Pataugas (French: splasher) is both a shoe and a brand created on 24 August 1950 by René Elissabid, an industrialist from Mauleon, a village in the province of Soule, France. The shoe is more a boot, with a rubbered thick lugged outsole obtained with pulp rubber heated with a gas stove, hence the name "pataugas." It was the preferred shoe of generations of scouts, soldiers and hikers of all kinds, including earth tones of the various models are a sign of authenticity. The French Shoe company makes a similar shoe/boot