Why We Love Naot Footwear
Naot is the bestselling brand at The Shoe Spa. You may think of them as sort of “granola”, but they’ve come a long way towards showing fashion and trends during the past four or five years. They are best known for their sandals which are incredibly comfortable because of their utilization of cork in their footbeds. The footbeds have built in arch support and cupped heels, and being made of cork they form to the individual foot with wear. The collection has expanded to include wedges, heels, closed up shoes and even some boots, but even with this more trendy look Naot remembers their roots which is true to comfort, always with the use of cork and hand crafting.
The Naot tradition was being threatened by investor owners until Steve Lax, who has been the Naot distributor in the USA for many years stepped up and purchased Naot to protect its integrity and traditions. Here is John and I with Steve at the Atlanta Shoe Show where he told us that he recently bought the brand name worldwide, as well as all of their manufacturing facilities in Israel. Steve said, “The purchase will provide our retailers with continuity for sourcing the shoes, and our employees and sales agents with job security. We were formerly at the mercy of an investor group that owned but did not operate the company, and I was constantly renegotiating contracts for my being a distributor. This is a great opportunity to continue with and improve Naot; it will be challenging and rewarding.”