I would prefer to not wear shoes at all. People have asked me in the past: "Do you even have shoes?" One of the reasons I like to be barefoot is so that I can feel the ground. The other reason is that it’s vital for our well-being to release old energies into the earth while revitalizing with her healing energy. Kiss the Ground is a super interesting documentary about this. You should definitely check it out! Though, there are situations and places where it’s better to wear shoes, for example on the hot pavements in the city and in my case also when I was working with street people: I felt it was more respectful wearing shoes while working with them. Not wanting to wear my usual shoes with rubber soles that stop our energetic connection to the ground, I decided to create my own shoes with leather soles to ground better and let the energy flow between my feet and the earth. As I am trying to limit the use of animal products where I can, I was very happy to find out that I could get the leather I need from off-cuts in a shop in Cape Town. Win-win!​ I never intended to make the sandals for anyone else but people kept asking me when seeing mine “Where did you get these shoes?” People like the design, the idea of connecting with the ground underneath and the feeling of the second skin around the feet... This is when Earth Sole was born. In gratitude Anouk Anansi