Custom Made Italian Footwear

Our in house custom shoe service: Bontoni Made-To-Order (MTO) lies between ready-made and bespoke. Our MTO program enables you to personalize one of our pre-existing styles to your exact specifications. While full bespoke requires the making of a personal last, MTO uses one of our existing lasts as a starting point, along with additional modifications. MTO requires less time to complete with respect to bespoke.

Our specialists will guide you through each step of the personalization options. This includes choosing different styles, materials, color, soles and constructions. Fittings take in accounting for your individual size & width requirements.

The craftsmen who have made each pair of Bontonis are not just about shoes. They come from long lines of Italian craftsmen and artists who made everything from dresses to violins. Bruno, who was our last maker, did more than that. He also made ornate violins by hand in our bottega. This is the Italian bottega as it has been for hundreds of years—a sanctuary for creative and passionate craftsmen. This legacy of artistry continues to resonate in each of the hundreds of distinct steps that go into every pair of Bontoni shoes.

It takes a Bontoni calzolaio, or shoemaker, years to master the different phases that bring a Bontoni shoe to life; precisely cutting the leather, hand sewing the seams, and attaching the welt. First, before shoe construction can begin, the leather is precisely cut into patterns to create a given model. The pieces are sewn together and reinforced with a lining and stiffeners to create the upper. In order for the upper to take on the elegant shape of the last, the calzolaio painstakingly pulls every centimeter of the upper over the last using a pair of pliers. The upper is then nailed in place along the perimeter of the insole.

In between nailing, the calzolaio uses a warm hammer head to compress the upper’s leather fibers to ensure a perfect contour. Next, he pierces the upper, welt, and insole with an awl. Two hand-twisted wax threads enter each hole from opposite sides. The threads are then forcefully pulled to create a lock stitch. After the welt, upper and insole rib have been attached with one stitch, the welt and the outsole are then attached with another stitch.

HAND PAINTED PATINAS

Bontoni colorists are renowned for their hand-colored patinas as well as unique polishing techniques. A hand-colored patina gives the shoe grandeur and individuality that is unsurpassed. Bontoni remains one of just a handful of shoemakers who colors its leathers entirely by hand.  Over the years, Bontoni’s master colorists have concocted an amazing range of colors such as black cherry, tobacco, red chocolate, yellow chestnut, olive, and rhubarb. It takes up to 4 days to achieve the desired effect. Some of our signature patinas are blended from up to 15 different oils, natural pigments, creams, and waxes. Many of these formulas have been passed down over generations. Notwithstanding, our master colorists still put their own fresh twist on them.

It wasn’t until about 20 years ago that a few local specialty tanneries began to offer limited quantities of non-dyed leathers. Since then, our shoemakers have been coloring shoes using the “blank canvass” approach. Much like an artist, each of our master colorists uses a non-dyed crust leather as his canvass.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE...

As the production is so refined &. limited the process. of custom hand-making your footwear does take some time. But good things always do, don't they? Once we send. in your order. it does take a few months for them to be delivered. I know you're asking it takes months to make a pair of shoes? No not quite, but there is, unfortunately a line that you are stepping into. But trust us, once you go down the custom made footwear road, you won't be coming back...