Ancient shoes, without glue and nails

Postoly is a national Ukrainian footwear, made from thick and soft skin of pigs or cows. All the details of the footwear are also made from natural skin. People putted postoly on the footwraps, called onuchi. They wrapped their feet by the pieces of soft natural cloth to prevent chafing and keep warm in cold seasons. Postoly protected legs from damages and allowed their owners to overcome longer distances. They also belonged to main accessories on big holidays, such as Easter or Wedding Day. The process of production includes two stages: sewing of postoly from steamed pieces of skin and decorating them after drying. In the production, they do not use any glue or nails, but only natural skin details. The main secret of a good pair of postoly lies in kopyto – wooden shoe pad that allows producing needed form and size of the item. Master from our video, Roman Luchuk, is a professional at postoly production. At present time, he produces postoly as souvenirs and footwear for the authentic theatrical costumes.