About Us
Football: it’s all in the history.
WHY PLAY IN PIECES OF PLASTIC?
Before we tell you the whole story we want to put an end to your suffering.
Why put on pieces of plastic as hard as stone? Why put on boots that make control of the ball difficult and cause problems to your ankle, your heel, your toes? Is it just because the stars of the game wear them? Didn’t you know that these stars often put on boots carrying the logo of their sponsor but that underneath the surface every detail is as perfect as can be and the boots are ever so comfortable?
GOOD FOOTBALL
It’s a question of leather
Dear footballers, girls and boys– whatever your level might be: give up on wearing pieces of plasticisedpetroleum and begin to appreciate the soft leather which really helps you to caress the ball, trap it with the inside or outside of your foot, hit it with your instep full-on, dribble without twisting your ankle, meniscus, tendons or muscles.
DISCOVER PANTOFOLA D’ORO AND ON WEARING THIS STYLE OF BOOT YOU WILL CERTAINLY SENSE THE FEELING OF HAPPINESS, FREEDOM, AND UNENDING JOY WHICH FOOTBALL IS ALL ABOUT. BE YOU A PHENOMENON OR AN ORDINARY TEAM PLAYER YOU WILL CERTAINLY NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE.
THE FUTURE HAS ANCIENT ROOTS
Pantofola d’oro is the coming together of a decades long story: and if the namesCharles, Cruijff, Rivera, Mazzola, Riva, Conti, Puskass, Garrincha, FalcaoandMancinidon’t say anything to you, and here we just mention some of the stars of the past who wore Pantofola d’Oro, then you need to catch up on the history of the great game. Football has a history full of stars who contributed in amazing ways to the game as we know it today.
LET’S SEE IF WE CAN HELP YOU OUT IN UNDERSTANDING MORE AND ABOVE ALL GETTING TO KNOW BOOTS WHICH WILL GET THE BEST OUT OF YOU. NO BETTER GOAL CAN THERE BE.
EMIDIO AND KING JOHN
These boots are like slippers
The beginning of the fifties. Emidio Lazzarini is a wrestler and a cobbler. When in the ring he is constantly upset with the boots they give him because they are slippery and uncomfortable. As he works in his father’s cobblers in Ascoli, he decides to make himself a pair of soft and comfortable boots to wear when he is wrestling in the ring.And then the magic moment!
At about the same time a footballing friend of his says that he cannot put up with the hard leather boots he wears as they are like stone. Emidio, is a bright type and decides to make football boots out of soft calf skin instead of the usual hard leather as described by his friend.His friend does not believe the difference– he no longer feels the pain caused by his old boots and he spreads the word about his new ones. All of a sudden everybody wants a pair. Emidio takes the measurements of every Ascoli player and begins to make pairs for them one by one.
One day the gentle giant of football,John Charles, known asKing John, the legendary goalscorer for Juventus gets to know about these soft boots, handmade and made to measure. He says that he wants a pair at all costs. Once he starts to wear them the legend quickly grows that he says that ‘these boots are like slippers’.
AND SOIT CAME TO PASS
The world’s softest football was born,its ergonomic form shapingto that of the footand leading to a greater facilityin the controlling of the ball.
PASSINGFROMCATENACCIO TO TOTAL FOOTBALL
IThose past years were amazing. Milano became European and World champions, students began to grow their hair long, girls wore mini-dresses, rock became widespread and the great footballers of the day wanted to wear Pantofola d’Oro. In the sixties in fact the portfolio of Pantofola grew and grew. All the stars of the game, fromYashin, the only goalkeeper to win the pallone d’oro, toGigi Riva, who led Cagliari to a memorable league title, wanted Pantofola boots. And then to name others, there wasSivori,Rivera, Mazzola, Burgnich, Suarez, Haller, Altafini, Amarildo, and so on and so forth.
And then came the turn of the Dutch in the seventies with the divine Crujiff, three European Cups and three consecutive palloni d’oro awards. After that there was the time of Capello, Capello, Morini, Bettega, Pruzzo, Conti and on to the eighties when Italy became World Cup winners. Italian football opened up to the Brazilian players and which boots did Falcao, Dirceu, and Cerezo wish to wear? The reply was an obvious one.
A little later on there was the young boy who made his debut for Bologna before becoming an idol of Sampdoria and Lazio. Roberto Mancini was his name. The nineties saw the arrival of Marco van Basten, Jurgen Klismann, and the homegrown Italian Paolo Di Canio. And there was too that African star of the game, Roger Milla, he too wanting Pantofola d’Oro , and he going on to play for and score a goal for Camerun at the USA ’94 World Cup at the tender age of 42!
THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN JUST FOOTBALL
Pantofola also made its mark on rugby, tennis, basketball, golf and bikeracing.
The fame of Lazzarini and of Pantofola d’Oro went beyond football and reached out to other important sports: rugby, tennis, golf, basketball, and even Italian cyclists Moser and Chiappucci wanted shoes of quality. Pantofola was happy to oblige.
THE END OF AN ERA BUT NOT OF THE STORY
After globalisation, space for craftsmanship
And so to the twenty-first century. Enormous financial interest, inflated salaries, and multinationals ever more aggressive bring an invasion to the playing fields of the world’s most popular sport, transforming it and upheaving it, so much so that craftsmanship such as that of Emidio Lazzarini goes under.
Certain values however never die and thanks to the intuition, the tenacity, the desire to something of note in the true sense of the word, Kim Williams and Massimo Ubaldi decide to make the Pantofola d’Oro brand live again, maintaining intact all the principles which made it famous around the world: the Italian craftsmanship in shoemaking whereby the work of the artisan is matched by the quality of attention to every step in the working process.
FOOTBALL AND LIFESTYLE
The start of a new era.
Kim Williams and Massimo Ubaldi attended an edition of Pitti, one of the world’s most important events for determining the styles of the immediate future, and took with them examples of an idea they had just developed: two models of football shoes from 1950 and 1956, adapted for free time use in a modern lifestyle setting. Distinctiveness and good taste were at play. The interest in the shoes was remarkable: two months later the same shoes were presented in Paris and soon after they were to be found in the best shops around the world.
A NEW FRONTIER
Football and champagne.
The strength of conviction is strong again. This story, starting back in the fifties can now tell a new chapter and its distinctive career will go forward. The future lies in a set of values, values which stand out in this consumeristic world which spins around on itself. Indeed, to produce football boots and leisure shoes in today’s world by applying care and attention as demonstrated fifty or more years ago is no small thing.
The Pantofola d’Oro are traditional boots, light and flexible, and produced with the softest leather one can find. The skins are selected by hand and the cut for the boot comes from a single skin. In the same way Pantofola d’Oro today projects new models for everyday life, for a contemporary lifestyle, but does so without abandoning its roots and is constantly researching its archives to discover the treasures and the secrets of the past. Here’s to the future. Cheers!
NEVER ENDING STORY
We have rewritten a story because we wish to live a future of beauty
Football and leisure time. 100% Italian style. Quality materials and detailed attention. Made in Italy in the true sense. A real authentic product, produced not only in an authentic manner and with quality materials and following quality processes but founded on real values certain to make the difference. If this story appeals to you then keep an eye out for our collections.
And as Galeano said, “The story of football is a sad journey made up of pleasure but also of need. As sport has become more of an industry it has lost some of that innate beauty which came from the simple joy of playing for playing’s sake." In our own small way we wish to attempt to refind some of that lost beauty. Follow our collections and you will see how much fun you will have, both out on the football pitch and in all walks of life in general.