Last development
Grading a client's fit intent into a full size run, cut back and re-cut until the sample fits three test wearers rather than one.
Footwear manufacture · Le Marche, Italy · est. 1994
Heels developed and made in the Marche, from sixty pairs
CALZANTE builds lasts, cuts heel tooling and produces finished women's footwear for designer and private label clients. Six heel families sit in the house library; anything outside them is tooled here rather than bought in.
Est. 1994in Civitanova Marche
60pair minimum run
6heel families in the library
45 daystypical production lead time
Who we produce for
Three kinds of client, three different conversations
We do not publish the names or marks of the labels we manufacture for; most of them are under agreements that would not permit it. What we can describe is the shape of the work.
Independent designers
First or second collection, usually 60 to 200 pairs across four styles, needing the fit work done properly rather than fast.
Established labels
Repeat seasonal runs where the last and heel already exist and the change is material and colour.
Private label buyers
Retail programmes built on our own lasts, branded to the buyer, with a fixed cost per pair agreed before sampling.
Development
Five stages from brief to despatch
The order does not change and the two prototype rounds are never merged, whatever the deadline.
1
Brief and tech pack
A drawing, a reference pair or a sketch. We read it back to you as a written spec before anything is cut.
2
Last and heel
Selection from the library or new tooling, plus the pitch calculation that ties the two together.
3
Prototype
Two rounds. The first is about shape and the second about fit, and they are never combined.
4
Production
Cutting, closing, lasting, sole attachment and finishing, run in one batch rather than split across weeks.
5
Inspection and despatch
Every pair opened, checked against the spec and boxed here; export paperwork travels with the shipment.
Capabilities
Six things we do in house
Cutting, closing, lasting and finishing happen under one roof. Tanning and heel injection do not, and we say which partners do them when you ask.
Heel tooling
Six heel families in the house library, plus new tooling cut in-house when a client needs a profile that does not exist yet.
Pattern and sampling
Two prototype rounds included in every development, with a written change log between them.
Small-run production
Runs from 60 pairs. Below that number the tooling cost per pair stops making sense and we will say so.
Finishing and branding
Sock printing, embossing, edge dressing, dust bags and boxes, all produced to the client's artwork.
Export and documents
EUR.1 movement certificates, packing lists and the customs paperwork for shipments leaving the EU.
Lasts and fit
The last decides everything that follows
A heel that hurts is usually a pitch problem, not a heel problem. We grade a client's fit intent across the full size run and test it on three wearers before the pattern is signed off, because a sample that fits one foot tells you very little.
- Size runs EU 34–42, half sizes 35–41
- Fit testing Three wearers per last, sizes 37 and 39
- Grading In house, from the master last
- Storage Client lasts held here for three years after the last order
Heel library
Six heel families, tooled and ready
Using a library heel takes tooling cost out of a first collection entirely. New profiles are cut here when the brief needs one.
ST-85
Stiletto 85
Covered or exposed steel-shanked stiletto, the workhorse of the library.
85 mm · steel shank · ABS or wood core
ST-100
Stiletto 100
The same family taken to full height, with a reworked pitch to keep the ball load bearable.
100 mm · steel shank · ABS core
KT-45
Kitten 45
A low tapered heel that photographs slim and walks like a flat.
45 mm · unshanked · ABS core
BL-60
Block 60
Square-section block with a squared top piece, our most requested silhouette since 2021.
60 mm · half shank · wood or ABS
FL-70
Flare 70
A flared heel that widens at the top piece; harder to mould, easier to wear.
70 mm · half shank · wood core
PF-110
Platform 110
Platform and heel pitched as a pair, with a 30 mm front sole to hold the angle.
110 mm · 30 mm platform · steel shank
Two ways in
Development from scratch, or production on an existing last
First collection
Full development
- Last selection or new last, graded across the run
- Heel from the library, or new tooling cut here
- Two prototype rounds with a written change log
- Production from sixty pairs per style
Repeat programmes
Production only
- Your last and pattern, held in our store between seasons
- Material and colour changes without re-development
- forty-five days typical lead time from confirmed materials
- Fixed cost per pair agreed before the run opens
The factory
One floor, twenty-six people, everything in sight of each other
Cutting, closing, lasting and finishing run along a single floor in the same building we moved into in 1998. Nothing is subcontracted out of the province except heel injection and tanning.
- Capacity Around 320 pairs a day
- Lasting Two lines, cemented and stitched constructions
- Inspection Every pair, against the written spec
- Sampling room Separate from production, four pattern makers