Showing posts with label Spanish Shoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spanish Shoes. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 June 2011

Today's Favorites - Enrile


As I usually tend to put 'out of this world' type shoes on these pages, I feel like every once in a while I need to switch it up a bit and add a little bit of classic back into my blog. I have only just discovered this new up-and-comer in the European shoe industry and therefore wanted to share it with all of you. Once only a leather goods maker, company Enrile from Seville, Spain, decided to take up shoemaking as well, just 5 years ago, and have done a good job at creating a very classically Spanish product. As you can see in the pictures, they tend to make a very classic, yet elegant product, having very simple shapes, nothing too extreme yet just curvy enough to not be boring either. They have a small collection of RTW shoes but I feel that their strong base of production lies in made-to-order, where the customer can ultimately choose between last shapes, colors,  and leather types. Being that they are Spanish made shoes, they specialize in shell cordovan as well as vegetable tanned greased veal, which is unique to Spain. As the veal is very difficult to work with, you don't tend to see it used in shoe products, but Enrile has managed to overcome the difficulty and thus offers something unique to them. While the bulk of their company specializes in making leather goods for larger companies, I feel that they more they focus on shoes, the more known they just might become!!









Sunday, 9 January 2011

Today's Favorites - Norman Vilalta, Bespoke Shoemaker
























When you think of bespoke shoemakers and where they come from, you generally think about Italy, England, France and maybe if you are really knowledgeable, you also think of Hungary. But what you don't think of, is the rest of the world such as Spain, Japan, Germany, Sweeden, the USA etc. and all of these other places that actually have bespoke shoemakers but they are just not on that grand level scale. Most shoemakers take on apprentices and those apprentices are not always just from the country in which the shoemaker originates. Take Norman Vilalta (pictured above right). He is originally from Argentina but left his country to go to Italy and engulf himself in the art of shoemaking. Him and I actually have a similar history (except he is way ahead of me) in that we both left our country to go and study shoemaking under Stefano Bemer, which he did for I think about 5 years (plus or minus). After his time in Italy though, he left to open up his own shop in Barcelona, Spain where he continues to work today. And while his business and shoe production is relatively small, it is on it's way to thriving with the introduction of a ready-to-wear line in the not-so-distant future!

Pictures Courtesy Of: El Aristocrata