La Manual Alpargatera

Aficionados de las espadrilles… no busquen mas!!!, este lugar es genial.
Definitivamente mi lugar favorito para comprar mis espadrilles.

As good as it gets. The shoes are a blast and handmade. So far so good. Now, when you go in go to the cashier on the right hand side and get a number right away. they will call your number and while you were waiting you picked out everything you want to try. The salespeople make all the chaos go away as they pay attention to you and what you need. Enjoy this experience.

Word on the street is La Manual Alpargatera makes the best espadrilles in the world. I have no frame of reference being that I typically wear Nikes, but so far I have to imagine the claim runs true.
The process for getting a pair is somewhat maddening. It’s like a meat market for footwear. But once you’ve got a dedicated salesperson assisting you, it’s quite accommodating. And the shoes? Well, I’ve received nothing but compliments every time I wear them around New York City. For $ 35, that’s a small price to pay for a one of a kind, handmade pair of shoes.
The hours are a little funky, but so are most of Barcelona’s shops, restaurants, and cafes.

This place is fantastic — had a little difficulty bc I don’t speak Spanish or Catalan but we still managed to communicate. Beautiful well made espadrilles at a reasonable price. Love this shop!

Une boutique bondée, certains vendeurs pas bien aimables qui né parlent qu’en catalan. Ils né proposent finalement pas tant de couleurs que ça…
Bref 30min d’attente pour pas grand chose

Miese Qualität (seien wir mal ehrlich) zu sehr günstigen preisen. Ein paar Standard espadrilles hat im Februar 2014 10 € gekostet. Bis zu Größe 47 war vorrätig.

The lure of this place is the price (10 euros for a pair of basic flat espadrilles) and the fact that its handmade. Located in the gothic district ( Unilocal address is entirely correct), this place is on a small street and easy to miss. However the owner sits outside making espadrilles to entice visitors to check it out.
There were 3 people working that day (all related). They don’t move onto the next customer until the customer they’re helping is done and ready to pay. Therefore you just sit there and wait your turn. I’d recommend you know what shoes you want to try on so you’re ready to tell them what you want.
They speak limited English but I got lucky and the granddaughter of the owner was able to help me out since I had a flight that evening and limited time to try to explain what I was looking for. I ended up buying 2 pairs — a basic flat one and one that had two tones that allows you to wrap a ribbon around your ankle. Both purchases were around $ 45.
She told me that the shoes stretch out so I went with my normal European size (the size I usually purchase for high heels).
Overall very happy with my purchase and I might come back next year and will def pay this shop a visit. Also makes for great presents.

Great selection of shoes ^_​^ I bought several pairs of shoes from different stores, when I was in Barcelona, & 1 of my fave pairs turned out to be the low espadrille wedges I bought from La Manual Alpargatera. Basically, I was looking for a somewhat fashionable pair to wear that won’t make my feet hurt in different places, after walking 3, 4 hours or so, & the wedges I bought from La Manual turned out to be that pair. My only regret is that I didn’t buy these lovely black espadrille wedges sooner, so I was pretty much stuck wearing comfy yet unfashionable shoes throughout my trip, hehe.
It’s true what the other reviewers say, that they won’t help you until they’re done helping someone get their pair of shoes, at La Manual. That’s fine, though. When I asked for a specific pair of wedges, the girl got me the pair I wanted in my size, in 2 different colors, plus another pair that was somewhat similar in design, shown to me as an option. She was really nice.
My pair of low espadrille wedges, I only bought for € 18, I think it was on sale, but as I Google the history of the store (it dates back to the 1940’s, wartime), I’m finding out that others managed to get 3 pairs for a total of € 20. If I had more luggage space, I definitely would’ve bought maybe 2, 3 pairs more from LMA. Love their shoes. They also sell purses, belts, handmade leather stuff, I think.
As with any pair of shoes, not all pairs I tried, I felt would turn out to be comfy after walking a few hours, so if you’re looking for walking shoes, make sure you get a good pair that won’t leave your feet bleeding in specific places. This was what happened to me. Hehe.

This is the specialty store in Barcelona to make wedges. They have a great variety of shorter and flat wedges with a handful of high platform models. The sales personnel will not speak to you until they have finished with the previous client, which can be annoying, but what is nice is that when he’s taking care of you, he will not help anyone else. The prices are around 50 – 70 euros for ladies wedges. The quality is good, not great. Mine hurt my feet the first day and I think the leather is a bit rigid. The model is nonetheless beautiful.

Erst ein Besuch in dem Laden macht für mich einen Tripp nach Barcelona rund.
Schon bei meinem ersten Besuch hatte ich das Glück den laden zu entdecken. Damals verkauften sie nur eigens hergestellte Espandrilles und niemand sprache Englisch.
Es war ein wahres Erlebnis mit Händen und Füßen sprechend, die Schuhe auszusuchen.
Mittlerweile verkaufen sie dort auch Espandrilles, die nicht aus eigener Hand stammen, gemischt mit ihren eigenen und Englisch kann man sich auch verständingen.
Jedenfalls steht der nächste Barcelona-​Tripp schon vor der Tür und ich weiß schon an welchem Tag ich dort vorbei schauen werde, den Laden sicher wieder mit mehr als 3 Paar Schuhen verlassen.
Und nun ein wenig knapper und Internationaler:
One of my favourite places to go to for a visit in Barcelona. I just can’t be in Barcelone without buying more than three pairs of the colourfull and comfortable espandrilles.
Watch out guys. Just three days left and I’ll be buying some more!
I’m really exited to be there again it is not just shoe shopping, it is also a side of the traditional Spain!

If you’re like me and tend to fall for local wares while on vacation, then you know it’s sometimes challenging to find where where the locals actually shop for their stuff. In the case of our time in Barcelona, I noticed all the cool kids were rocking espadrilles like it was Miami, a la ‘80s Sonny Crockett.
Upon further research, I found out that espadrilles are actually from the Pyrenees area and are popular throughout Catalonia and the Basque Country.
Next step, find an authentic local maker.
Enter La Manual Alpargatera. In operation since the ‘40s, the store carries every color and style of espadrille imagineable.
I chose a pair with a slight wedge and pretty stripes. Prices are reasonable and it’s nice to buy local.

So from cursory research, this is THE place espadrille shop in town — if not all of Spain.
Honestly you will see espadrilles everywhere in BCN, more varieties (probably made in China, wink) and for cheaper and it is not like you can not get some form of the espadrille in the US… BUT you get a cool reminder of your trip and bragging rights when someone compliments your handmade shoes. ;)
Get a number from the window lady in the back, then browse until they call your number in Spanish. For the amt of limited shoe selection, it is amazing how busy this place is.

Ein toller Laden! Die modischen Modelle wechseln je nach Saison. Ansonsten alle klassischen Espadrilles — Styles vorrätig. Zu Stosszeiten werden Wartenummern vergeben, da die Verkäufer sonst nicht mit dem suchen der passenden Schuhgrösse nachkämen.

¡Las cosas claras! Hay quien considera una alpargata un zapato de segunda categoría. ¡Yo no! ¡Y conste que soy estilosa, eh! La alpargata es el calzado más cómodo que puede existir y cuando busco unas buenas buenas buenísimas alpargatas, ¿dónde voy? ¡Pues a La Manual Alpargatera! Hay de todo los tipos y colores. Son ecológicas, hechas con materiales naturales y la suela es de fibra vegetal y el empeine de algodón, lino y otras maravillas. No sé… Yo soy una defensora a ultranza de este sitio. Pero no sólo por la bondades de sus zapatos, también porque me encantan los sitios con historia y, La Manual, que data de los años 40, la tiene. La fachada no deja lugar dudas y no en vano se ha convertido en uno de los símbolos característicos de Barcelona. Sólo por ver la tienda ya vale la pena pero… ¡Os lo advierto! No saldréis de allí sin una buenas alpargatas en vuestros pies. Los cuales, creedme… ¡Os lo van a agradecer!

Cáñamo seco trenzado gira alrededor de un punto central en elipse hasta formar la huella de un pie.
Cintas de algodón unirán la huella al pie, que subirá sobre cuerpos en castillo, danzará en círculo y será pisoteado en un concierto cumba.
¡Vinga noi! ¡Potatendra!
¡Lliga’t les espardenyes!

Luego de haber tirado un par de chanclas el verano pasado debido al constante uso lógico durante la temporada estival, me di cuenta de que algo tenía que cambiar. No podía estar comprando este calzado veraniego a cada rato. Fue así como caí en la alpargatería. Es un sitio totalmente especializado. En su interior pilas y pilas de alpargatas de todos los tamaños y colores, «tenemos desde para recién nacidos hasta la talla 46» explicaba la dependienta.
De manufacturación propia, me llamó la atención el pequeño taller abierto que mantenía ocupadas a dos mujeres mayores implicadas en el proceso productivo artesanal.
Se acabó la tiranía de las chanclas para mí.

Laut Reiseführer kauft hier sogar Catherine Zeta-​Jones ihre Espandrils neuerdings auch ich :-)
Catherine war zwar nicht da, aber viele ältere elegante Spanierinnen die sich hier für den Sommer wieder mit neuen Espandrils eingedeckt haben.
Nachdem man probiert hat, welche Größe man braucht fängt es erst an richtig schwer zu werden, welche der viele schönen Farben nehme ich gelb, nein türkis, oder vielleicht doch lieber orange ganz einfach schwarz wäre ja auch schön, aber ist das zu langweilig? Wie wärs mit hell grün oder olive, vielleicht lila? Schwierig, schwierig.