Joni Shoes: The Spanish Label That Has Been Making Shoes by Hand Since 1956
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There is a small city in the Alicante province of Spain called Elda. If you have never heard of it, you are not alone — but if you own a pair of well-made Spanish shoes, there is a very good chance they were born there.
Elda sits in the Vinalopó valley, an area that has been the heart of Spanish shoemaking for more than a century. Entire families have worked in footwear across three and four generations. Patternmakers, lasters, finishers — the craft is passed down at the kitchen table as much as on the factory floor.
Joni is one of Elda's own. And they are the newest addition to the Estela collection.
A family business, seventy years in
Joni was founded in 1956 by José Ibáñez Martínez and María Latorre Sánchez, a married couple who came to Elda from the nearby towns of Yecla and Villena with a fairly modest ambition: to make beautiful shoes for women.
The first pairs were made in a small workshop on Calle San Vicente. It stayed that way for over sixty years — a limited team, working slowly and carefully, making shoes by hand. Locals simply called them "los jonis."
In 2003, the founders' three children — José, Paloma and Fran — moved the company into a larger, more modern facility elsewhere in Elda. They still run it today. What did not change was how the shoes are made.
This is the part of the story I find genuinely rare. Plenty of heritage brands eventually sell to a group, shift production offshore, and keep the name on the box while quietly changing everything behind it. Joni has stayed in the same family, in the same town, for close to seventy years.
Ninety pairs of hands
Here is the detail that convinced me to bring Joni into the collection.
Each pair of Joni shoes passes through more than ninety pairs of expert hands before it reaches its box.
Ninety. For one pair of shoes.
That number tells you almost everything about how they work. A shoe made by machine in a single pass is a shoe made by one decision. A shoe that moves through ninety sets of hands has been looked at, corrected, and finished ninety times. Every seam is somebody's responsibility. Every edge is somebody's name.
Joni also develops more than three hundred models each season, and only a fraction of them ever make the final collection. The rest are cut, sampled, assessed and quietly set aside. That is an expensive way to run a business, and it is also exactly how the good ones do it.
I spent more than twenty years in fine jewellery and diamond buying before I started Estela, and this is the standard I was trained to look for. Not the marketing. The process. What happens to the piece when nobody is watching.
What Joni shoes are actually like to wear
Craft stories are lovely, but you are buying shoes to wear on a Tuesday.
Joni sits in a particular place in the Spanish market — refined enough for an event, wearable enough for a workday. Clean lines. Restrained colour. Shapes that flatter without shouting. They are not trend pieces, and they are not designed to be replaced next season.
The house also runs a dedicated comfort line called Joni Soft, built around lighter construction, softer materials and more flexibility underfoot — the same design language, engineered for women who are on their feet all day and are not willing to trade elegance for it.
Twelve styles have landed, and given how few pairs come per size in Spanish production runs, some of these will not be repeated. Shop the full Joni collection →
Why Spanish, and why now
Spain has been overshadowed by Italy in the shoe conversation for decades, largely as a matter of marketing rather than merit. The Spanish houses — particularly in Alicante and the Balearics — have quietly built a reputation for something Italian luxury does not always deliver: shoes that are beautifully made and genuinely comfortable, at a price that is not theatrical.
That balance is the whole reason Estela exists. We wrote about it in more detail here: Why Spanish Leather Shoes Are Worth the Investment and Spanish Shoes vs Italian Shoes: What's the Difference?
Joni fits the brief exactly. Seventy years of the same family making the same promise, in the same town, by hand.
Frequently asked questions
Where are Joni shoes made? Joni shoes are made in Elda, in the Alicante province of Spain — one of Europe's historic centres of footwear manufacturing. The company has been based there since it was founded in 1956 and remains family-owned and family-run.
Who owns Joni? Joni was founded by José Ibáñez Martínez and María Latorre Sánchez in 1956. It is currently managed by their three children, José, Paloma and Fran, who took the business into new premises in 2003.
What is Joni Soft? Joni Soft is Joni's dedicated comfort line, designed around lighter, softer and more flexible construction while keeping the brand's design aesthetic. It is intended for women who want all-day wearability without compromising on how the shoe looks.
Are Joni shoes true to size?
I found this brand's shoes run true to size. On the foot they feel beautifully balanced.
Where can I buy Joni shoes in Australia? Estela stocks a curated selection of Joni styles, hand-chosen and shipped across Australia. Browse the Joni collection here.
Twelve new Joni styles have just landed at Estela. Shop the collection →