Pantofola d'Oro

Pantofola d’Oro is an Italian manufacturer of football boots, clothing and leisure footwear.

The company can trace its roots back to 1886 when the old Lazzarini cobbler’s shop was founded in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, although it has only been hand-crafting elite football boots and trainers since the 1950s.

During the fifties, Emidio Lazzarini took over the business from his father. Emidio Lazzarini was a wrestler and the shoes he wore when he competed were uncomfortable and unsuitable. Emidio was a born shoemaker, so he decided he would make his own wrestling shoes. These were much softer and more comfortable than the ones he was used to wearing. Word soon spread over Emidio Lazzarini’s new wrestling shoes and he began making bespoke shoes for many other wrestlers as well.

Having spent some time making hand-made shoes for wrestling, Emidio Lazzarini contacted the local football team, A.S. Ascoli (better-known today as Ascoli Calcio 1898) and began making customised football boots for the team. Many of the team’s players at the time became his regular clients.

Within a short space of time, the boots improved in quality. They were renowned for their exceptional softness and allowng the player’s foot room to move, whilst giving outstanding ball control. Emidio Lazzarini’s secret lay in the soft calf-leather he used for the sole plate, rather than the more common heavier leather, and the boot’s ergonomic form, which perfectly followed the contours of the foot.

John Charles, the legendary Juventus player, came to hear of these handmade boots, and was an early customer of Lazzarini’s. And it was John Charles who gave Lazzarini football boots their name: “These aren’t boots, their slippers – golden slippers”. The Italian for ‘golden slipper’ is Pantofola d’Oro.

The name stuck and up to the present day, top football players have preferred Lazzarini-made football boots on their feet. Garrincha, Fabio Capello, Johan Cruijff, Jürgen Klinsmann, Roberto Mancini, Marco Van Basten, Dino Zoff, Paolo Di Canio and English legend Jack Matthews are just a few names from the long and ever-increasing list of top players who have worn Pantofola d’Oro football boots.

External links

* [http://www.pantofoladoro.com Pantofola d'Oro]