The Rivista: What is Textured Suede?
Ciao from Napoli,
Textured suede...what is it? You're loving our Textured Suede Collection, but we kinda just dropped this on you without really explaining what it was, frankly. That one's on me. My bad, but we'll tell you everything you need to know in this edition of The Rivista.
Textured suede, rough out suede, nappy suede, hairy suede - it's all more or less the same. Not many brands utilize this material or technique, and the ones that do just sorta pick whatever name is easiest to market for them. We went with 'textured suede' because it just felt like the most accurate description based on our own proprietary technique.
'Hairy suede' isn't too far off - it does have some hair-like qualities to it. But hair is thin and fine, and we already have an entire pony hair line so we didn't want to confuse anyone.
'Rough out' suede works, but a lot of people kinda go 'What the heck does that mean?'
'Nappy suede' sounds like you'd buy it in the parking lot of a Grateful Dead show (hey, no shade - I once was seated next to Phil Lesh on a flight and it changed my life, man. Plus, now that John Mayer is on lead, maybe we should do a pop up at The Sphere? Someone get that guy some DTs! I digress...).
So 'textured suede' it is!
No matter what you call it, it looks awesome. You may find this as a surprise, but it is also much, much more versatile than you may think. Just ask this @harandoesthings:
So how do you do it? How do you get that roughed-out, hair-like texture?
The answer is actually quite simple. We like to start with a split suede, but it works with other suedes and leathers as well. Split suede is 'sportier' with a bit more structure to it than the finer goat suede we use on our Italian loafers. For the watch guys out there, think of split suede kinda like a Submariner. Our goat suede would read more President or Daytona-ish.
You then take your split suede and you aggressively brush in one direction, usually with a sandpaper-like material or some type of coarse instrument. Over and over and over again. Eventually, the suede begins to texturize and you get this look:
Pretty cool, huh? Not even that complicated. Time consuming and labor intensive, yes. But it's worth every brushI live in my textured suede Del Toros. Why? Because it helps me make a fit a bit more casual than my other loafers and boots. You can beat these things up and they just keep looking better and better. I am not sure how he does it - really, this isn't a plug - but John Feitelberg over at Barstool Sports is an expert at aging his suede loafers, textured and otherwise. I'm jealous, I'm envious, and candidly, I'm curious. I'm gonna ask him hold on.
Figured. Exactly the response I was expecting 🙄. It shall forever remain a mystery.
But check out our Textured Suede lineup. You can't go wrong with any of 'em. The Antelope boot is perfection - I wear these everywhere. It became a problem when we were filming for Barstool's Pants Unknown..."you should change shoes so we can display some other product, you're wearing the boots in every shot."
The Teddy Milano we can barely keep in stock, while the new Olive Textured Milano dropped a couple weeks ago and is making a serious run for the new fan favorite.
Our latest addition to the collection is the new Antelope Textured Suede Lug Penny Loafer. That one will almost certainly go fast - maybe even a Hall of Famer.
Just trust me on this one. Sometimes you guys just gotta let us drive for a little bit - have we ever steered you wrong?!
Ciao for now,
Brady
PS - just because I think he should be the 
