Founded in 1873 in Kurume, Moonstar had its start manufacturing Japanese tabi – the split-toe shoe with flexible sole that gives its wearer balance and agility. Today Moonstar is a pioneer in shoe manufacturering, leading the way for vulcanized rubber shoes, where raw rubber soles are baked in kilns like pottery, hence the name of their popular line ‘Shoes Like Pottery’. Raw rubber when applied with extreme heat will chemically react with sulfter, returning the rubber to its natural elasticity, creativng a soft, flexible, durable sole. In addition to these high tech methods, Moonstar takes great care in designing attractive and timeless shoeware that can be worn by men, women and children alike. Using beautiful fabric that is hand-sewn and hand-applied by skilled craftsman in Kurume, each shoe goes through several stages of production where the application of each piece is done carefully in ways that only few manufacturers in the world are able to do. Like pottery, each Moonstar shoe will age and last with the wearer, becoming more valuable and special over time.