Rubber Sandals Workshop Hanoi: Keeping Vietnamese Heritage Alive with Vua Dep Lop

In April 2025, Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide (HFPTG) and Vua Dép Lốp, Vietnam’s most celebrated rubber sandal brand, signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding, joining forces to bring one of Hanoi’s most quietly powerful symbols of national identity directly into the hands of international visitors.

This is not simply a business partnership. It is a shared commitment to the kind of cultural storytelling that no museum caption can fully capture.

Who is Vua Dép Lốp?

At first glance, dép lốp may look like simple rubber sandals. But in Vietnam, these hand-cut soles from old truck tires carry the weight of history.

Dép lốp emerged from the ingenuity and hardship of war. In 1947, during the early years of the resistance against French colonial forces, Vietnamese soldiers discovered that discarded rubber tires could be cut into soles, with inner tube strips threaded through as straps, durable, waterproof, and built for the difficult terrain of a country fighting for its independence.

President Ho Chi Minh himself received a pair made from the tire of a captured French vehicle that same year. He wore them for 20 years, and they became an enduring symbol of his lifelong revolutionary journey.

Today, that living legacy is kept alive by Vua Dép Lốp, literally “Tire Sandal King”, founded and led by Nguyễn Tiến Cường. Starting as a small business, Vua Dép Lốp grew into Vietnam’s rubber sandal leader. Nguyễn Tiến Cường took over from his father-in-law in 2011 and has sold more than half a million pairs since then. At the workshop in Hanoi, shoemakers use sharp knives and chisels to craft sandals from enormous tyres, while traditional black models remain bestsellers, a colourful modern twist is helping the sandal appeal to a younger demographic.

Vua Dép Lốp has introduced hundreds of modern designs to appeal to younger generations, while preserving the essence of the original. “Our goal is to use rubber sandals to promote Vietnam’s cultural and historical values”, said Nguyễn Tiến Cường. “International tourists love authentic experiences, and that’s how we’ll carry this story globally.”

The brand has modernized its designs while invoking the original wartime models to evoke national heritage, positioning the sandals as testaments to Vietnamese endurance and independence. In this sense, Vua Dép Lốp is not simply a footwear company, it is an active custodian of Vietnamese material culture, translating history into something tangible, wearable, and deeply personal.

A unique, interactive workshop has already been launched at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in the heart of Hanoi, repurposing old tyres while offering a memorable cultural experience for international visitors. One visitor named Nicole described how wearing the sandals allowed her to feel a genuine connection to Ho Chi Minh himself, a reaction that speaks volumes about the power of experiential heritage tourism.

Who is Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide?

Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide (HFPTG) is a non-profit volunteer club operating under EFIS English Vietnam, founded and chaired by Le Van Tai, with Doan Thi Quy serving as Business & Communications Director and Vice Chair.

The club was built on a single belief: that the most authentic way to understand a city is through the voices of the people who love it most. Our volunteer guides are young Vietnamese, fluent in English, deeply knowledgeable about Hanoi’s history and culture, and genuinely passionate about sharing it. They don’t read from scripts. They tell stories, answer questions, and build real connections between cultures, one conversation at a time.

Over the years, Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide has welcomed thousands of international travelers to Hanoi, guiding them through the Hanoi Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, Temple of Literature, Thang Long Citadel, and beyond, always free of charge, always with the warmth and pride of someone showing you their own home. For our volunteer members, every tour is also a classroom: a space to practice English, develop public speaking skills, and grow into confident cultural ambassadors for Vietnam on the world stage.

Why This Partnership Makes Sense

Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide and Vua Dép Lốp were always going to find each other, because they are driven by exactly the same conviction.

Both organizations believe that Vietnamese heritage is not a relic to be preserved behind glass. It is a living tradition to be experienced, shared, and passed forward. The dép lốp sandal is one of the most internationally recognizable symbols of Vietnam’s 20th-century history, yet few visitors ever have the chance to understand it beyond a photograph or a display case. This partnership changes that.

For Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide, working with Vua Dép Lốp creates a rare opportunity: to give our volunteer guides a hands-on, deeply meaningful subject through which to practice their craft as cultural storytellers. There are few more powerful things a young Vietnamese person can do than stand before an international audience, hold up a rubber sandal, and explain, in fluent, confident English, exactly what it means to their country and their generation.

For Vua Dép Lốp, the partnership opens the door to a wider international audience, guided by trusted, English-fluent voices who understand both the craft and the culture behind it.

The Signing Ceremony: April 15, 2026

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on April 15, 2026, at the headquarters of Công ty Cổ phần Tập đoàn Depcaosu.com in Hanoi, a milestone moment for both organizations.

Representing Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide and EFIS English Vietnam were Le Van Tai (Director and Club Chairman) and Doan Thi Quy (Business & Communications Director, Vice Chair). Representing Vua Dép Lốp were Nguyen Tien Cuong (Founder, Director and Chairman of the Board) and Nguyen Hong Viet (Deputy Director).

Speaking at the ceremony, the Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide delegation emphasized the role of experiential activities as a bridge, helping young Vietnamese develop the confidence and English fluency needed to engage with the world, while carrying their own culture with pride. The Vua Dép Lốp delegation affirmed that transforming the rubber sandal into a creative tourism experience is a core strategic direction: one that protects traditional values while reaching new generations and international audiences in a way that feels natural and contemporary.

“A new step. A new journey. Together, spreading Vietnamese values to the world.” – the spirit with which both parties signed.

What the Collaboration Will Deliver

Under the MOU, Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide and Vua Dép Lốp will collaborate across four key areas:

Hands-on sandal-making experiences for international visitors, organized through the Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide network. Guided by master craftspeople from Vua Dép Lốp and narrated in English by Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide volunteer guides, these sessions allow foreign travelers to cut, shape, and assemble their own pair of dép lốp, taking home not just a souvenir, but a story they will carry for a lifetime.

Culture Exchange programmes and heritage workshops at universities and colleges across Hanoi, where Vietnamese students practice English communication in real contexts while sharing their culture with international peers, a model of learning that enriches everyone in the room.

Community outreach and co-branding initiatives to amplify the reach of both organizations, positioning Hanoi as a destination where cultural depth and authentic human connection are the main attraction.

A sustainable long-term ecosystem linking education, tourism, and cultural preservation: the kind of collaboration that builds something greater than either partner could achieve alone.

The Larger Vision: Cultural Ambassadors for a New Generation

At its heart, this partnership is about people.

It gives young Vietnamese students, our club’s volunteer guides, a platform to practice the skills they are building: English fluency, public speaking, cultural storytelling, cross-cultural empathy. Standing in front of an international audience and explaining why a pair of rubber sandals made from a French military truck tire matters to Vietnamese identity is, in its own way, one of the most powerful educational experiences imaginable.

For international visitors, it offers something increasingly rare in modern travel: genuine contact with a living craft, guided by people who carry genuine pride in their own heritage. Beyond their form, these sandals remain a symbol of resilience, resourcefulness, and the power of a people who walked into history and came out stronger. That is a story worth telling, and worth experiencing firsthand.

We are proud and honored to stand alongside Vua Dép Lốp in carrying it forward.