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Portland shoemaker Rachel Corry believes in creating quality over quantity. Although Corry studied art and design at UCLA and always had an interest in altering her own clothes, she didn’t pursue the idea of designing handcrafted sandals until a small apartment fire left her personal shoe collection in a deconstructed state. As Corry taught herself the process of sandal-making to replace her favorites, crafting each pair by hand, each shoe piece by piece—as slowly as a snail, she thought—Rachel Sees Snail Shoes was born. Purchasing a pair of Corry’s sandals begins with a conversation between the craftswoman and patron. Corry also encourages her customers to explore their own shoemaking crafts with sandal-making kits and monthly workshops at her studio at Yale Union in Portland. “It’s a very empowering process to make your own shoes,” Corry says. “The class participants leave wearing their shoes and are so happy.”
“People really have a strong desire to learn to make their own footwear, to feel ownership and knowledge of such a daily component of their wardrobe.”