Zecchino d’Oro

Zec­chi­no d’O­ro’s shoes are made enti­re­ly in Ita­ly by expe­ri­en­ced shoe­ma­kers in their work­shop in Ita­ly. Becau­se the brand makes all the shoes its­elf, it has con­trol over the working con­di­ti­ons in which pro­duc­tion takes place. Becau­se the ate­lier is in the Euro­pean Uni­on, the brand must also fol­low labour laws and regu­la­ti­ons, so you can be sure the shoes were ethi­cal­ly pro­du­ced.

Zec­chi­no d’O­ro works part­ly with Euro­pean sup­pli­ers. Thus, not only the shoes them­sel­ves but also the mate­ri­als used are made in ethi­cal working con­di­ti­ons. Unfort­u­na­te­ly, litt­le infor­ma­ti­on is known about the ori­gin of some of the mate­ri­als so we can­not form a com­ple­te pic­tu­re of the ethi­cal conditions.

Zec­chi­no d’O­ro makes high-qua­li­ty child­ren’s shoes. The brand the­r­e­fo­re uses only high-qua­li­ty mate­ri­als to pro­long the life of the shoes. The shoes are made of lea­ther, in which the brand main­ly uses calfs­kin. Zec­chi­no d’O­ro works exclu­si­ve­ly with Ita­li­an lea­ther manu­fac­tu­r­ers.

The Ita­li­an brand also has a sus­tainable shoe coll­ec­tion cal­led ​‘Pro­mi­se’. In this coll­ec­tion, the inso­les and out­sides of the shoes are made of vege­tal-tan­ned lea­ther. This means that the lea­ther was tan­ned wit­hout harmful che­mi­cals or hea­vy metals such as chro­mi­um. In this coll­ec­tion, the out­so­les are made of natu­ral rub­ber (Para rub­ber) ins­tead of syn­the­tic rub­ber. This mate­ri­al comes from rub­ber trees that grow in Bra­zil and Thai­land and is the­r­e­fo­re a natu­ral material.

Final­ly, the brand also uses other mate­ri­als in the access­ories on the shoes. For exam­p­le, the­re are boot­ies with an edge of rab­bit fur, a sheeps­kin lining, lea­ther bows or sequins.

Becau­se a shoe con­sists of many dif­fe­rent com­pon­ents and mate­ri­als, this is often very dif­fi­cult to recy­cle after use. This is also the case with Zec­chi­no d’O­ro’s shoes. The brand the­r­e­fo­re focu­ses on exten­ding the shoes’ life­span, for exam­p­le by using high-qua­li­ty mate­ri­als and pro­duc­tion techniques.

The shoes are made at the Zec­chi­no d’O­ro ate­lier in Mon­te San Gius­to, a small vil­la­ge in the Le Mar­che regi­on of Ita­ly. The brand is com­mit­ted to kee­ping their sup­p­ly chain short by working with Ita­li­an pro­du­cers and sup­pli­ers. Still, the­re are parts that tra­vel a long way, such as the rub­ber that comes from Bra­zil.

Zec­chi­no d’O­ro unfort­u­na­te­ly does not score well in terms of ani­mal wel­fa­re. The brand uses many ani­mal mate­ri­als such as calfs­kin and lamb, goat and rab­bit fur. Here, no infor­ma­ti­on is known about the ori­gin of the mate­ri­als or the con­di­ti­ons in which the ani­mals live.

The child­ren’s shoe brand is known for their Ita­li­an artis­a­nal tech­ni­ques and qua­li­ty. The shoes and trai­ners are hand­ma­de by expe­ri­en­ced shoe­ma­kers, using high-qua­li­ty mate­ri­als.

Zec­chi­no d’O­ro uses a signa­tu­re and paten­ted inso­le with stit­ched foot­bed in their shoes. This lea­ther sole is desi­gned to pro­vi­de ana­to­mic­al sup­port to the child to help the fur­ther deve­lo­p­ment of their feet. 

The brand has now been around for more than 60 years and has a wide coll­ec­tion of child­ren’s and baby shoes. Zec­chi­no d’O­ro offers shoes, trai­ners and san­dals for your chil­d’s first steps up to size 41. 

Zec­chi­no d’O­ro still has room for impro­ve­ment in terms of trans­pa­ren­cy. The brand makes the shoes its­elf, but does not pro­vi­de names or loca­ti­ons of their pro­duc­tion part­ners and sup­pli­ers. Sha­ring this infor­ma­ti­on, and pos­si­ble cer­ti­fi­ca­tes, would help increase the bran­d’s transparency.