"Made in Italy" gets printed on a lot of things. On a shoe it should mean something specific, so here's what it actually involves, and why a pair made this way costs more than the ones that don't last past one season.
It starts with the leather
Most of the cost of a good shoe sits in the parts you can't see at a glance. We use full leather linings and leather soles, with suede and Nappa uppers chosen for how they wear over time, not just how they look in a photo. Cheaper shoes cut here first - synthetic linings that leave your feet hot, glued soles that give up in the rain. You notice the difference the second time you wear them, not the first.
The last is everything
A "last" is the foot-shaped form a shoe is built around. Nobody talks about it and everybody feels it. A good one is the difference between a heel you can actually walk in and one you kick off under the table by nine o'clock. Ours are Italian and cut slightly narrow, which is why we tell people to size up if they're caught between two sizes.
Made by people who only make shoes
Our pairs are put together in small workshops in Italy, by people who have done this their whole working lives. That's not a romantic detail, it's the reason the stitching runs straight, the heel sits properly, and the finish holds. There's a part of this that machines simply can't do well, and it's the part you end up wearing.
Small runs not warehouses
We make in small batches instead of filling a warehouse. It means some styles sell out and a few are made to order, but it also means we're not shaving corners to hit a number. You're buying a pair, not a unit off a pile.
What you're really paying for
A cheap heel is cheap because someone decided you wouldn't notice. A pair like this is built on the opposite bet, that you'll wear it for years, get it resoled when it needs it, and keep reaching for it. Split across that many evenings out, it ends up being the better-value shoe, not the dearer one.
If you want to see how that turns into a finished pair, have a look at the collection.
