A geological formation created by nature’s whim and modified by water and wind, the imposing Andalusian “torcales” rise up on the southern Spanish horizon. El Naturalista’s new Torcal shoe is inspired by nature’s wonderful contours and bent shapes and comes to life thanks to a new Dual-Density technology in an attractive, comfortable, and simple sole.
When I received a pair of El Naturalista Torcals in black last week, my first impression was that they’d be super comfortable from the start. I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, I wore the shoes pretty much all weekend long. The shoe’s unique shape features one side slightly higher than the other, with a simple side velcro closure.
Torcal has a dual density one-piece sole made from recycled cork and natural rubber, a stack of organic shapes as described in the passage above. The shoe’s shape and texture is so cool that I chose to roll up my jeans to show them off. I’ve also been wearing them around town with an unstructured cotton skirt and tights.
Either way, the Torcal is a shoe meant to be shown off as much as it is comfortable to wear.
With an oil and wax finish, the irregular grain of the leather is naturally treated in an artisanal process, much like many of El Naturalista’s shoes and boots. The Torcal is also available in red (Tibet), blue (Vaquero), green, lilac, bone (Piedra), pink, and brown.
El Naturalista is also a socially-responsible company that gives back 2.14% of their profits annually to various social awareness causes, with over 10,000 pairs of shoes and over 200,000 Euros donated to date. The popular shoe line also has its own iPhone app, allowing you to check out the inventory, share favorites, add comments to your profile and email them directly to the company, and find your nearest retailer.
I downloaded the El Naturalista iPhone app (inside the shoe box is a card with a QR scan code). One cool feature of their iPhone app is the logo scan. When you scan over the El Naturalista logo (e.g. from the shoe box), an augmented film starts to roll, projected directly onto the shoe box.
The logo becomes an Aura, from which the film starts rolling. It’s a pretty unique experience created by Aurasma, a growing augmented reality platform company working with customers in over 100 countries to date.
The Torcal is available at Twigg + Hottie on Main as well as at Broadway Shoe Salon and retails for $174 CAD. Visit El Naturalista’s website for other shoe models and online purchasing.
Disclaimer: I was sent a pair of El Naturalista Torcal shoes for the purpose of test-driving and of writing this article.