Florence - Leather Goods

[RedLeg]

I’m stopping for a few days in Florence and am curious if anyone has some recommendations for where best to buy leather goods

Just like anywhere else, I’m sure there’s some good deals and some scams

interested in a briefcase, jacket, belts, gloves

 

[comrade]

I recommend Ottino. I have a briefcase from them that I have used for over 30 years.
It's lock still works.

OTTINO FIRENZE Borse e accessori in pelle e tessuto

Sito ufficiale Ottino Firenze. Dal 1830 Cartelle, borse a mano, borse a tracolla, pochette e accessori in ottima pelle italiana.

www.ottino.com

The contemporary equivalent of my briefcase is the Mario model, I think.
I got mine with a zipper case that fits inside it or can be used separately.

 

[dieworkwear]

saic does some nice stuff.

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[LA Guy]

Madova is famous for gloves, and there is a great pastry place one store siren, though there is another place that is as good or better on in the city center. I’ll ask the guy who recommended it to me and get back to you tomorrow. There is also a leatherworker near the leather school who can make you a good bag at a good price in no time flat. I’ll also need to get back to you on that.

honestly, I would not recommend Italy for leather jackets at all. In general, the English and the Americans just do the classic stuff better.

 

[RedLeg]

Thanks so much for the recs. I’m here now and you can definitely tell people are peddling low quality leather, but there’s so many shops it would take a lot of time to find the good ones

 

[somatoform]

There is an il bisonte in Florence. It's a nice store. You could give that a try.

You may want to check out il busetto.

 

[RedLeg]

Following up with a little about my experience as it looks like there have been occasional posts on the topic

My biggest takeaway / piece of advise is to keep your girlfriend away from the Ponte Vecchio jewelry shops...

But as is relates to spend your time in quality local shops for staple purchases and consider the leather market for fun buys. I spent too much time trying to find mid-tier options only to find that it was often similar quality to what was being sold in the market (realize this is stating the obvious for some). Higher end shops are closed door in the shopping districts (away from the leather market) and keep regular hours

MVP award goes to Comrade, as I walked out of Ottino with a briefcase and a few belts. Great quality and good selection. Picture below (you can see I've already over stuffed it ). Bag was ~420 euro after VAT refund and I was able to get a little break on the belts

I visited some the custom bag makers who do beautiful work, but you are paying full freight, so wasn't in my price range. See above comment about jewelry shops

Shoes

Similar to bags, I visited a few of the custom shops and price was similar to what you pay elsewhere. Thought about it, but dealing with custom work internationally is a pain

I ended up with a couple pairs of wholecuts from Canto De Ricci. Wasn't familiar with the shop but was fortunate to wander in. Step below higher end in quality (Santoni is my reference), but liked the look and fit well. Price was right at ~200 euro a pair

Gloves

I'd recommend visiting both Madova and Martelli, which are close to each other (opposite sides of the Ponte Vecchio). Purchased gloves from both. Similar quality, but Madova had better pricing, especially if you are EU (Martelli has VAT refund, but Madova does not). Both had Peccari, but Madova selection was much more limited, and only lined

Belts - bought in the market for 15-25 euro in some fun colors and from shops for ~50-75 euro for really nice quality staple colors

Jackets - No real difference versus shopping in the US for nicer jackets in my opinion, so didn't make a purchase. Not worth the bag space