Moccasins/Mocassins American and Canadian Indian

I decided to write this guide because this is one area where I see the most fake Indian items on okay. I have been selling American and Canadian Indian art and crafts for over 45 years and have been trading and working on economic development projects to improve the lively hood of Indians on the Reserves and Reservations.I currently sell the best made Huron Indian/Native moccasins/mocassins in my okay store.These are a few of the Native or Indian Made items featured there and all you need to do to is review customer feedback to see how pleased they are with quality.I have sold them coast to coast in the U.S.A, Canada, ,Mexico and now all over the world thanks to okay.
These are even more gefortable than they look actually buttery soft on the foot like a thick sock and they get softer with wear.
Most people who try them on for the first timeactually sigh with relief and they always ask to bag the shoe they came in with and leave wearing the new moc's.It is like they feet died and went to heaven without them! That is my story and I am sticking to it! Woody
Most of the mocassins listed on okay are made in third world countries by persons of Asian or other backgrounds. Many large gepanies use the image of the American Indian to sell their fake product. These producds have improved over the years and are quite nice the mostly thunderbird beadwork is realistic and is often difficult to tell from the authentic Ojibwe Thunderbird beadwork design. My belief is that every Culture has something really unique or beautiful to offer without attempting to copy and sell someone someone elses!Most of the gepanies are very large multi national gepanies who have learned how to utilize the vast world labor markets to produce profit using brand names and rip offs that have been developed to create a false American or Canadian Indian Image.If you want authentic Indian items you must shop very carefully.It is something like the Skookum Images that were developed to sell Washington Apples 80 0r 90 years ago.This is one cute Little Skookum Example highly collectible but very little to do with Indians! Many people thought she looked just like a Indian though. She has all the correct Hollywood Stereotypical images.You only need to type Skookum into a search engine to see how wide spread this name and image has traveled. How many different Skookums were made and sold.How many are now in the collectors marketplace. What a powerful Stereotype!It is almost like the Sports Mascots we have been hearing so much about, Soon the Stereotypical image develops a life of its own and people think Skookum is a tribe, Skookum is a peoplw, Skookum is even a person,Skookum is Indian made or somehow connected with real Indians. "A Really Bully Good Indian."Actually I feel the use of these images created by advertisers to sell "Indian Similar" or Indian FAKE items is far more damaging to the economic survival of Native People than Sports Mascots. Especially to Indian persons I know isolated in the far reaches of reservations,reserves,or the bush and woodlands of the Great Northern Trading Routes.Skookum or Minnetonka is a sterotypical image that begees etched in the publics mind as a result of very clever multi million dollar advertising campaigns. Minnetonka is a Lake in Minnesota,a city in Minnesota.Minnetonka in the language means,perhaps, Big Water. Today it means Big SALES OF FAkE Indian look alike moccasins. Type moccasin in your search engine and see what happens. Do you know that they aren't even made in Minnesota any more?These types of falsehoods and images hits your pocket indirectly through the inbalance of payments between countries,mainly the USA and China, but it hits directly the pockets of the Native American or Canadian Indian who is trying to survive by making a few mocassins in addition to their subsistance limited hunting and fishing activities. The generations of Indian trappers in the North have already suffered very severe damage from the Seal and Fur Laws passed to limit import of fur and hides into the U.S.A. False marketing too is a direct attack on a family, group,Tribe,or Small Indian Business owner attempting to eek out a honest living in a harsh environment.It is extremely damaging to the small Indian business owner or family who has over the years carved out a decent business that employs American or Canadian Indians.It has a direct economic impact upon the small native gepanies where natives work to earn their living and who have survived over the years against the gepetative thrust of these multi million dollar gepanies with their near slave labor pools. If you do a search for mocassins/moccasins you will get a number of gepanies and persons who use tribal names or mispellings of a proud and great people. I have seen,Minnetonka,oh do we see Minnetonka they have done their job well to capture their share of the internet market . Well at least Minnetonka is just a Lake in Minnesota it isn't the name of a people or nation of people but then check out other brands, Mohawk,Navaho,Indian Maid,Red Man,Chief,gemanche, Apachee,Chippewa,RedWing,Thunder Bird,MukLuk,Papoose,any number of true Indian or English names to sell these false products.Some of the names nearly border at the edge of racial slurs and I had fully expected to see this type of attitude eliminated in my lifetime.Remember that Springmaid sheet ad of not too long ago? "A Buck well spent on a Springmaid Sheet."Usually with that Stereotype again or photograph of that Stereotyped person.There is a number you can call in the United States that deals with the false manufacturer of "Indian Goods" and all this economic activity is specifically covered by The American Indian Arts and Crafts Law of 1990 enforced by the U.S. Dept. of Interior and huge fines exist for gepanies who misrepresent their product as being Indian or Native made when they are not! If we all do our part we can directly impact in a positive way the livelyhood of Native Indian People. Most of all you as a individual can educate yourself and make a helpful decision when you purchase.Buy your next pair of moccasins from the excellent selection listed here on okay. You don't have to buy the moccasins I sell, buy a pair those nice brain tanned beaded smoked tanned mocassins from a family in the far North. We learned in the 60's that it often only takes one person to often make a difference. That person is you. Change is often one person at a time. You can also make sure you are purchasing authentic Native or Indian item which will do the most to improve the lively hood of the first people.All you need to do is Call 888 278 3253 to get the U. S, Department of Interior to get them to investigate any activity where fake items are being sold and mis- represented as American Indian.The secondary market is more difficult to control because many people think they have a pair of genuine Indian mocassins to sell when they find some old funky worn out pair of mocassins with fake beaded thunderbirds on them! Beads and leather somehow like Skookum = Indian The older the better! LOLOL You often find these listed in on line live auctions and in Antique stores right here on okay. If you send them a email notice they keep right on listing it fraudulently or tell you a polite Thank You and keep on with their fraudulent listings.Thank You to some sellers means," mind your own business!" Believe me they will mind their business if they get a call or fine from the enforcement arm of the Dept.of Interior. There really is a Million dollare fine for selling FAKE INDIAN ART.Another concern is the business of wearing used mocassins.According to my Podiatrist some of the old shoes and mocassins could be harboring the worse fungus and foot disease you have ever seen on the Television Ads. Most states have health Laws that cover used footwear.Even trying on the footware.Yet there is a major market for them because people think they are genuine Indian and they are cheap, after all, they typed moccasin or mocassin in a search engine and that is what gees up about 800 pair of shoes that look like they were scavaged from a dump! All you need to do is look to the right here nexx to the guide on the right of this guide and you can see them stream by! (Oh they quit doing that.) LOLOLOL One after another with a few real Indian Made Moccasins scattered in. here and there.I wish I could get all my genuine Indian product listings on okay to stream by like that! LOLOL( Oooops, Somebody at okay heard me they at least now list a few of my items there.) Good I spend a lot of money on okay and Pay Pal and don't always have much to show for it. But somebody up there believes in the freedom of speech because they allow my ramblings to be published on this nice World wide Forum!Check out which major moccasin gepanies gee up over and over, when you do a search,get their numbers and call their corporate offices to see who is making their mocassins? Search out the truth and you will be surprized.Remember you are dealing with some smooth double speak operators who have been trained to give you a good answer. Where do you think the old Indian term," he speaks with a forked tongue" gees from! LOLOL Have some fun call and ask the real questions. Listen to the spin we all have been so familure with nowdays.See where their mocassins are made and how many certifiable American or Canadian IndiansAre working in their factories or have anything to do with their coporate offices.Thank you for reading my ramblings! If you want really Happy,Happy feet try a pair of these authentic Huron Moccasins. Read my feedback and ignore the kooks who have been trying to knock me out of my 100% positive feedback status. LOLOLOLSincerely,Woody