Sapateiro · 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.

BespokeFeito por medidaPronto a vestir

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

Estilo da casa — ombro: não documentado

Peito — substantial handwork

Provas — 6–30 semanas

De $1,100 mínimo documentado, convertido

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.

Welt costurado à mão

holdfast talhado na palmilha

o holdfast faz parte da palmilha

Ressoleável: repetidamente

Goodyear welted

nervura de entretela colada à palmilha

a gemming está colada: é a parte que falha

Ressoleável: várias vezes

Blake

uma costura por tudo

a costura penetra no sapato

Ressoleável: com uma máquina Blake

Cimentado

sola colada à gáspea

apenas adesivo

Ressoleável: geralmente não

gáspea palmilha welt sola

Como uma sola é fixada e se pode ser substituída O welt nas duas construções da esquerda suporta a costura da sola, pelo que a sola se separa sem perturbar o upper. A costura welt à mão recorta a sua crista da própria palmilha; a Goodyear cola uma nervura de canvas, e é essa nervura que acaba por ceder. Diagrama elaborado para Il Sartoriale.

O registo

Cidade

Naples

País

Italy

Service levels

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

Ombro