Learn the philosophy and method of making leather shoes by Guidi

Guidi – an Italian luxury leather boot manufacturer – has a long history with its manufacturing methods as well as modern and fashionable designs. This is the main reason why this company’s products have become the choice for fashionistas all over the world.

Trademark Send away was founded in 1896 by two names named Giovanni Rosellini and Gino Ulivo in the town of Pescia in the city of Tuscany, Italy. This beautiful town has long produced many skilled craftsmen specializing in the production of high-end and world-famous leather goods. The most prominent among them is Guidi with a line of leather shoes made from the most meticulous and delicate craftsmanship as well as the motto of singular and selective production to ensure absolute quality. for each product.

Since 2004, when Guidi started rolling out leather made in Italy to the world wide, the shoes and accessories are designed with premium design and guaranteed the highest quality of the company. has become a favorite and appreciated name in the fashion industry. When we visit and shop at retail boutiques around the world, from Atelier in New York, L’Eclaireur in Paris, or Anchoret in Beijing, we can easily see the emergence of Guidi products. with other luxury leather brands.

Fast-forward to the present, the Guidi company is run by the Guidi family. Managed and operated by Ruggero Guidi (nicknamed “Mr. Guidi”), this luxury leather company is now renowned for its passion, utter meticulousness in handcrafted leather goods and a rich history History is respected in world fashion making. Guidi has been and is a leather material supplier for many of the world’s leading fashion brands such as Prada, Maison Margiela and Rick Owens.

Guidi’s secret to creating a soft, homogeneous look in leather on her shoes is the “object-dyeing” method. This is a small but important detail. If we look closely at the leather shoes on the market, we will see the difference in color nuances of the body and the sole. The reason is that the shoe body and sole are usually manufactured and dyed separately in two different places before being assembled, and leather is usually pre-dyed. In Guidi, on the other hand, all shoe products are uniform in color, usually natural glossy brown leather covered with oil or white, discolored skin. Each shoe is dyed in the form of a uniform block. This dyeing process helps to ensure uniform color and quality of the shoe.

In addition to the delicate dyeing technique, another important manufacturing detail of Guidi is the shoe mold. These are exclusive special molds from the company that help ensure the desired shoe shape. Guidi’s shoe manufacturing process is a closed process. Each shoe will be made at its own factory with the first step being the material darkened by a large camera. All of this raw leather material is then transported to a nearby shoe factory to be handcrafted and finished. The finished shoes are then shipped back to the dyeing factory to begin the shoe dyeing process.

Interestingly, Guidi does not own this shoe factory but is its sole customer. The shoe factory that has been handed down for generations is that of Mr. Paolo Rugiati. The two’s fathers are close friends. Before making a production monopoly for Guidi, Mr. Paolo mainly produced multi-terrain hiking shoes and mountain climbing shoes.

“These traditional high-quality leather shoes are very difficult to produce in Italy nowadays because competition comes from countries like China or Vietnam,” said Mr. Paolo. “Many affordable and mid-tier factories in Italy are currently closed. So we focus on producing only high quality shoes ”.

Paolo also shared that “leather cutting is my favorite step. You have to really know each different leather material to be able to perform this step in a standard way. He learned craft shoe making from his father at the age of 15.

Guidi’s frill stitching (to the sole of her footwear) is similar to that of Goodyear. The shoe body will be connected to the sole by a super-adhesive thermal glue and then sewn with super strong industrial sewing. The space between the insole insole and the outsole outsole is padded with cork, to provide water resistance to the sole. If worn and carefully maintained, Guidi shoes will retain their shape and durability for many years. In addition, this sewing method also makes changing the soles simpler. A small but important detail to the special style of the shoe is the raised heel. This heel is made of thick patches of leather that overlap and are then glued and closed. After being completely assembled, the last step before being dyed will be the process of sanding the sole of the shoe and cleaning the glues.

One of the most popular markets for Guidi leather products is in China. Even Guidi could not explain clearly why this brand was favored and bought so much in the world’s most populous market. And the limited production of Guidi has also contributed to the formation of a large resell market as well as the production of sizable fake Guidi shoes in the country. In response to this problem, each current Guidi shoe will come with a QR code that can be scanned and traced with a tool like Certilogo.

Guidi is also known for her classic business strategy of not having her own store, not even an online store. Up to now, this brand still follows the model of wholesale wholesale by supplying products to select boutiques all over the world. The number of stores to date selling Guidi leather products is 130.

Translation and modification: Highsnobiety

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