Aurland Shoes

In the centre of Aurland, just a stone’s throw from the church is the Aurland shoe factory. The tradition of shoe making in Aurland has roots stretching back to the 1880s. At its height there were 19 shoe factories in Flåm and Aurland. But today only Aurland shoe factory remains. The creator of the legendary Aurland shoe was Nils Tveranger. As a 17-year-old he travelled to Boston, USA to learn the shoe making trade. It is claimed that he was inspired by Native American Indian moccasins as well as the Tese shoes of the indigenous Norwegian people. When he came back to Aurland, he started production of a variant of the shoe that he had seen in America, today it is known as the Aurland shoe, or as they like to call them “the original penny loafer”. The factory is a part of the Canadian organisation “Economusee”, established in Quebec in 1992. “Economusee” is an econo-museum which focuses on conveying the company’s history, showing how the product is made and selling the product whilst preserving the traditional skills and craftmanship. As of 2022 ‘Economusee’ had a total of 11 Norwegian businesses in their organisation.