weave fabric that has a myriad of uses ranging from carpets, tapestries, saddle bags, drapes, bed cover to name a few. We select kilims that are older and that have been dyed using organic dyes. The dyes and the patterns make every kilim unique. We do not have kilim woven to be cut into shoes for our production.

The organic dyes used in kilim can range from madder root or pomegranate for the red colors to indigo for the blue shades while hibiscus or walnut leaves make the greens. Browns come from walnut hulls or oxblood while the color black from oak apples [oak galls]. The yellows are from ox eye chamomile and turmeric.

The balance of the colors in natural dyes is what the eye finds so appealing. The colors are set so as not to bleed using a fixative such as alum, iron, copper, tin or chrome. Alum and cream of tarter sets the clearest colors. Natural dyes have richer or more complex colors than new synthetic dyes and time and light only makes organic dyes more appealing.

We hope you enjoy our wearable art, our sustainable shoes.

And by golly - The only issue you may have with these kilim shoes is people asking you about your beautiful shoes.