NAFW12 | Cree Nisga'a Boots

Much to my happiness, I got to see the cool boots of Cree Nisga'a Clothing made by Linda Lavallee (of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation), her husband Patrick Stewart (of the Nisga'a in northern British Columbia) and their son Cory Lavallee at the National Aboriginal Fashion Week. Specializing in beautifully decorated footwear, their boots are an adaptation of historic tall moccasins and mukluks from the cool northern subarctic region.

Each pair of boots is handcrafted using leathers and decorated using either painting or cutwork. They specialize in creating boots tailored to your feet - they can trace your foot to get the initial boot impression to whip you up a custom-made pair.

Manitobah Mukluks

Manitobah Mukluks have been hitting the (Canadian) news lately, and so I want to spread some love down here in the States -

Manitobah Mukluks is headed up by Metis entrepreneur Sean McCormick, who has turned traditional moccasins and mukluks into some pretty cool contemporary footgear.

Founded in 1997, the company started off small - at a trading post in Winnipeg. McCormick traded raw materials (leathers and furs) to First Nations women who brought in their handmade mukluks. Customers, he says, couldn't get enough of them, so he hired some folks and started producing them in-house. Since then, the four-person shop has grown to an operation that employs 50, with a factory and warehouse in Winnipeg and a global sales and marketing office near Ottawa.