Credit: THE ROW
“You have to suffer to appear,” someone said: a very widespread way of thinking, according to which beauty necessarily requires sacrifice. In fashion this thought sometimes still seems to echo, as if a comfortable garment could never be truly fashionable, placing comfort and aesthetics on two opposite and irreconcilable poles. If we narrow the field to footwear, this belief is not only surmountable, but also outdated. Shoes with vertiginous heels are certainly not designed to accompany long walks. But when we talk about low heels, or ankle boots and flat models to wear every day, comfort becomes an essential requirement for the success of a product. We talked about it with Francesco Calò, owner of the Tuscan shoe factory Simonetta Rossi, who has made expertise in the creation of elegant and wearable shoes his distinctive feature.
There is a particular process, called “bag”, which together with a careful selection of materials makes a shoe truly comfortable, wearable and well-made. This technique has found its way into the most recent collections of major brands, such as Loewe’s Runner Flats or Louis Vuitton’s Sneakers, which set a new trend for thin, casual and lightweight sneakers, far from the chunky aesthetic of recent years.
The “bag” technique consists of sewing the lining of the shoe directly to the insole, without any rigid structures, creating a sort of “glove” that wraps the foot with extreme naturalness. The upper is then assembled around this “bamboo”. To ensure maximum comfort, the most suitable materials are particularly soft leathers, such as nappa, used for both the lining and the insole. The latter can be lightly padded with foam rubber, creating a shock-absorbing layer between the foot and the sole.
The result is an extremely flexible shoe without particularly rigid elements. Although it is more common in ballet flats, the “bamboo” technique can also be used with excellent results on ankle boots or daytime pumps, with heels up to seven centimetres. In these cases, a midsole can be added, as long as it is soft and ergonomic so as not to compromise the overall flexibility.
A little trick to recognize if a shoe is made with this technique is to try to bend it gently, making the tip touch the heel. If it bends easily and without obvious resistance, it is very likely that it is made with a bag and that it does not have rigid elements in the insole, offering a comfortable walk even after many hours of use.
