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BUTTERO SHOES AT PITTI UOMO 86: NOT JUST SNEAKERS
Words and pictures by Jasper L
Words and pictures by Jasper L
Buttero is another brand which, like Barena, I failed to cover at Pitti 85 despite its obvious popularity. I figured I ought to rectify that, not least because I took a few pictures that I think you’ll like. Some of the stuff is pretty neat, so let’s get right to it: the most interesting and most attractive offerings this summer are the woven shoes. In my mind, the woven blue slip-ons are the loveliest to look at, but others might favor the black harness boots. They’d be right to do so, because those boots are sick. Woven shoes were in this year, I guess - Diemme had several rainbow-colored offerings as well, which maybe I’ll get around to covering at some point. I do recall that when I asked Greg from NMWA how much the wholesale price of the harness boot was, he sort of just laughed and said “a lot.”
There were a few more leather-soled options on offer as well; unstructured things with and (mostly) without laces at home in an artists’s studio or on the feet of a back-alley juggler. There were runners and sandals as well, which are probably not Buttero’s strength, but are at least made with same attention to quality. I like the white, laceless oxfords best, because I like all shoes better when they’re white, and I also have a soft spot for the leather-soled slippers that make me think of a be-robed great uncle with a really big globe - you know, the eccentric one who everyone really likes but who know one really knows anything about other than that they’ve been to a lot of weird places. They look like they belong in a study full of exotic smells. They look indolent, but interesting. They look very comfy.
Buttero’s designs are a little more hard-wearing than, say, Common Projects. Instead of sanitized lines and colorways, you get a heavier leather and a more pronounced heft, both physical and visual. Think less Kanye, more tanner’s brat. Perhaps you could wear them with your Barena jacket. I think the approach works better for some options than for others. The classic Tannino, for example, looks very nice with the chunkier, worked leather. On the other hand, Buttero’s version of a Vans authentic (or a five-hole plimsoll), seems to suffer from an addition of needless bulk to a design whose charm is partly its lightweight feel. Regardless, these aren’t ultra-clean, ultra-modern, ultra-minimal shoes. Buttero aims to bring a little bit of old-world charm to the sneakers you wear, to make you appreciate the materials and the work that went into them. The sneakers are more like shoes than sneakers, if you get my drift. They feel much more like things that have been made, rather than produced.
They’re probably not going to be your go-to if you’re wanting the clean, modern look that the forum has not-so-tacitly favored for the last few years, but if you’re into earth-tones and dressing like you own a beaten-up vespa, if you’ve got a dejected little plot of land that you’ve been thinking about growing vines on for the last few years but haven’t gotten around to doing so just yet, live in an apartment with a lot of books on the floor, and have hands regularly covered by either ink or paint or both, then perhaps you’ll enjoy what Buttero has to offer.
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