Shoemaker

Antonio Meccariello

Antonio Meccariello makes custom and made-to-order shoes by hand in Benevento, carving his own shoe forms, and charges far less than comparable makers.

Antonio Meccariello works in Benevento, in Campania, making bespoke and made-to-order shoes and carving his own lasts. He is unusual in offering hand-welted construction at prices well below comparable makers, and he is widely regarded as one of the best-value serious shoemakers in Europe.

BespokeMade-to-measureReady-to-wear

An illustration of a welted shoe of the kind the house makes. Not a photograph of the house's own work.

House style — shoulder: not documented

Chest — extensive handwork

Fittings 1–3 16–40 weeks

From $2,700 lowest documented, converted

Value in the strict sense

Value is a word this site uses carefully: it means the same construction and finish for less money, not cheapness. Meccariello qualifies. Hand-welted construction, hand-carved lasts and a high standard of finishing, at prices closer to good ready-to-wear than to bespoke.

The explanation is geography and overheads rather than any compromise in the shoe. A workshop in Benevento does not carry Mayfair or Ginza costs.

The range

Bespoke on a carved last, made-to-order on the workshop's lasts, and a ready-to-wear line: all hand-welted or Goodyear-welted depending on the tier, and all made in the same workshop.

The maker carves his own lasts, which is unusual: most bespoke shoemakers buy lasts roughed out by a specialist and finish them. Doing the whole thing in-house is part of why the prices work.

How the price works

The construction is the same as makers charging two or three times as much: hand-welted, leather-lined, on a last the maker carves himself. What is absent is a shop in an expensive city, a distribution network and a marketing operation.

The trade-off is access. Commissioning means dealing with a small workshop in Campania directly, with the communication and lead times that implies, and there is no showroom in which to try shoes on first.

Cutting your own lasts

Most shoemakers below the top tier buy lasts. Cutting them is a separate craft, and a maker who does it controls the single element that determines how a shoe looks and fits, which is why the practice is worth flagging even though a customer never sees a last. It is also the main reason a small independent workshop can offer shapes that no factory range contains.

Hand welted

holdfast carved from the insole

holdfast is part of the insole

Resoleable: repeatedly

Goodyear welted

canvas rib glued to the insole

gemming is glued on: the part that fails

Resoleable: several times

Blake

one seam through everything

the seam passes into the shoe

Resoleable: with a Blake machine

Cemented

sole glued to the upper

adhesive only

Resoleable: generally not

upper insole welt outsole

How a sole is attached, and whether it can be replaced The welt in the two left-hand constructions carries the sole stitching, so the sole comes off without disturbing the upper. Hand welting cuts its ridge from the insole itself; Goodyear glues a canvas rib on, and that rib is the part that eventually fails. Diagram drawn for Il Sartoriale.

The record

Country

Italy

Service levels

Bespoke · Made-to-measure · Ready-to-wear

Shoulder