Rachel Sees Snail Shoes

Santa Barbara, CA

Rachel Corry is an artist and shoemaker based in Santa Barbara, CA. She has been teaching sandalmaking classes for 15 years. The first time Rachel saw a shoemaker work was at a music festival in Wales. He was a clogmaker and she asked him to remake her favorite sandals. Shortly after they arrived, a fire in her apartment burned all her shoes, including the custom pair. Rachel couldn’t afford to replace them, and was curious if she could remake that same style myself. 

When she tried to seek out sandalmaking lessons, she found that no one on the West Coast was making sandals, or teaching. Instead she turned to old books (from the 60s/70s), cobblers (great to learn from), and shoemakers (the few one could find), to help her along her way. After a year of working on her bedroom floor remaking old sandals, Rachel Sees Snail Shoes was born in 2010. The business is comprised of teaching classes, making DIY kits, and creating special 1-off pairs.