.jpg)
The Tod’s HQ in Cesette d’Ete in the province of Fermo manufactures 1,500 pairs of finished shoes per day. My visit begins in the sole department: the leather is cut using highly honed machines, while the borders are done by hand. Every artisan working in this department manages to produce 12 pairs of shoes per day. From the cut of the sole, we move to the inner tannery: it is here that the raw material is examined, where the parts with imperfections – too wrinkly, to put it bluntly – are cast aside, to avoid the outer leather (the side where the animal’s hair has been removed) coming unstuck from the inner lining. “We normally work the inside of the skin,” the head of the tannery section tells me, as he shows me a fascinating tool used to buff away any possible asymmetries in the thickness of the raw material.
It is interesting to note the difference between crocodile and alligator hide: the former generally comes from the Nile region or from Australia and has large scales, while alligator hide, from the Mississippi, has smaller ones at the side of the belly. The size of the scales is not the only distinguishing element: only crocodile skin has a pore on every single scale. That telltale pore comes from the presence of perceptive hair on the animal’s skin, used to perceive the surrounding environment.
Bespoke hugs,
Fabio
Credits:
- Edesim suit
- TBD Eyewear glasses
- Velasca loafers
- Serà Fine Silk PS
- Belsire Tie
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
