The Raw Materials - Leathers, Suede and Fabrics

The Raw Material

Leather is the most important building block of any shoe, and its production is a process that requires masterful skill. The following rule of thumb holds true for all quality men's shoes: the more the leather has been processed, the higher it is in quality. And this comes, naturally, at a price. Roughly 47 percent of the production costs involved in making a men's shoe are due to the costly raw material.

The calf tanneries come from North West Spain, Germany and Italy.

The types of leather below represent a full array of leather skins. They are all used in luxury shoe production and they differ from the "look" and "texture" point of view.

Crust calf leather (painted calf) enables artisans to hand paint the pieces with special creams and brushes. The look is very artisanal. Source is Conceria Tolio from Italy (same crust material used by Santoni, Berlutti, Andres Sendra, among many others). Learn more about Conceria Tolio on https://conceriatolio.com/storia/. Raw leathers are then hand painted by our artisans.

Besides the "plain" Painted Calf leather, we also offer it engraved with different textures, like full grain or pebble grain.

 

The majority of quality men's shoes are made from the hides of calves. Box calf is primarily distinguished by its fineness, pliability, and grain. Box Calf leathers are hand painted by our artisans.

Also called "Suede" or "Lux Suede". This leather is created from the underside of the animal hide, as a result it is softer, and more supple and can have the appearance of a "furry nap".

Kid Suede is the most soft, velvety suede leather type which comes from small goat skins. The skins are pretty small which increases the price of leather (consumption per pair). It has a more refined finish with a smaller grain on the surface.

Polished calf refers to rectified grain calf. This eliminates any skin imperfections. The look is not as natural as a regular, plain full grain, but the look is very good, luxurious. This type of leather is quite expensive because of the post-production processes that it needs at the tannery. Polished Calf Leathers are hand painted by our artisans.

A type of leather finish whereby the surface is treated to create a highly glossy, shiny appearance.

Lightweight, supple leather made up of the most outer layer of a hide, the surface is buffed to give the grain a light velvety finish called a "nap".

We offer a full array of sartorial fabrics, flannels and velvets. Sartorial patterns like Tweed, Plaid, Tartan, Herringbone, Leopard, etc.

The result of mixing these sartorial materials with classic hand painted leather in a shoe, can be truly astonishing.