The Production of Shoes in Italy from the Eigheenth century to the Present / La produzione della scarpa in Italia dal Settecento a oggi

This essay considers the relationship between footwear, fashion and Design in what is now called 'Made in Italy'. This relationship goes back to the late Renaissance when a restricted aristocratic social group imposed the first 'artificial' transformation of clothing. This is part of a process that arrives to the present day and has been based during the last few centuries on the so-called 'democraticization of fashion'. By the eighteenth century 'to be fashionable' was no longer the prerogative of the wealthy or the social elite, but could also be achieved by the lower ranks of society. As 'popoluxe' products become increasingly central in negotiating fashion across classes, shoes assumed new psychological and cultural meanings. They become material expressions of desire, affection and attraction. These changes in the demand for footwear were paralleled by important technological and technical innovations. The artisan skills of the Calegheri (the Venetian shoemakers) were continued by new entrepreneurs operating in industrial contexts. Skills were often trasmitted through tacit processes and personal experiences. Although these mechanisms are very creative and contribute enormously to the artistic aspect of the 'Made in Italy', they have the major fault of being difficult to replicate and can therefore be a barrier to the development of any sector. There is the need to share knowledge, know-how and to codify individual experiences. This is the role undertaken by particular businesses that are able to combine traditional working practices and training in new technologies and design. In other cases the shoemaking tradition is combined with innovation through the action of schools. One such example is the 'Footwear Politechnic School' of the Riviera del Brenta near Padua in the North East of Italy. Since the 1950s large producers, as well as the most famous world designers have used the school for inspiration and have commissioned students and graduates to produce the latest footwear to be shown on Milan and Parisian catwalks. This coincides with the birth of the 'shoe designer' who is not only a skilled artist, but also commercially informed about fashion and market trends. The market becomes central in the training of highly specialised designers who are able to capture consumer preferences, to design and finally industrialise fashion. In the first part of the essay (pages 97-102), Giorgio Riello explains the complexity of the organisation of production in footwear manufacturing in the early modern period and why artisanal forms of labour persisted well into the period of the Industrial Revolution. In the following part (pages 102-139), Giovanni Luigi Fontana continues by examining the transformation of markets and the slow and complex evolution of the sector in Italy from artisan to industrial production. It was the introduction of machines to sew uppers in the 1870s that dramatically reduced the cost of production and led to the concentration of the workforce in industrial units. This was the period when the first tomaifici (to sew uppers) appear. The sector still remained influenced by local and regional differences, by specific contexts of entrepreneurialism and finance, while skills were reproduced and improved thanks to the setting up of schools and by sending skilled workers abroad. The article thus explains the birth of the most important businesses in the Italian footwear sector, often based in major cities and other specialised centres. These areas were able to compete with foreign products even in a context of relative disadvantage as both materials and technologies were imported. The following part of the article considers how Italy, in particular since the 1950s acquired a strategic position in a context of international division of the footwear market. The shoe \u2018Made-in-Italy- allowed for the rise of footwear districts such as the Riviera del Brenta, here considered as a particularly important case study