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Straw and raffia
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hoes have been made with plant fibres since time immemorial.The use of plant fibres and straw in the shoe construction was certainly not a novelty but before Ferragamo revived them in the early Thirties they had fallen out of use. He exploited these materials to make luxury shoes.
When Ferragamo settled in Florence, straw manufacture, one of the city’s most thriving activities, inspired him revive the use of this traditional material in shoes.
The market sold nostrale straw, or rascally, popular bark treated with chrome, grass from Philippines, and Manila hemp made from banana leaves and skin. Ferragamo’s favourite was, however, raffia, a fibre derived from the young leave of an east African palm.
Ferragamo’s innovation was to adopt this weave for his uppers, especially for summer shoes, and in 1930 he called the new range “Pompeian by Ferragamo”.
The autarchic period encouraged the growth of this artisan industry, but only for a limited time. By 1950 straw and raffia were in a short supply.In the 1950s synthetic raffia gradually replaced natural straw. Salvatore Ferragamo favoured one of the synthetic raffia called “pontovo” or “pontova”, produced mainly in Bonito, his home town in Campania.
Salvatore Ferragamo Spa
Via dei Tornabuoni 2 50123 Firenze
Tel 055 35621
Sede Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
Piazza Santa Trinita 5 50123 Firenze
Tel 055 3562455/417/846
e-mail museoferragamo@ferragamo.com
Capitale Sociale: EURO 16.841.000,00 int.versato
CCIAA Firenze- REA 464724 - Cod.Fisc.,Part.IVA. e Iscriz. Registro Imprese di Firenze n.02175200480
