Introducing our Return to Analog series. All week, Glossy will be running stories on the fashion and beauty brands that are embracing all things analog and retro, including those eschewing social media marketing or AI and those embracing traditional crafts or print media.
Fast fashion is getting faster than ever. As companies like Shein standardize dirt-cheap prices and ultra-fast turnaround times, a growing number of brands are looking backward, investing in the kind of slow, traditional craftsmanship that has become increasingly rare.
Sarah Flint, a luxury women’s shoe designer, makes all of her namesake brand’s footwear in Italy, working with craftsmen who have been making leather shoes for generations. Working with these artisans is time-consuming, but worth it, she said. Making one pair of shoes can take up to 100 hours of labor and cost Sarah Flint more than $1,000 for materials and labor. But that time and investment are made up for by a unique product with handmade details that Flint said sets her brand apart from competitors.
But there are other positives beyond just the beauty of the product.
“By working with artisans, we don’t have the crazy high minimums that we would by working with more traditional manufacturers,” Flint said. “We can do smaller runs that are guaranteed to sell out at good margins.”
For the shoes that cost $1,000, for example, Flint only ordered 30 units. The run sold out at a $1,500 price point. Not every shoe Flint produces is that time-consuming or that limited. Still, across the supply chain, Sarah Flint’s factories and artisan partners make just 150-200 pairs of shoes a day. A standard-size shoe manufacturer using industrial assembly line technologies could produce 10 times that number.
There’s also the added benefit of appealing to a luxury customer who’s seeking a high-quality, handmade good. Flint said she takes every opportunity to highlight the brand’s artisan partners in marketing efforts. Her production manager regularly films videos from inside the workshops showing the shoemaking process to use on social media.
But every year, the number of expert craftsmen available to work with decreases, Flint said. Several of Flint’s partner factories are getting assistance from the Italian government, which pays a chunk of the laborers’ salaries. This is to help keep these manufacturers afloat amid a lack of new younger craftsmen available to take over the jobs vacated by elderly workers.
Around the fashion industry, companies like LVMH have started to invest in these traditional crafts to keep them alive. Late last year, LVMH and Tiffany & Co. began partnering with the Fashion Institute of Technology to train young jewelers. Kering has also invested in training new artisans in old crafts, with its Bottega Veneta brand announcing the launch of a school for craftsmen called the Academia Labor et Ingenium last October. Another company, Nest, connects brands like Madewell with artisans from around the world to make short runs of handmade goods.
And this year, an organization called Closely Crafted will launch its first apprenticeship match program for young artisans in New York City’s Garment District. Gigi Burris O’Hara, also the founder of the hat brand Gigi Burris, launched Closely Crafted in 2022, with backing from fashion talent including Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill and Public School’s Maxwell Osborne.
According to Burris, the fashion industry has done a great job nurturing young designers in the U.S. through programs like the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, but comparatively, there’s been much less funding for the new generation of young artisans.
“If we don’t foster artisan talent, then all those young designers won’t be able to grow their brands organically,” Burris said.
While working with local artisans can be expensive, they also offer lower minimum orders. As such, compared to a large industrial factory overseas, they make it easier for a young brand to get off the ground.
In the second quarter of this year, Closely Crafted will launch its first apprenticeship program, matching young applicants to artisans in the Garment District who can train them.
Burris has already been active alongside her husband, a leather craftsman, speaking to local New York City high schools about the potential of an artisan career. Moving forward, she said Closely Crafted may also launch a community job board focused on traditional fashion craftsmanship.
In addition to training programs, Markarian founder Alexandra O’Neill told Glossy there’s one big thing that brands can do to keep these crafts alive: Do business with craftspeople. She said she works with an artisan leatherworker in Queens who does split lacing by hand — he’s the only person in the city who does that specific craft. Not only does working with him keep the art form alive, it also means that Markarian gets a product that looks different than anything else out there.
“I encourage everybody to work with these artisans,” O’Neill said. “The biggest challenge for a designer is finding the right resources to make your product. But there are so many incredibly talented people here in New York City to work with.”
