Once known as the ‘shoe maker to the stars’, Salvatore Ferragamo has been an iconic household name in luxury fashion since the 1930s. Best known for his beautiful shoes, Ferragamo’s legacy thrives with many still investing in pieces that ooze the finest Italian craftsmanship today. His ionic designs are so well loved that, naturally, they require care and upkeep to keep them in the best condition. Indeed, beautiful design deserves the best care. Explore how our atelier could repair pony skin pumps.
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These pony-skin Ferragamo pumps had been well loved before they came to us. Contrary to popular belief pony hair leather is usually created from cow or goat hide. The pelt is shaved to replicate the hide of a horse and is then bleached and dyed into popular patterns such as leopard or zebra print.
As naturally happens with pony-skin, the hair on these pumps had shed over time. There was noticeable bald patches on the toes, heels and lower sides of the shoes. Due to the original colouring process, the raw leather underneath the hair is not coloured, meaning balded areas appear as an obvious contrast to the in-tact hair.
We needed to repair the shoes with a technique that would be hard wearing and still blend in with the texture of the pony skin hair. Our atelier team use a specialist technique to recreate the texture of the pony skin.
After analysing the baldness and patterns of wear, our atelier contemplated the best approach to restore the worn areas. We used a painting technique that involves mixing multiple shades of brown to mimic the original tones of the hair. As well as filling in colour, this would also create depth and give a more textured appearance to the shoe’s surface.
Using a tiny paintbrush, paint was applied to the bald surfaces in thin hair-like strokes. Throughout the process, we paid close attention to the existing pony skin to keep consistency in the pattern. This technique creates an illusion of pony hair and blends in with the rest of the hair. We controlled how many layers of paint to add depending on how severe the balding was. Once all the patches were recovered, a finisher was applied to seal and protect the paint.
Restored and revived, these pony skin pumps were ready to be loved again. Moreover, the painted restoration technique will be more hardwearing than the original pony skin. So, these newly restored shoes will last for years to come.
We are always working to create new techniques to be able to restore even the seemingly impossible problems. Keep up to date with new techniques by subscribing to our newsletter.
Want to go behind the scenes in our atelier with other case studies? Learn how we restored a beaded Dior flower garden or restructured a Prada Galleria bag.
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