About

The word

TUFFO is Italian. Loosely, it means rough — the way a stone is rough before someone smooths it, the way a jacket gets rough at the cuffs after a year of being worn well. We took it as a name because we make shoes that aren't supposed to look untouched.

The make

Every TUFFO pair starts as a sketch in a small studio in Brooklyn and finishes in independent workshops in Italy, Vietnam or Quanzhou — chosen for the silhouette and the materials it asks for. We use full-grain suede, vegetable-tanned leathers, and gum or vulcanized soles that scuff into something better. Our shoes are aged before they ship — we don't pretend the leather is new.

The five worlds

RIDGE is for cocoa-toned trails. MIST is for slip-on Sundays. DUSK is for late-night stars. VERT is forest floor green. BLAZE is the skate lo with the bolt. Each series shares a last and a soul, and goes its own way from there.

The promise

Wear them in. Get them dirty. If a sole gives out before its time, send them back — we'll resole or replace.

— The TUFFO team