We the Italians June 14, 2015 - 62 | Page 29

th # 62 • June 12 , 2015 other side of the Adriatic, thus, in the sixteenth century, Braudel called it “the city of the leather”. Natural born so that in this region, the processing of the shoe. The production Making the model is a crucial stage of the production process. The modeller transfers the design of the designer onto a plan, first manually and then through the use of CAD. This activity will serve to create the cardboard templates that are traced on the individual parts of the leather that make up the model. The use of highest quality leathers and the expertise of professional craftsmen play a decisive role in achieving a high quality result. A good cutter must be familiar with the entire process of manufacturing shoes and with the characteristics of different qualities of leather. After checking and selecting the leather, the cutter positions the cardboard templates on the hide to achieve a perfect cut of the various parts of the model created. Downstream of the cutting operations is the phase that leads to the creation of the complete uppere, the first important half-finished product from which the shoe is made. The stage of production that includes assembly and stitching of the upper and lining, inserting the reinforcements and applying accessories and eyelets, is mainly entrusted to the master hemmers who even today perform their work mainly by hand. Once the assembly stage is complete, the upper is placed on a plastic shaper that simulates the foot. The final finishing are applied during the finishing stage and the shoe finally reaches the end of the production process after ironing, brushing and cleaning of leather. The region In the years after the Second World War, the central and the north-eastern regions of Italy underwent a particular process of industrializa- WE THE ITALIANS | 29 www.wetheitalians.com