DESERT BLASTER BOOTS

*Entirely handmade in UK by Gaucho Ninja
*Barefoot boots | minimalist footwear
*Blake welted and manually stitched
*Black naturally dyed color full grain veg tan leather
*Full gusseted Tongue
*Vibram trekking flat soles
*Replaceble soles
*Hiking boots and dress shoes. All in one
*If properly waterproofed: ankle high waterproof leather boots

::The MAX RORT’S DESERT BLASTER Boots::
Inspired by the English photographer and motorcycle engineer Pete Williams, these Desert Blaster boots are design to accomplish a stylish, classy elegant motorcycle look and a lightweight, barefoot feel shoe made by hand.

They are made with the best materials the way it was done in the past: to endure.

They are lightweight (each shoe only weighing between 350 and 450g, about the weight of a standard sized apple) so are excellent for dancers or for anyone who likes the feeling of feet free to dance!

They are flexible enough to fold in half without damaging them. Being a backpacker in a previous life Gaucho Ninja has made sure you can easily store them in a bag or rucksack as a second pair of shoes after removing your flip-flops or welly boots.

They shape to your feet providing a smooth, close fit. Your feet will delight in the comfort.

The soles are thin and flexible too, providing the barefoot feel. If you like to practise stealthy walking like a tracker or Ninja these are ideal to try out or you might simply enjoy the sensation of touching the different surfaces of the ground with your feet.

The slim sole and malleable upper provide a welcome relief for feet that are sore from being cramped all day in hard, tight shoes. This excellent combination can also relieve back pain and promote good posture.

Each pair is lovingly made by hand. The production occurs in a small workshop built by Gaucho Ninja himself. The workshop nestles next to a stream at the bottom of the Black Mountains, a suitable place for a Gaucho and a Ninja….

This leather is tanned in the traditional way in Spain by the master tanners using traditional tools and methods tried and tested over many generations. Master tanners are elders, in the true sense of the word, whose knowledge and skills come from his forefathers. The result is a material that industrial methods cannot accomplish.

Each leather is unique, your eyes will delight in the different tones and depth of colour. Each shade reminding you of the grace of a moving animal.

Leather is a by-product. Animals are not killed for their skins. By using leather products your ethical conscience can rest assured that you are making exceptionally good use of what would otherwise be waste.

For many of us the aroma of naturally tanned leather brings a feeling of wellbeing. In a world filled with highly processed materials our sense of smell appreciates this.

The shoes are made individually, being made one pair of shoes at a time. It slows the process and raises the quality.

Cut by hand, stitched by sewing machine on a slow setting, the whole shoe is carefully made to the most detailed finish.

The Vibram sole, made in Italy, is fixed with extra strong glue, that can be replaced if need be after heavy usage, as the uppers will get better and better with time.

Treatment for the leather is recommended once a month with natural oils such as neat's-foot oil or any natural leather conditioner.

A tin of Handmade Gaucho Ninja Leather conditioner is supplied with each pair of Chukka boots (if available at time of purchase).

For yourself or as a special gift you will feel as if you have bought something both essential and luxurious, irreplaceable and exclusive.

These are not just a pair of shoes, but a work of art. Or perhaps, more accurately a work of true craftsmanship.

True craftsmen are an endangered species in our highly technological, mass produced consumer world. We suffer from feelings of disconnection, loneliness, stress. Know that your life will be enriched by a pair of shoes whose story is connected to many other living beings, human and other than human, a pair of shoes that have a story to tell even before they join your story…..


For extra size please request custom order!

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::OUR STORY::

Gaucho Ninja Leather UK
ガウチョ 忍者

A blend of Argentinian Cowboy + Japanese Martial Arts
Gaucho Ninja was created by Lisandro Serra Delmar in 2015.

Born in Spain of Argentinian parents he moved to Argentina as a boy. In 2007, as a young man, Lisandro started experimenting with making leather goods and handmade shoes as a way to enjoy a craft whilst travelling all over the world. The desire to work with leather was in his blood…
His father, Oscar Serra, made leather bags when he was a young man.
His south american great grandfather was a ‘gaucho’ and a saddler, and his daughter (Lisandro´s great auntie) was a shoemaker.

Luis Pereyra, my great grandfather.
Seated behind his sewing machine, he started as a saddler in the Argentinean 1920's. Back then, riding horses was the main way of transportation, so saddlers and leatherworkers were in demand.
He was a Gaucho living in the Argentinean countryside. Years later, the car revolution came in and the Saddleries shut, forcing the craft to fade and almost to vanish. Luis went to live in the city, in Buenos Aires, working as a Jack of all Trades

::The leather work team::

Nada Meredith works for team Gaucho Ninja in Herefordshire, UK. Daughter of an artist and a craftswoman she joined the team in 2018. She used to make yurts for a living and now dedicates most of her time to tending the community smallholding including home educating her three children.

Laurie Lewes works for team Gaucho Ninja in Herefordshire, UK. Expert Teepee maker, complete craft women working with her hands for more than 25 years. She is a recent addition to the team and she is now making many of the leather tabi and boots.

::The support team::

In 2017 Gaucho Ninja moved to Herefordshire UK. A green roof, oak workshop was constructed by Lisandro and Ben Salmon (Nada´s partner) as part of the growing community of artists and makers by the Slough Brook, at the foot of the Black Mountains.

Also resident on the same smallholding of animals, children, low impact dwellings and educational projects is Hattie Duke, Lisandro´s wife and creator of www.firelight.org.uk a local organization working to promote education in nature. The most recent addition to the support team are their twin sons, born in April 2019.
Hattie has also recently been published in a collaborative book brought together by Bernard Graves called ´Crafting, Transforming Materials and the Maker’ www.handsonpress.com

::Shoes anyone?!::

“I remember when I first discovered that I could walk around barefooted in the house, outside, on the beach. I was in my teens and I noticed that my parents never took off their shoes during the day. Only to go to bed at night.
At first walking barefoot was a statement of subtle rebellion for me. Now it is just one of life’s many pleasures to walk barefoot some of the time.

It is also one of the greatest aids to expel the negative energetic charge of our extensive use of technology too.

A study published a couple of years ago in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health titled “Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons” postulates that earthing could represent a potential treatment/solution to a variety of chronic degenerative diseases.

My observation is that we still have a certain amount of prejudice towards people wearing no shoes (except on a sandy beach where it is entirely acceptable). Perhaps for many people wearing shoes has become an unconscious representation of our intellectual development as human beings and a growing understanding of what is apparently required to keep feet healthy.

And yet, intelligent human beings walked the earth wearing no shoes for hundreds of thousands of years. Evidence from skeletons of the earliest humans suggests none of the damage to the bones that some modern people might attribute to be an inevitable consequence of walking and running barefoot.

So, why do we make shoes?

Of course, for thousands of years people have been wearing shoes without apparent harm. However, there are numerous people with painful foot problems that often affect the rest of the body.

At Gaucho Ninja we make minimalist shoes as a way of striving towards the perfect balance between walking, running or climbing barefoot and wearing restrictive shoes. Because many shoes are just that: restrictive and damaging. They prevent the appropriate development of muscles that make our feet strong and flexible which is what healthy feet need to be.

We are continuously integrating the feedback from our customers with the latest research to bring you what we believe to be the very best option for your hard working feet.

Feet that can feel the ground and receive sensory feedback from the terrain they are moving on whilst being protected from sharp rocks, stones and thorns are happy, healthy feet. That is why we use zero drop, flat soles that offer protection combined with the ability to feel the touch of the earth.
Our uppers are flexible, spacious and stylish. Giving room for your feet to move as they need to and make the most of the 28 bones, 30 joints and over 100 muscles to support you in all aspects of daily life.”

Hattie Duke
June 2020
Gaucho Ninja and Make it Leather Team

*This article is inspired by the work of Harvard University Human Evolutionary Biology Professor Daniel Lieberman, in his book The Story of the Human Body, chapter about minimalist footwear, Allen Lane Press, 2013

::Why Gaucho NINJA?::

Lisandro has practiced and taught the martial art of Bujinkan/Ninjutsu throughout his adult life. He has been inspired by ninja shoes and footwear designs from Japan 足袋 ブーツ and especially the importance of healthy shoes for those who understand the importance of caring for our feet.

He also takes his inspiration from the 34th grandmaster of Bujinkan, Masaaki Hatsumi, who says that a true ninja lives his life in resonance with nature. A ninja lives to protect life and nature.

::The Raw Materials::

Leather is a by-product. Animals are not killed for their skins. By using leather products your ethical conscience can rest assured that you are making exceptionally good use of what would otherwise be waste.
Gaucho Ninja sources the leather from 6 artisan tanneries of Spain. This leather is tanned in the traditional way in Spain by master tanners using traditional tools and methods tried and tested over many generations. These craftsmen are elders, in the true sense of the word, whose knowledge and skills come from their forefathers. The result is a material that industrial methods cannot accomplish.
Each piece of leather is unique, your eyes will delight in the different tones and depth of color. The differences in shade and shadow reminding you of the grace of a moving animal.
Gaucho Ninja value connection and strive to build a personal relationship with all of their suppliers.

The thread used to stitch each item is polyester thread from Germany (Gutermann). A&E Gutermann are using the latest technologies to increase their range of thread recycled from plastic bottles.
The shoe soles are Vibram (Italian brand), flexible and molded by hand for a close comfortable fit. They are made principally of natural rubber. Leather soles can also be selected for a more grounded feeling.

The soles are stuck and then sewn to the shoe with heavy duty thread in a process known as welting. The uppers of the shoe are pulled and nailed to the insole. Then a leather sole or a Vibram sole is glued (depending on the design) and manually stitched.
This process is done manually with a basic home-made sole stitching lever designed by a shoemaker in Spain for this purpose. It takes from 1 to 1½ hours to stitch the soles onto a pair of shoes.

::The Tools::

The majority of tools used in the workshop are traditional leather making hand tools. A few of them are invented by Lisandro Serra Delmar. The process of using these from beginning to end contributes to creating a product which contains within it the care and attention to detail that only the human hand and eye can achieve. Each shoe, wallet, belt or bag is brought to life by the skill of its maker.
In a world dominated by machine made products it is easy to lose sight of how much we are nourished by products that are made by hand.
One of the key tools is a razor sharp Modern Damascus steel round knife with which to cut the leather.
Another is a flat knife given to Lisandro by master leatherworker Hajime Niwa, from Japan niwaleathers.com
Lisandro is always on the lookout for tools made the traditional way, tools that endure and knives that keep their edge.

::The Science::

‘My experience as a martial artist made me realise the importance of feeling with my feet. Standard shoes are made for exactly the opposite purpose: not to feel anything. Instead of having the feet trapped in rigid unforgiving boxes, the shoes are made with the understanding that feet need to be treated with the same care with which we treat our hands. My aim is to make gloves for feet.

The tabi, split toe Japanese traditional shoe for indoors, is an excellent example of this, as the big toe separated from the rest allows the tendons to do their work, the toes will spread in a natural way preventing bunions and also the tabi provides an excellent sense of balance. My passion for Ninja, Samurai and Japanese culture made me go deeper and deeper in exploring tabi designs. Now I blend that with the barefoot feeling.

In the words of a group of Osteopaths and Physiotherapists (https://osteoandphysio.co.uk/the-importance-of-functional-footwear/)
In an ideal world a shoe should:
Be flexible and not rigid, to enable the foot to move as it has evolved to do.
It should have a wide toe box (the width of the front of the shoe) so as to not squash the toes together, again to enable them to move and adjust to the ground.
It should not have (or have minimal) difference between the height of the heel and the front of the shoe – the heel to toe drop. Most shoes have a higher heel than toe when looked at from the side. The higher the heel, the more posturally compromising the shoe.
It is worth bearing in mind that your foot has more nerve endings than your hand. It has evolved to be incredibly sensitive to inform your body of what you are walking on, enabling you to balance. Each step you take initiates a cascade of muscular contractions that start at your foot, works up and across your body and ends in your opposite arm. You need your foot to be able to be receptive and to move naturally to enable this to occur.
Just like any part of the body, the foot muscles and nervous system will get deconditioned if not allowed to function properly.

::Tailor made shoes::
Traditional skills and modern technology working together

Using Rhino 6 and LutraCAD software I can print bespoke shoe lasts.

We are in a world where our feet are forced to fit into a 'standard' shoe last designed in Italy or China according to the year's fashion aesthetics. Not only that, they only design one size that later is scaled to all the sizes. This causes lots of health issues such as bunions.

If we think about how much we depend on our feet we would spend more time looking for footwear that cares for them. Through our feet (and our shoes) we feel the earth, we move around, we stand, we walk... All of this for at least 16 hours a day.
My recent research made me realise the importance of healthy shoes that connect to the ground, that are breathable and flexible. All traditional cultures used barefoot style shoes, mostly made with leather and bespoke to size.

::ETHICAL VALUES::

To promote the use of natural footwear to support health and wellbeing
To continue to expand the use of barefoot shoes and boots to maintain or rediscover our connection with the natural world
To keep alive true craftsmanship and produce leather goods made to last
To create products which are beautiful as well as practical
To use traditional methods and support them with benefits of modern technology
To provide teaching and learning opportunities for children and adults
To reduce waste by using all cardboard, paper packaging with no plastic, and to reuse leather offcuts in local educational projects