ATHEIST Shoes are…

• designed in Berlin, inspired by the minimalist aesthetic of the Bauhaus
• handmade by traditional shoemakers in Porto
• really quite stupendously comfortable

We're a team of 7 people - 3 in Berlin and 4 in Porto - and we've been making shoes by hand since 2012. Over the last 9 years it has been our honour to earn loyal customers all over the world, from Stockholm to San Francisco, Tehran to Tennessee.

Our shoes are unisex, perform well in rain and snow, and are made as naturally and sustainably as possible, from European materials. That includes the finest leathers known to humanity, for example the lusciously glove-like full calfskin lining that helps make the shoes so deliciously comfortable.

We're proud to be independent, unhindered by the conventions of the big shoe brands - for example, we don't use retailer middlemen or spend anything on advertising - instead we simply sell direct to the end-customers who manage to find their way to us. It means we can keep our prices reasonable, selling for about half the price you would normally pay elsewhere for such tip-top quality, handmade shoes. This is awesome because (a) it means more people get to experience our handywork and (b) we don't have to spend so much time in salesy businessy meetings, and can just get on with enjoying making shoes. 

How did we begin?

The  first "ATHEIST Shoe" came into being on an artistic whim; confident that the world might be a better place if non-believers were more open about their godlessness, we carved the words "ICH BIN ATHEIST" onto a shoe sole... because what better way to express one's feelings and intellectual positions and than by shoe?! We didn't think much of it, hoping our friends might be tickled by this peculiar little folly but, when we posted a picture of the shoe on reddit, in January 2012, the response was mind-blowing; in just a few hours we received hundreds of emails asking where to buy. And so, overnight, what began as casual whimsy turned into a shoe business.

In April 2012, we ran a successful Kickstarter to fund a first batch of shoes and the orders have been coming in ever since, allowing us to dedicate ourselves full-time to making shoes. It's a rare thing to be able to do what you love every day and we're deeply grateful to the diverse and wonderful patrons who keep our business growing.

We’re flattered by the feedback our shoes receive … “the most comfortable shoe in the known universe”… “like walking on hugs from baby kittens”… “the best shoes I’ve ever owned” … it’s lovely to hear and we’re grateful to everyone who takes time to feedback their thoughts. Our only ambition is to continue making shoes (bequeme, handgemachte, weiche, hochwertige schuhe no less), to our own high standards, for a long time to come.

Enjoy exploring our site. And, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

The ATHEIST team