Trained by the Italian army officer boot maker of the beggining of the last century, our boot maker has now been modeling leather for many years and provides the greatest brands of boots in Argentina. In his workshop, each room is devoted to a step of the bookmaking process, where pieces of leather, patterns, tools and old machines all stand next to each other.
He is drawing the pattern of a boot for a client. The measurements are very accurate so as to make a refined custom boot.
The pattern is then affixed on the leather chosen and our boot maker cuts the different parts of the leather.
In the room beside workers fit together the boot. They sew, glue, assemble. Zippers, details, embroideries, buckles are added. Woods are then inserted during 3 days in the boot so that it maintains its shape and size during the drying time.
In the back of the workshop, one of the workers nails the boot leather to a wood foot (of the size desired by the customer) to give it the right shape and good size.
A thick leather sole is attached. A 5 cm long piece of metal is glued to the sole of the foot in order to ensure its rigidity. A second thinner sole is sewn and the heel, also in leather, is fixed.
Then, the boot is placed in a machine from the early last century to ensure that the sole is well formed.
It takes about 14 hours to make a pair of boots and 10 days to let the leather dry all naturally. Each pair of boots can be customized by choosing colors, materials and ornament.
The tour ends with the showroom. An Aladdin’s cave where there are boots of all sizes, styles and colors.
You can see the boots on the pictures of our visit here :