Alessandro Berluti was born in 1865 in Senigallia, a small village in the Italian region of the Marches. After having been trained as a cabinetmaker during his youth, he left his homeland at the age of 19 to try his skills abroad. He arrived in Paris in the late 19th century, a time when the city was experiencing an explosion of creative and artistic expansion. For a decade thereafter, Alessandro worked as a shoemaker, crafting bespoke shoes for clients of international renown, men and women alike, including such sophisticated celebrities such as Isadora Duncan and Elisabeth Arden. His keen eye for aesthetic lines, coupled with a passion for working with hardwood is essential for custom footwear craftsmanship which earned him a reputation as a talented shoemaker. He showed his skills in 1895 to create a new shoe. the Alessandro lace-up. And Berluti was born.
It was more than 120 years ago that Alessandro Berluti first inscribed his signature on a pair of shoes and, in doing so, founded Maison Berluti. From its early days, the Berluti style has been known for it's technical virtuosity and offbeat creativity that spring from its deep roots of savoir-faire in bespoke creation. Though Maison Berluti has kept up with the times, its spirit of craftsmanship has remained unchanged. We continue to innovate in each new chapter of the Maison’s story, pushing the limits of technique and style.
Bespoke is one of the foundations of Maison Berluti. Alessandro Berluti, a cabinetmaker by training, had an extraordinary talent for sculpting wood and impeccably balancing volumes. His artistry inspired every subsequent generation. Crafting a pair of bespoke shoes involves some 250 operations, 50 hours of assembly and three appointments with a Master Shoemaker. Many specialists are involved in making bespoke shoes: the last-maker, the pattern-maker, the cutter, the stitcher. It is the peerless savoir-faire of these and other artisans that makes a Berluti shoe unique.
The Berluti patina, developed in the 1980s, revolutionised the world of men’s shoes by incorporating nuanced colours at a time when most shoes were black or brown. The Venezia leather interacts beautifully with the colours, as they take on exquisite transparency and depth. The shoes exude life and character, as each patina is unique, born of the handiwork of the Maison’s expert colourists.
