---
node: garment_moccasin
type: garment
slug: moccasin
title: "Moccasin"
lead: "The moccasin is the soft leather shoe of Native North America, cut from tanned hide and wrapped around the foot with a seam at the toe or heel. Beaded and quilled in patterns of each nation, it is among the continent's oldest and most enduring garments."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: moccasin.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moccasins,_Cree,_collected_before_1795,_deerskin,_porcupine_quillwork,_imported_silk_-_Native_American_collection_-_Peabody_Museum,_Harvard_University_-_DSC05836.jpg"
image_author: "Daderot"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

A moccasin is a shoe of soft tanned deer, moose, or buffalo hide, made in a soft-soled woodland form of one wrapped piece and a hard-soled Plains form with a separate rawhide sole. Low and close-fitting, it lets the wearer feel and move quietly over the ground.

## How it is worn

It is worn on the bare foot or over hide socks, laced or tied at the ankle, and often decorated across the vamp with dyed porcupine quillwork or glass beads in the maker's tribal designs. Styles of cut and ornament identify the nation and the occasion, from everyday to ceremonial.

## History

Moccasins have been worn across North America for thousands of years and were adopted by European trappers and settlers for their comfort in the woods. They remain a central Native craft and regalia, each people keeping its own cut, sole, and beadwork traditions.