Schoenmaker · Naples

Paolo Scafora

Paolo Scafora is a family shoemaker near Naples, known for hand-applied colour, lighter shoes suited to the Neapolitan climate, and distinctly Italian proportions.

Paolo Scafora makes shoes near Naples in a family business, offering made-to-order and bespoke. The house is known for hand-applied colour and patina, for lighter constructions suited to the Neapolitan climate, and for a distinctly Italian sense of proportion.

BespokeMade-to-measureConfectie

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

Huisstijl — schouder: niet gedocumenteerd

Borstomvang — substantial handwork

Pasingen — 6–30 weken

Van $1,100 laagste gedocumenteerde, omgerekend

Colour and construction

Scafora's shoes are recognisable by their finishing: hand-applied dyes in layers, producing depth and variation that a uniformly dyed leather cannot. The Neapolitan sensibility about colour, which in tailoring shows up as a brown suit, shows up here as a shoe in three shades of chestnut.

Constructions include Blake and Goodyear as well as hand welting, which is normal for an Italian house and worth checking model by model.

The patina

Colour applied by hand in translucent layers to a finished shoe, producing tonal depth that a uniformly dyed leather cannot. It is done to order, so a customer can specify a colour rather than choose from a range.

It is finishing rather than construction, and it wears: a patina shoe needs matching cream to maintain and will change over years. That is generally regarded as a feature.

Reading the construction

Italian shoemakers commonly offer several constructions across one range, and the house is no exception: Blake, Blake-rapid, Goodyear and hand-welted all appear depending on the model. That is not a criticism, but it means the construction has to be checked per shoe rather than assumed from the maker.

Blake construction produces the slim, close-trimmed profile Italian shoes are known for; it is less water-resistant and needs a specialist for resoling.

Naples, in colour

The Neapolitan shoe trade takes a position on colour and finish that the English trade spent a century avoiding, and Scafora is among the clearest examples: hand-antiqued finishes, unusual combinations, and a willingness to treat the shoe as part of an outfit rather than as its foundation.

Met de hand gerande

houdrand uitgesneden uit de binnenzool

de holdfast maakt deel uit van de binnenzool

Herbezoelbaar: herhaaldelijk

Goodyear-gerande

canvasrib gelijmd aan de binnenzool

gemming is gelijmd: het onderdeel dat het begeft

Herbezoelbaar: meerdere malen

Blake

één naad door alle lagen

de naad loopt door in de schoen

Herbezoelbaar: met een Blake-machine

Gelijmd

zool gelijmd aan het bovenwerk

uitsluitend gelijmd

Herbezoelbaar: doorgaans niet

bovenwerk binnenzool rand buitenzool

Hoe een zool wordt bevestigd, en of hij vervangen kan worden De welt in de twee linker constructies draagt het zoolstiksel, zodat de zool kan worden verwijderd zonder het bovenwerk te verstoren. Bij handwelting wordt de rand uit de binnenzool zelf gesneden; Goodyear lijmt een canvasrib aan, en die rib is het onderdeel dat uiteindelijk het begeeft. Diagram getekend voor Il Sartoriale.

Het dossier

Stad

Naples

Land

Italy

Service levels

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

Schouder