Amongst all the traditional shoes and foot wears of Iran, we encounter beautiful local names that are particular to each region. Charogh is one of the traditional handicrafts of Quchan city in Northern Khorasan, Charogh is a footwear mostly worn by villagers and shepherds. They have long laces and belts that are twisted around the ankles of feet. The researchers know Charogh to be traced back to Sassanid and believe that they flourished during Safavid dynasty. Charogh has also entered the literature of Iran. One example is the poem of “Muses and the shepherd” by Rumi where the shepherd prays to God “I will sew your Charogh and comb your hair” which shows the usage and prosperity of this art from many centuries ago. Charogh is also known as “Sham”, “Patabeh”, “Palik”, too.

The tools of making a pair of Charogh are similar to those of making shoes, and include: “Derafsh” or stitching awl, needles, scalp, knife, engraving pen tool, cutter, shoehorns and wooden molds. The primary materials of Charogh are tanned cow leather, silk, Golabatoon and cotton yarn. Making a Charogh includes making the body, sewing the embroideries, decorating, attaching the belt fasteners and etc. The opening of Charogh is sewed using blanket stitches and all the other parts are sewed by simple stiches of colorful yarns on black leather and the back of the Charogh is sewed by parallel stitches in white cotton yarn. Also, the back of Charogh is decorated by six petal flowers of pink and golden yarns. The front is decorated by colorful pom poms. In the final step, the artist makes a buckle from leather and attaches them to two sides of Charogh. The bottom of this footwear is made of buffalo leather due to its high durability. The difference between the Charogh of Northern Khorasan and other cities is that they are made of one piece of leather. There is no difference between right or left foot in a pair of Charogh. Women and men shoes are not different either, they differ only in size. The name of some of the patterns sewed on Charogh are “Seh Gol”, “Chahar Gol”, “Puneh Dar” or “Badami”. Charogh has been registered as the national artifact of Iran.