Over A Century Of Craftsmanship Goes Into Every Pair Of These Luxe Shoes Six generations have maintained the same family-owned factory where all Carmina shoes are made using the finest artisan techniques. A lot has changed in the world since 1866. But that’s not the case for a workshop in Mallorca, Spain, opened that year by Matias Pujadas, where over a century and six generations later, the family tradition of shoemaking remains practically unchanged. Their methods ofin 1997 to make some of the best hand-crafted shoes in the world. Every single pair is scrupulously made by veteran artisans who meld traditional practices with timeless style. “If you ask me how it has changed from 150 years ago, the main things remain the same,” says Carmina Albaladejo Ochogavía, the great-great-granddaughter of the brand’s founder and head of US Operations. Even in the age of fashion conglomerates,remains a family-owned, close-knit business, with Ochogavía adding that “a woman that started with us when she was 23 just retired at 65.”The Spanish luxury footwear brand has 10 boutiques across the globe, including stateside stores in New York and San Francisco, and a significant online presence. From start to finish, their manufacturing process includes over 190 steps each completed by a team of skilled craftsmen. All of Carmina’s shoes are made using the traditional Goodyear welt. “Goodyear welt is good for many reasons, weather conditions being one of them,” Ochogavía says “It isolates the foot from heat, and that's what allows us to invest in the leathers.” Carmina uses the best leathers in the world, sourced from top-tier tanneries like Charles F. Stead for their suede. They offer a range of materials including lighter leathers and exotic skins, such as hippo, ostrich, boar, python, alligator and crocodile. The only thing Carmina outsources is their leather and most of their tanneries, like them, are multi-generational companies. Everything else they produce themselves in their factory in Mallorca.Carmina boasts a collection of over 200 lasts , enabling customers to customize shoes tailored to their style and needs. Their artisans draw the model directly in the wood last, which are then turned into pattern pieces. After the material is chosen, the artisans cut up all of the leather parts that make up the uppers and the lining by hand. “The process starts with a piece of wood and then we shape it down until we get, aesthetically, the shape that we like,” Ochogavía says. “From there, we start making a shoe and see how it fits and do small modifications, adding pieces.” Their process means that they can create any combination of last, sole and leather that a customer requests. It takes approximately three months to create a custom pair and roughly 20% of their sales are custom orders. “We don't offer all the styles in all the lasts, and that also plays a key role in customization,” Ochogavía says. “Let's say a client will see a pair and love it, but we don't make it in his or her last. Then he can just customize it, pick the color, pick everything. It lets them play a little bit.”. “While we're a very traditional brand, and we still do everything the way that we've been doing for the past 150 years, we introduced a 3D scanner,” Ochogavía says. “The reason being because with regular bespoke you take 30 to 40 measuring points by hand, but what the scanner does is allow us to have a million measuring points. Basically, our last maker has your foot in front of him.”, a premium line that is the peak of traditional shoemaking. Offered in five styles, each is made from a single, flawless piece of leather, which is incredibly complex, leaving no room for error. “It's a bit of a shoe nerd situation,” Ochogavía says. “The Albaladejo Collection is a one-piece pattern, which is very complicated to create. The fact that this doesn't have a back seam makes it extremely complicated, and only our best, most skilled people are able to do so. For those who care about details, it's an elevated product.”Modern times have made it harder for Carmina to continue their vintage practices. “There used to be 200 factories ; now there are three,” Ochogavía says. “It gets more and more complicated to keep the tradition and skill alive. A source of pride is that we brought the first machinery to the island, and then it became the main industry, until tourism took over. Right before the pandemic a lot of our team retired. Some of their sons or daughters joined the business, but some didn't. It was a hard situation because the industry is dying.” Now Carmina is actively recruiting young employees and fully training them, to much success. They have approximately 170 employees in Mallorca, with around 90 of them being artisans. Their training is crucial for their techniques to survive. “We still see a lot of people coming in that discover the brand, which is what gives us energy to continue,” Ochogavía says. Clearly Carmina shoes are made to last, but if repairs are necessary, they will do fixes themselves, ensuring the craftmanship and quality are maintained. That type of service has built their brand loyalty, with many customers being repeat ones, and some have collected more than 150 styles. They’ve also attracted some of Hollywood’s leading actors, including Marc Ruffalo, Rami Malek and Jesse Plemons, to name a few. But selling shoes isn’t their only goal—they also want people to understand their craftsmanship and history. “It shows a bit how far we can go,” Ochogavía says. “It's more of an educational product to the client, especially in the US, where it's our turn to educate them about making the shoes and telling them why it's special.”