Avarques (varques)

What is

Rustic footwear: a leather sole held to the foot with straps and cords. In Mallorca they also say varques. According to the DCVB (first third of the 20th century), they were still worn by shepherds and missatges. Today the industrial economy is mainly Menorcan.

How is

According to the DCVB (Majorcan description):

• Tanned leather sole. Before, of boar or ox leather; The one from the espatló del verro lasted a long time because it was thick and fibrous.
• Front: on each side a hole in the sole; They pass straps folded into the shape of a handle, the anserols. A string joins anserol to anserol and forms the handle where the fingers enter.
• On the ankle: other ankles (strap or wire). From them comes the rope that surrounds the heel and the varqueres, strings that are tied around the ankle and leg.
• The heel strap has a local name: refort (Petra), heel strap (Manacor), somereta (Son Servera).

How is fa

• Before: made by the pagès or shepherd himself with dead, dried and salted animal skin (Menorcan source).
• 20th century: tire sole (the tread) and strips from the side of the tire for the straps (Menorca, since World War I). In Mallorca, (to verify).
• See sabater eines .

Com s'usa

• Shepherd's and farm boy's footwear: field, mountain, stone.
• Today: summer footwear and, in Mallorca, "calçat a l'antiga" at festivals like the Beata.

Vocabulary

• avarca / varca: rustic sandal with a leather sole.
• anserol: strap handle that goes through the sole.
• varqueres: strings that tie the avarca to the leg.
• refort / talonera / somereta: heel strap (Petra / Manacor / Son Servera).
• espatló del verro: leather from the back of the boar, the most durable.
• sola: sole.

History

• 13th century: "Avarques" in the chronicles of Desclot and Muntaner.
• 1481: cited among the leather works subject to tax.
• Principles s. XX: shepherds and missatges of Mallorca still wear them (DCVB).
• World War I onwards: tire sole in Menorca.
• 1965: Majorcan attempt to patent the avarca; The Servera family (Menorca) helps stop it.

-c . 1995: suitable tires are in short supply.

• 2000: the Consell de Menorca creates the distinctive “Avarca, producte de Menorca”.

On veure'n

• Museum of Mallorca, ethnological section (Wall) (to check if there are pieces).
• Museu del Calçat i de la Indústria d'Inca .
• Procession of the Blessed (Santa Margalida).

Why is it design

• Minimum material: a sole and some cords. Fits any foot by tying.
• Radical recycling: waste leather and then used tire.
• Serviceable by the user: a shoelace is changed, not the shoe.

For the project

• Tell the difference between the Mallorcan shepherd's varca and the Menorcan souvenir avarca (see appropriation and souvenir ).
• Piece: reissue of the varca with anserols and varqueres, local leather and recovered tire sole.

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=avarca
• menorca.info/menorca/local/2013/01/22/1443100/carmelo-servera-pascual-hereu-avar
• ajsantamargalida.net/sites/cilma_santa_margalida/files/2025-08/programa-beata%20

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

Open it in the atlas →