Here is a book that contains some paintings of Maya people with more traditional shoe designs. They are all open toe designs which offer no protections from inclement weather and harsh elements on the ground. They do have somewhat elaborate lace leather patterns and some decoration, but I have'nt had a chance to read any more information on them...

These shoes were also bought by Luzmi Delgado. They were bought at San Cristobal De Las Casas from a Maya group in southern Mexico called Chamulas.

These particular shoes were bought in the Southern Mexican town of San Pedro La Laguna by Luzmi Delgado a few years ago (perhaps 3?) The name of the shop that sells them is Casa Suenos. The price was approximately 250 Quetzales. The number for the shop is
77218071.

The shoes are not a Maya design but rather, are a Navajo pattern that has been adapted by these Maya designers and fabricated by locals.

Introduction to Maya Shoes

Hello all!

This is a blog dedicated to the exploration of the topic of footwear of the native Maya in Guatemala. It has been created by Irene Cajas Rivera and Giuseppe Filippone, a two person team partecipating in the PDDW (Product Design for the Developing World ME-105 Caltech class) so that our team can share all the bits of information that we will be gathering over the course of the next 14 weeks and so that others can comment on all aspects of our information and our project.

The objective of our team is to develop not only a series of new designs that will be attractive both for Maya natives and other markets, but also to develop a system of manufacture for the shoes that will allow the Maya of Guatemala to sustain themselves through their fabrication and sale, and so that the final cost of the product is accessible to the poorest segments of the native population.

We will be looking at all aspects of footwear: local traditional design, local manufacturing tecniques, competition, foreign markets, material use in traditional western shoes, material use in Maya shoes, available materials, sustainability issues, and finally exportable business models.

We appreciate any feedback and invite all who view this blog to contribute as much as possible to the information bank that we will be trying to build here.

Thank you and enjoy!