Cayucas highlights Mexican craftsmanship in their huaraches and shoes

Maritza Cardenas grew up wearing huaraches from Sahuayo, Michoacán, where her parents are from. 

In 2022, there were 473 huarache workshops registered in Sahuayo, according to La Voz de Michoacán.

Like many first-generation Latinos, she was used to spending summers in the motherland, where she would see people making the huaraches. 

“So when you're walking around the town, you can smell the leather,” Cardenas said. “You can see people in the factories. If you peep in, you see the tejedoras, they sit outside of their homes and they're handling their weaving or you can see people manufacturing them inside their homes.”

For her, living in Los Angeles didn’t mean wearing flip flops everywhere, but huaraches, even to work. 

“I didn't own socks cuz I didn't wear anything else other than huaraches,” Cardenas said. 

When she would show up to work, people started asking her about her huaraches and where they could get them. 

“I was working in Manhattan Beach at the time, a majority of my co-workers were Caucasian and I was, I think, probably one of the few Latinos in the entire organization, and they started asking me ‘Where'd you get these shoes? They're super cute.’”

It was then that she realized that maybe she could share the love she has for huaraches from her parents’ hometown to people here. 

“There isn't a brand name associated with the shoe, and people don't really know the backstory about the artisans so that's when I was like okay I'm going to look to create this business,” Cardenas said. 

That’s when she decided to create Cayucas, but she had initially named her project Morenita Mia. She kept developing the idea, but her focus was mainly on her nine to five job. 

A few years later, she moved to Brooklyn and decided to dedicate more time to develop the brand. She started working with two brand strategists and designers from Mexico to rebrand as Cayucas. 

“It was important for me to work with them when rebranding Morenita Mia because I needed someone who understands what huaraches are, what the history is and everything, but I wanted it to feel like elevated Mexican craftsmanship,” Cardenas said. “A north star for me is Nopalera, who says, just because we’re Mexican doesn’t mean we’re cheap.” 

Cardenas finds that the beauty behind the craftsmanship of weaving huaraches is exalted by the artisans themselves and their lives. 

Dulce, one of the artisans with whom Cardenas collaborates, was in her home when she was making the shoe. 

“As she was doing this with us, she had her baby with her husband, who was approaching her asking her questions, a tía that was asking about the meal, and this environment where it felt like the shoe you're wearing that they made was literally a part of their day,” Cardenas said. 

“I don't think that they've been given the recognition that they deserve. And that's what I want to do with Cayucas, like I said, is highlight them as partners and grow the industry in Sahuayo versus just letting others claim it as their own thing.”

Other brands will haggle prices, but for Cardenas, “that is a huge no.”

“I'm very close to the family that I work with and I see how much goes into it and I'm not going to say, ‘damelo mas barato,’” Cardenas. “It's so much work that goes into the shoe, from the leather being produced to the tejedora and it's just so much. But I think that that's what's going to make me different is [that] I'm going to stand by my first goal. I'm always going to pay them the price that they ask for.”

She said she also has long-term goals of providing better working conditions, insurance and revamping the work areas once the brand can create a profit. 

Huaraches are also having a moment in the limelight now that Willy Chavarria collaborated with Adidas to design a shoe that they called “Oaxaca,” and could face legal action from the Mexican government because of the use of the state name. 

CALÓ News asked Cardona what she thought about the controversy and she said, “They did a better job of at least incorporating an actual huarache, the weaving. I think the designer, it's so cool to see representation, to see a big brand coming to him and showing the shoe. I just don't want our culture to be, I just don’t want them to, no quiero que se aventajen de nosotros. If there wasn’t a fair agreement, I think that’s wrong.”

Cayucas is planning to launch their Kickstarter campaign in September.