If civilization ever collapsed (or just the economy) one skill that people would find particularly useful was making low tech foot wear like the moccasin. Most are made out of leather but you could use any material in a pinch, though those old jeans won’t have quite the protective qualities as leather. It is no where near as daunting a task as one might think – though it is time consuming work that takes some practice to be good at.
The dean of historical trekking Keith Burgess, AKA Le Loup of The Woodsrunner’s Diary, has a couple of videos that I believe come from his DVD on making moccasins that will help get you started. His DVDs can be ordered from his blog and I highly recommend them. I think he uses the excellent Craft Manual of North American Indian Footwear as a guide, so picking up the book will be useful for those of you wanting to try your hand at making footwear. Enjoy.
Part I:
Pat II:
There are ten videos in the series so I suggest staying tuned to his channel.