Our Brand
Since 1912
A Family Brand
A FAMILY BRAND
When Severino Artioli started working in a shoemaker’s shop in Ferrara it was 1912, and probably did not imagine that over a hundred years later, his surname would still be embroidered and engraved among the most beautiful and prestigious shoes produced in the world today.
Probably he did not even imagine that first his son Vito and then Andrea, his nephew, would have felt the same passion and the same care in making the family business more and more solid, the shoe factory “Calzaturificio Star SpA” of Tradate, in the province of Varese.
It is a story that has been repeated for three generations, from father to son as in the best artisan traditions, where the secrets learned by the founder are now transmitted and jealously guarded by his son Vito who still works lovingly -side by side- with his son Andrea.
Severino Artioli had the vision to create the Star Shoe Factory and make shoes more and more refined, studying the anatomy of the foot and the dynamics of the walk. He has studied the leather for a long time to select the ones with the best overall yield for strength, comfort, breathability and thermal seal.
After years of tests and research, together with his son Vito, were designed elegant shoe lines that made fall in love since the 60’s, celebrities considered icons of elegance as the unforgettable American actor, Gary Cooper.
Today with Andrea at the helm and with the support of his father Vito, it was decided to combine the classic Mocassins, Richelieu, Derby and Boots, even a line of luxury sneakers, winning the attention and favor of more sporty men, who love a style more casual and that never want to give up on refinement and elegance.
Timeless Glamour
Brand
If the Brand Artioli today is known by a niche of people, among these we can count an elite of which only a few Brands in the world can boast: heads of state, world-renowned personalities from the world of music, entertainment, political leaders and sports.
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Artioli Style is synonymous with luxury shoes and refined, respecting the history of the brand but in the search for models that always anticipate trends and orientate the canons of taste.
Inside the company we are growing a whole new generation of artisans and designers and we are sure they will help us in the growth and development of increasingly attractive lines for our current and future customers, because the Artioli luxury shoes can be designated as an artisanal, exclusive, classic and contemporary product at the same time.
An elegant shoe for man Artioli, today is skilfully combined with leather belts, or business class bags, and for the business trip, we have our durable and very refined suitcases.
The men’s line is completed by jackets in fine leathers and accessories such as gloves, socks, perfumes and umbrellas to always stay with our customers at different times in their lives.
Quality Materials
Each pair of shoes is a masterpiece of craftsmanship, embodying unparalleled elegance and the highest standards of quality.
Beyond Success
We like to think of the successful man
who also in the free time, can go to the gym, or to the Golf Club and can not give up the pleasure
of wearing a pair of sneakers suitable for the informal environment.
Family
Brand’s History
Severino Artioli was born in 1905 and only seven years old began to learn the trade at the master shoemaker of Ferrara.
The artisanal production of the time was rough and approximate and was not in keeping with the careful and perfectionist character of Severino who, ten years later, studying the working processes, who was able to perfect, inventing together with the mechanics team, equipment that production optimized to the best. This became a driving force for the progress of the shoe manufacturing technique.
Through the “lost wax” technique (the same one used to make bronze bells and sculptures), which consists in modelling wax prototypes and then making them in metal, Vito Artioli, a good student and son of Severino, learned to produce work clamps and metal decorations to embellish and personalize the uppers and often also heels and soles of his shoes.
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The start of mass production of metal accessories for the trimming of accessories and footwear is due to him. It is also his invention of the shoes with the elastic under the tongue (we say Auto-adaptive) which has made it possible to make slip-on even of apparently luxury shoes with laces, which fit perfectly, thanks to the elastic system positioned inside. Vito is a great forerunner of the times, he even invented new tools of the trade to shape and edge the soles that today are present in all the craft shops and non-industrial production
The third generation seemed to have only the task of carrying on the great tradition of the Maison, instead with the entrance of Andrea, his ideas in line with his young age, suggested the inclusion of new collections such as “Andrea by Artioli” which, thanks to the quality and use of high-quality materials, has allowed it to create new luxury casual models highly appreciated by younger generations or even for less institutional occasions.
Andrea can also be considered the creator of the “Years 2010” collection, which also includes technologically advanced solutions in the design and manufacture of bio-climatically avant-garde shoes. Tradition and innovation today are best represented by the synergy of Vito and Andrea always present in the Tradate handicraft factory and ready to amaze from season to season with new ideas and high end models.
FROM 1912 TO 1944
The Beginnings
Born in Ferrara in 1912, Severino Artioli, at the age of seven, starts going to workshop after school in order to learn the craft of shoemaking. After the war, he acquires a bench with all the necessary tools and start working on his own. The shoes, in fact, are still all handmade, customized, and the cases of industries in the shoe production process are rare. Among these, is born in Ferrara, one of the first shoe factories prêt-à-porter, the Zenith, which produces with U.S. hired machinery. Severino Artioli is assumed by this shoe factory, and begins a rapid carrier growth within it.
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Very soon Severino becomes the favourite of the owner, thanks to his wide knowledge of the work. Unfortunately Mr Buzzoni, the owner, dies a couple of years later and Severino, disappointed by the choice of the new director, for this position, resigns from Zenith and then begins a long period of counselling in different shoe factories in the central and northern Italy.
In 1932, He becomes manager of the Calzaturificio di Tradate, a rather large company owning shops in Milan, Turin and Rome. Three years after, to avoid the call to arms for the war in Abyssinia, He leaves Tradate and works for the Battistini factory in Forlì, supplier of footwear for the army.
By doing so Artioli is exempt from military call and this is repeated in 1940 when he returns to the Calzaturificio di Tradate as general manager. Meanwhile, the desire of creating his own factory was still smouldering and just one day after the war finished Severino went to the owner and announced he was setting up on his own.
FROM 1945 TO 1957
The Factory Establishment
In 1945 Severino Artioli decided to involve in the project to create his own shoe factory two colleagues of Tradate: Angelo Millefanti, model maker of Busto Arsizio, and Eugenio Stefanotti, former director of the shops “Tradate”.
Thus comes to life the Calzaturificio Star Srl. The name chosen invokes the names of two of the three members but it’s mainly due to the popularity of English terms in Italy after the war.
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The long-awaited plant kicks off in a hall equipped with a few machines, seeing that Artioli was always known for his artisan workmanship In a short time the staff grew from 7 or 8 workers to 110 and in three years was producing about 36,000 pairs annually.
In 1955 Stefanotti dies, the heirs surrends their share to Artioli and Millefanti and the corporate name changes to “Calzaturificio Star di Artioli e Millefanti snc”. Two years later is built a new factory and the headquarters are moved, always in Tradate, to via Meucci 12
FROM 1958 TO 1972
The International Success
In the late fifties, Vito, the second of four children of Severino joins the firm, chosen by his father to continue the activity. Skilled in design and creative, Vito Artioli has always helped his father in the workplace, especially in summer.
After finishing his studies in Italy, he hold a long and formative experience in the U.S.A. where he also studied marketing and public relations at the MIT of Boston. Back to Italy, he deepened his expertise in the footwear industry, graduating as Model Maker and Footwear Designer at Ars Sutoria Milan.
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Having gained strong experience and skills, Vito Artioli began to deal with the sale of his shoes, at that time aimed for 80% of Calzaturificio di Varese shops.
Orders are not satisfactory: not only stores pay little, but also force the Star to produce models that Vito Artioli considers old and outdated.He decides to start drawing his collection on a completely innovative base and, at the same time, stylistically refined in form, design and materials.
These new collections, while drawing on the craft technique of dad Severino that ensure the product lightweight, fit and sound almost imperishable by time, allow Vito to shine first in nearby Switzerland and soon in the Benelux, France and England.
The success is likely to push his fortune in the United States of America by entering into stable ties with U.S. clothing stores, which appreciate Italian name “Artioli” more than “Star”, and sales success marks the birth of the brand “ARTIOLI”. In 1966, the name changes to “Calzaturificio Star di Severino e Vito Artioli Snc”.
In the U.S.A. the success of its innovative shoes, including the use of exotic skins, especially the ostrich, is likely to provide the necessary capital for a decisive modernization of facilities and structures of the factory.
FROM 1973 TO 1989
The Market Expansion
In 1973 Calzaturificio Star takes the form of limited company: Vito Artioli is the sole manager of the company with his father as a special prosecutor.
The oil crisis influences the purchasing power of Europeans and Americans and also Artioli sales are adversely affected; but in those years, a rich new market appears: the Arabic one.
Growing demand for fancier models, colors, high heels and embellished with clamps, buckles and accessories in solid gold.
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The production also touches on niches such as the golf shoe and polo boot made to measure: Vito Artioli get to draw more than a thousand models per year and customers grows more and more. Next to shoes, to meet the demands, it also starts producing belts matched with the shoes, always designed by Vito Artioli, resulting in recruitment of specialized artisans.
He then undertook the production of small leather goods, handbags and luggage always at the factory in Tradate. In the seventies starts retail marketing with a multi-brand store in Tradate, three in Varese and a flagship in San Francisco. Part of this activity is the wife of Vito Artioli, MariaGrazia, who is appointed procurer of the company. In those years, Vito Artioli is stepping up its contribution to the public and social: he undertakes the town administration, helping to establish the Rotary Club of Tradate and, particularly since 1973 presides for over a decade, the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Handicrafts Agriculture of Varese. In 1985 the youngest of Vito two sons, Andrea Artioli, is sent by his father to the shop in San Francisco in order to introduce him later in the family business.
Andrea reveals a great preparation for the selling activity and on his return, obtains the diploma and an a higher diploma at Berkeley University of San Francisco. He starts working steadily for the company. In 1985 the company moves to its current headquarters in Via Oslavia n. 3 in Tradate.
FROM THE NINETIES
Present and Future
After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Eastern European markets, with the appearance of newly rich, who become important to Artioli, the Company has opened several boutiques in the former Soviet Republics of Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan etc. and then in Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
The good fortune of the company is due also to the ability to follow the new markets that, with the time going, open to globalization. As for today, there is a plan to open sales in India, trusting in the rapid economic growth of that country.
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In 2004, at ninety-nine years and six months old Severino Artioli dies, founder of the Star and always close and supportive to his son Vito and grandson Andrea in business choices. Today, Artioli develops the company structure and have begun to hire new employees who can assist them in business management, while maintaining, however, a structure as close as possible to the family business.
This is considered the only way to allow small production and high value, and guarantee the high quality of product, without succumbing to the need for revenue.
Artioli is now able to open flagship stores around the world that offer the full range of clothing and leather accessories, personalized style and blended with the Italian lifestyle. Artioli has so far drawn more than 90,000 models of shoes and leather goods focusing on continuous product innovation.
