↓ Philosophy
Our Message to you: FEEL FREE.
Message makes slip-on footwear for you to feel free—to move, rest and recover. We handcraft in small batches in Portugal to avoid overproduction and waste. Using cork, a carbon negative material that’s naturally moisture-wicking, anti-microbial, and shock absorbing, our slides are created to support feet and the planet. We innovate to have the smallest footprint possible and are always working towards a higher standard in responsible manufacturing. This is our beginning.
↓ Design
A hug you can wear.
Like a never-felt-before feeling of control and comfort, our podiatrist-approved slip-ons support your entire body. The magic comes from two custom, patented elements: our hugflex™ strap and barecork™ footbed. Together, they give your feet a comforting squeeze—our signature hug. Our hugflex™ helps improve circulation and reduce soreness, swelling and fatigue; while our barecork™ footbed provides support, shock-absorption, and promotion of better balance and posture. All of our slides are also machine-washable!
Our lightweight, subtly contoured barecork™ footbed makes space for the fifth metatarsal – the sweet spot between orthopedic and barefoot. What does this mean? Our footbeds allow your feet to move as they were meant to, and your body to stand as it was meant to. Perfect for post-workout and all-day wear, cork is a carbon negative + sweat-, water-, impact-, odor-resistant, antimicrobial and antifungal material.
The compression hugflex™ strap improves circulation reducing soreness, swelling and fatigue. With zero break-in time, they provide blister-free bliss for all-day walking. Pull them on like socks and shimmy your toes to the top for a secure, strapped-in fit.
From the cutting of our signature barecork™ footbed to the pulling of our hugflex™ strap for the perfect amount of support, our slides are handmade in small batches by master craftspeople in Portugal, making each one subtly and beautifully different.
↓ Planet
Worship the ground you walk on.
We exclusively do small batch or limited-edition runs to prevent overproduction and have zero waste. For this reason, Messages tend to sell out quickly, which is why we always offer a pre-order option. We are as low-impact as possible with hyper local sourcing through family-owned factories that sit within 40 minutes of one another in Portugal. Less shipping = smaller impact.
All Messages are made without animal products, focusing on renewable, recycled, and recyclable materials.
Our cork is made from unused and upcycled wine cork. It is harvested in responsibly stewarded forests of Portugal from cork oak trees every 9 years, a process that does not harm the tree in any way since the bark naturally regenerates. Cork is a carbon-negative material.
↓ People
Meet Team Message
Message is a female-owned, family business with an in-house team of creatives, athletes, certified experts like our Board podiatrist, parents, world travelers, and more. In Portugal, we fuse with the family-owned factories who have become second kin, coming together to share pasteis de nata around a table, with our children swimming and playing together; as we continue to innovate shoes. As a team we are united by a common purpose: ease for your body, and self-love for your soul.
We produce our footwear with a group of 2nd and 3rd generation family-owned factories in Portugal. Their talent and experience allow us to deliver a level of comfort, stability, and finesse never felt before.
To design the best slip-on footwear ever made, we brought together experts from multiple sides of the footwear world that don’t interact too often—performance footwear developers, feet experts, and fashion industry veterans—and found that we could all rally around Message.
