León, Guanajuato → Europa · Cortado a mano · Sorteo Nº 04
Every upper is cut from one natural cowhide — hair still on it, spots where the animal had spots. Nothing dyed, printed or corrected. A hide gives two pairs, sometimes three, and then it's over.
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You buy the hide that exists, in the sizes it gave. There is no "same one but a 43." When a card is gone it leaves the deck for good.
The colour is the animal's. A grey cow gives grey. That's the entire palette, and it's why the run stays small.
Whoever cut and lasted your pair stamps their initials inside the tongue. A stitch that wanders a millimetre is a person, not a defect.
“La piel ya sabe dónde quiere que la corten. Mi trabajo es no discutir con ella.”
— Maestro zapatero, 31 años en el banco
León has made shoes for a hundred and fifty years, and nearly all of it leaves the country with somebody else's name on the box. This doesn't. Each pair is cut, skived, lasted and stitched by one person in a workshop of four, from hides sourced within a day's drive.
Eleven hours across three days, most of it waiting for glue and shape to set. Four people make about forty pairs a month. Push it harder and it stops being this.
Between sizes or wide feet: take the next size up. Hair-on hide gives less than smooth leather in the first weeks.
| EU | UK | US | Pie |
|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | 6 | 6.5 | 24.5 |
| 40 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 25.2 |
| 41 | 7.5 | 8 | 25.9 |
| 42 | 8 | 9 | 26.6 |
| 43 | 9 | 9.5 | 27.3 |
| 44 | 9.5 | 10.5 | 28.0 |
| 45 | 10.5 | 11 | 28.7 |
| 46 | 11 | 12 | 29.4 |
Leave an email and a size. You hear from us once, when the new hides are cut. Not every Tuesday, and never with a discount code.
Close, not identical. For single-pair cards the photo is the actual pair. Where a hide gave two or three, the pattern shifts between them — we send you photos of your exact pair before it ships and you can still say no.
At the flex point of the toe, slowly, over years. Most owners end up liking what it turns into. If you don't, we re-panel that section at cost.
Light rain, yes. Soaked, no — the hair mats. Dry them away from heat and brush the nap back with a soft brush.
Mexican cattle raised for meat, in Jalisco, Zacatecas, Durango and Aguascalientes. The hide is a by-product that otherwise sells cheap or gets scrapped. No animal is raised for this.
Eleven hours of one person's hands, a hide that yields two or three pairs instead of forty, and duty paid at our end. We'd rather price it once, correctly, than run a permanent sale.