Pitti Uomo wrapped up on Friday at Florence’s historic Fortezza da Basso, as the men’s fashion crowd packed up and headed to Milan on for the next stop in the menswear show circuit.
This week’s trade fair gave buyers, press and industry insiders a first glimpse at what’s to come in the fall/winter 2024 season, and there was no shortage of new footwear to feast your eyes on.
Here, we round up some of the top shoes at Pitti Uomo’s January 2024 tradeshow.
Vibram
Vibram took to the fair to introduce its Strat-X technology, a new gen innovation which it bills as revolutionary in that a single rubber sheet is molded via a printing technique into the shoe’s upper part. In light of the process’ versatility it provides a high quotient of personalization. The brand has applied this technology to two footwear designs, the all-rubber LB214 hybrid high-top sneakers-slash-boots and the sleeker Luxury Rubber Boot which integrates the Arctic Grip outsole geared at winter walks in the outdoors. Both designs were developed in tandem with streetwear retailer Slam Jam.
Doucal’s
After marking its 50th anniversary at Pitti Uomo last June, Doucal’s continued to chart its dressy shoe trajectory, enriching its offering with waterproof boots and derby styles in an ultra-light iteration. This season, Doucal’s has also introduced a new project intended as a white box for the Italian shoemaker to bow capsule collections with a distinctive bent each season. The first iteration called “Ice Club” falls in sync with fashion’s overall love of the great outdoors. A mountaintop and hiking inspiration resulted in a granny leather derby shoe, available in black, tan, and dark brown, reinvented with criss-cross, rope-like laces and the Vibram Arctic Grip All Terrain outsole.
Lotto
Lotto had big ticket news this season, introducing its OOH! sustainable project for a signature tennis shoe crafted using eco-materials. The company’s president Andrea Tomat said the new footwear, available in a single cream white iteration, produces only 30 percent of the carbon dioxide normally released across the supply chain of traditional sneakers. The shoe’s sole is crafted with repurposed tennis and paddle balls sourced from ReTurn( a supplier which links with the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation), while the upper part comes from waste of apple processing. Embedding eco-design principles, insoles and laces are also crafted responsibly, the former from upcycled polyurethane and the latter from rPET. The shoe was developed in tandem with ACBC, an Italy-based shoe brand and footwear consultancy that has pursued sustainability in the industry since its foundation in 2016. Elsewhere Lotto banked on its Losanga tennis style, introducing model 76, a reissued design first bowed at the 1976 Italy’s Davis Cup.
Ellesse
Ellesse, the Italian sportswear brand now owned by the British Pentland Group, has relied on its Italian licensee Nice Footwear to develop the all-new LRS sneaker, which hinges on customers’ penchant for designs with a vintage flair. This first collaboration, whereby the footwear style is to be distributed globally under the lead of the Vicenza, Italy-based shoe company, were designed by sneaker guru Till Jagla, the former head of energy at Adidas. Described as a tennis-style shoe positioned in the premium luxury segment, the new LRS sneaker is available in 12 variants with different combinations of colors and leather, suede and bio-based leather.
Flower Mountain
Mountain- and outdoor-inspired footwear label Flower Mountain linked with Barbour for fall ’24. The collaborative capsule collection comprises color-accented iterations of Barbour’s signature Back Country hiking-style design, matching three Transporter wax jackets with similarly colored corduroy collars and cuffs. The collaboration’s sneakers came with a Vibram high-grip sole enhancing the utilitarian and performance-driven ethos of the collection. In the main range, the Vibram sole was also applied to the Yamano 3 shoe, while the Fami sneakers with a curved outsole and rope-like laces reminding of a low-top snowboard boot was rendered in colorful and wintery versions, including with the use of teddy.
Voile Blanche
At Voile Blanche, the company banked on the Club chunky sneaker style for both men and women, adding loud details, such as the brand’s name spelled out all around the outsole, as well as flashy color combinations to further its positioning as a fashion-driven sports footwear brand. At the same time, the Storm running shoe was unveiled in subdued colorways as an everyday and versatile option. Venturing outside its comfort zone and towards a dressier side, the brand also introduced chunky- and toothed-soled Chelsea and hiking boots. Pitti Uomo also marked an opportunity for Voile Blanche to soft-tease some news on the women’s front, too, as it presented its first rubber-soled high heels, an all-black bootie and pump.
Saucony
Nodding to the ubiquitous gorpcore trend, Saucony reiterated its partnership with Gore-Tex unveiling new versions of its Grid Shadow 2 and Grid Peak, both combining performance features and details with an easy-to-approach urban touch.
