Friulane
Friulane
Friulane shoes (or call them Furlanes) embody the Italian regional tradition of Friuli, passing through the Venetian canals and the houses of northern Italy's nobility. Comfortable, elegant, with a delicate step. Here, you can find it in velvet or suede: let them be your classy slippers at home or your best buddies on a special occasion.
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Friulane shoes (maybe you know them as “Furlanes”), also known as scarpét, were born from the tradition of the mountains of Friuli about two centuries ago. They were made by women in villages for the whole family; at that time there were no shapes: the left foot was the same as the right foot, and materials found in houses were used: these included jute sacks and old sheets.
They also called them zavatis (slippers) because people wore them at home, but just add the rubber sole to make them shoes for the outside world. And if the upper was in elegant velvet, they would accompany you to parties.
In later years, to make some money, women from the mountains brought their creations to Venice. Thus, Friulane shoes became ideal companions for gondoliers: comfortable, stable and delicate on the wood covering the gondola. They began their new life among the Venetian canals, taking the name of papusse.
Legend has it that these slippers were the preferred by nobles to sneak unnoticed by secret lovers.
Gonars, rediscovering tradition
The stitching that joins the upper and sole is handmade and is called chain stitch, but once the women of the village called it sotpont ("[stitch] done underneath"): to this day there are no machines capable of taking their hands' place. Without them, goodbye scarpez.
Gonars is a town in lower Friuli, one of the Italian reference points for footwear from the Sixties to the late Eighties. Women waited at home for soles and uppers from the neighborhood workshops to get to work with their hands. That's why we decided to come here, where the tradition of Furlane shoes has been carried on for a long time and still lives on.
