YEMENİ SHOES

Yemeni is the local name for the traditional shoes that are handmade in the Gaziantep region of Turkiye.  These colorful, lightweight shoes are made with stout letter stitched at the bottom and have no heels. The special way they are constructed makes them breathable and healthy.  In other regions of Turkiye, the name “Yemeni” is used for hand embroidered scarfs. In Gaziantep the art of making these traditional shoes is called "KÖSGERCiLiK" and the experts who construct them are called "KÖSKER". Kösker comes from "Kesfger" which in Farsi means “shoe maker.”  Yemeni was first invented by Yemen-i Ekber who lived in Yemen.  Later, Yemeni making was adopted by the people of Hale and Southeast Anatolia. Eventually it became popular in Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Kahramanmaras, Diyarbakir, Antakya, and Adana regions of Turkiye however today, Gaziantep is the only city who continues the tradition. A traditional Yemeni consists of two parts: 1) The leather, is made up of ox and cow leather whereas the bottom parts are made of calf leather and cloth.  2) The face, is made of multiple types of leather; The top face is constructed by using five pieces of leather from different animals; the bottom parts are ox and cow, the inner parts are sheep, the inner bottom part is goat and the sides are made of lamb leather.

Yemeni is stitched, outside-in, 100% by hand and is turned inside-out, when it is ready to be worn. Yemeni’s healthy construction from breathable, natural leather, allows sweat to be released out preventing any odor producing foot smell, occurrence of fungus, corn or any other foot ailments.  Its conductive nature enables earthing (grounding), releasing energy from the individual into the Earth relieving body tension.