SW1 - High Quality Shoes

I am proud to introduce to you shoe company, SW1. Their trademark, the postal district of St. James´s in London, is a tribute to where some of the best bespoke shoemakers have had their workrooms throughout the centuries. Their store is located at Via Morone, 8 Milan.

Francesco D'Urso

Interview with Francesco D'Urso, one of the founding partners of SW1:

1) Please explain the idea behind your store?

Our store comes out from the passion of myself and my partner Enrico Hintermann for shoes. We simply wanted to put up a store we would have wished Milan had with the possibility to extend the project as a brand. As to the shoes themselves we wanted to give continuity to the styles and lasts of the great English and Italian tradition, with reference to the latter in particular the bespoke tradition, which is unfortunately disappearing and which we wanted to maintain at least with reference to styles and lasts in a ready to wear line. The shoes in our "Grandi Maestri Italiani" line are indeed exact replicas of actual bespoke shoes of the late 50s and the 60s, which was a golden age in Italian bespoke shoemaking (and not only).

2) When did you get interested in fashion?

Our project is actually the exact opposite of fashion but, paradoxically, there is a lot of interest for it by people of the fashion system.

3) Who are the most stylish men in your opinion?

I would not make a single name. On the opposite I would refer to the late 50s and 60s as a period. The average men in that period were dressed better than the best dressed men nowadays.

4) How would you define Milanese men's style?

The Milanese style as I mean it is all about refined traditional suits, shirts and shoes of base colours as blue and grey for suits, white and sky blue for shirts, for the formal ambit and a somewhat more colourful but never excessive look for week ends. Very traditional and very refined in any case.

5) What are some of your most popular shoes?

I would say that our most popular shoe is the "Sloop" which is a bit of a one of a kind. It is a loafer with a leather sole but with some elements of a boat shoe. Sort of a traditional italian loafer morphed in a boat shoe. The result is a shoe which may be worn with jeans or chinos but also with a suit or a blazer. Also very popular is our trad. Italian loafer, named "Flaminia", which is nowadays almost impossible to find ready to wear in its original likes.

SW1 offers a variety of elegant traditional shoes in different leathers, colors, and styles. Pictured above is the "Sloop." I warmly recommend SW1 to anyone who is looking to buy an elegant pair of shoes.