The Pope Emeritus' New Shoes And The Mexican Man Who Makes Them
Martin Dueñas' factory only makes about a thousand pairs a month, hand crafted from the skin of neo-natal lambs. And despite the fame he is enjoying now, a spokesman for the company says there are no plans to speed up production or ever outsource manufacturing from Mexico.
Anyone wanting to purchase a pair of the pontiff-preferred shoes has to call the factory directly. Jose Luis Rocha, Martin's longtime friend and business partner says it's too bad the pope couldn't have made his shoe preference public just two weeks later.
Rocha is building a U.S.-based website for the shoes from San Diego, California. The site is scheduled to go live March 11th. He's scouting retail locations too. The listed price for a pair of the prized shoes is about $200. Rocha says the ones provided to the pope however were priceless.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/03/01/173183720/the-pope-emeritus-new-shoes-and-the-mexican-man-who-makes-them