Iran · Leatherwork / Saddlery

Kermanshah Giveh Leather-Soled Nalbound Footwear

Giveh (also Givah, Giveh-bafi for the craft of making it); klash (also Kalash or kali, the Kurdish-region variant, especially associated with Marivan and Uraman); Ajideh giveh (a specific flat variant, awarded a UNESCO symbol); javaldooz (the specific needle used to sew the woven upper); sangbor ('stone cutter,' the toughened front toe-piece)

The construction of giveh, a soft, light, and durable handmade shoe common across rural and mountainous Iran, particularly in Kermanshah, Kurdistan, and Yazd Provinces, made up of two distinct parts: a sole, historically made of leather and today more commonly of recycled rubber, and an upper woven from cotton or silk thread using nalbinding, an ancient fabric-construction technique that predates both knitting and crochet. Documented as roughly a thousand years old in Persian tradition, with some accounts tracing production references as far back as historian Al-Balkhi and identifying fourteenth-century Ghandijan, in Fars, as a renowned center of the weaving industry, giveh's name is popularly said to derive from Gio, a legendary character in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. Remains of giveh and the tools used to make them, discovered at Pir Shalimar in the Uraman region, provide archaeological evidence of the craft's continued practice for well over a century in that specific location, with the Kurdish klash variant specifically documented as a 1,500-year-old tradition, its continuity evidenced by the remnants of Pir Shalyar's own kalshes. Giveh production is a genuinely collaborative, gender-divided craft: women complete the entire upper by hand within their own homes, sewing it using a specific needle called javaldooz, while men construct the sole in dedicated workshops, a stage requiring greater physical strength; in the oldest tradition, before rubber and plastic were available, the leather sole and woven upper were stitched together directly using animal skin. The finished shoe is deliberately made without distinction between left and right foot, and the front and back of the shoe are reinforced with a tougher leather piece locally called sangbor ('stone cutter') for added durability; top-quality giveh additionally incorporates a piece of real leather inside the heel. Kermanshah alone produces four distinct types of giveh -- flat Ajideh giveh, flat leather giveh, flat plastic giveh, and giveh with a silk upper -- with Ajideh giveh specifically the most expensive and highest quality, historically worn by landowners, and separately awarded a UNESCO symbol; Marivan, in Iranian Kurdistan, is specifically renowned for its own Kalash variant, documented as requiring only two construction steps rather than giveh's usual three, with 'Urami klash' considered the finest example of the type. Giveh's practical advantages -- suitability for arid, mountainous climates, lightness that reduces foot perspiration, and universal comfort regardless of foot shape -- have given the shoe genuine international popularity. As leather became more expensive and rubber-band manufacturing became widely available, Persian craftsmen adapted their soling and stitching methods accordingly, with most contemporary giveh-makers now preparing soles from repurposed old tyres, a shift directly documented as having contributed to a decline specifically in the sole-making side of the trade. Historical documents record the names of famous giveh makers alongside detailed accounts of the craft's function, with the most beautiful historical giveh patterns said to have originated in Abadeh, a town between Shiraz and Isfahan; giveh is documented today as produced across numerous Iranian locations, including Kermanshah, the Uraman area, Abadeh, Kazeroon, Behbahan, Dezfool, parts of Isfahan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and the villages of Vafs and Senjan.

Risk level: Endangered · The Ajideh giveh variant specifically has received a UNESCO symbol