He(ART): The Fettuccine, Paul Andrew’s Ode to Italian Style for Cuoio di Toscana
For Milan Fashion Week, Cuoio di Toscana and Paul Andrew unveil a women’s collection in which Made in Italy craftsmanship, research, and sustainability meet an international creative eye.
Milan, September 2026. Some ideas begin not on a mood board but at the dinner table. He(ART) is born from the meeting of two sensibilities: the identity of Cuoio di Toscana and Paul Andrew’s international creative vision. It is a project that carries the Consortium’s defining values into contemporary fashion: a bond with the territory, high craftsmanship, research, sustainability, and a Made in Italy spirit confident enough to stand on the global stage. The new women’s collection interprets those qualities through a series of designs in which leather becomes a material to be engineered, the protagonist of constructions, surfaces, and volumes not seen before.
The Fettuccine: Italian style, reimagined
At the heart of the collection sits The Fettuccine, an homage to Italian style that is ironic, sophisticated, and profoundly Italian all at once. The idea comes from making fresh pasta and discovering that leather can be treated with a technology similar to the one used for fettuccine, worked with precision to control both thickness and length. In Andrew’s hands, slender ribbons of Cuoio di Toscana become the shoe’s structural elements, interlacing to form a silhouette entirely its own. The result translates a touchstone of Italian culture into an object of contemporary design, offered in gold, green, and black.
There is wit here, but no gimmickry. The shoe is a small argument about what heritage can be: not a museum piece to be admired at a distance, but a starting point, a living material that still has new forms to give. The reference to pasta, arguably the most democratic and beloved of Italian rituals, only sharpens the point. Luxury, the design suggests, can speak the language of everyday pleasure without losing an ounce of refinement.
A material without limits
The model showcases the extraordinary versatility of Cuoio di Toscana, a natural and noble material whose technical and aesthetic properties offer designers an almost limitless field of interpretation. This adaptability has, over the years, made it a material chosen and reimagined by international designers in search of quality, authenticity, and new means of expression. In an industry increasingly drawn to novelty for its own sake, leather of this caliber offers something rarer: a substance that rewards ambition and repays craftsmanship.
Four decades of Tuscan excellence
For more than forty years, Cuoio di Toscana has been a benchmark of Italian excellence in sole leather production. Its identity is rooted in expertise developed within the territory and in a manufacturing culture that unites high craftsmanship with innovation, keeping material quality and supply-chain value at its center.
Sustainability is not an afterthought in this story but a founding principle. The Consortium’s production model draws value from natural materials through vegetable tanning and an approach oriented toward environmental responsibility, traceability, and mindful resource management. It is a vision in which product quality and care for the future advance together, rather than pulling in opposite directions.
Research as a living tradition
Research completes this journey, continually widening the possibilities of the material and encouraging dialogue with the worlds of design and creativity. Through this openness, Italy’s manufacturing heritage takes on a contemporary, international dimension without severing its connection to its roots. Tradition, in other words, is treated as a resource to be extended rather than a relic to be preserved under glass.
Beyond The Fettuccine: the full collection
The Fettuccine may be the collection’s centerpiece, but it is far from the whole story. Alongside it, He(ART) presents Facet Sandal, a sculptural sandal in iconic Cuoio di Toscana green, with a heel embellished with gemstones. There is Disco, a Merlot pump with a tapered toe, a slender ankle strap, and a disco-ball heel encrusted with crystals. Efficient Mule arrives in champagne and brown with a golden heel. Completing the line-up is Softy, a feminine reinterpretation of the classic loafer that grounds the collection’s more theatrical gestures in something quietly wearable.
A new idea of Made in Italy
The collaboration with Paul Andrew interprets a new idea of Made in Italy, one in which manufacturing heritage meets creative freedom and the sensibility of an international designer. It is a dialogue that demonstrates how a material so deeply bound to Italian production culture can continue to evolve, taking on fresh meaning in the present. The lesson is a reassuring one for anyone who cares about the future of Italian craft: authenticity and reinvention need not be at odds.
He(ART) at Antonioli
From 21 to 28 September, during Milan Fashion Week Women’s, He(ART) takes shape within the spaces of Antonioli, the avant-garde luxury fashion retailer recognized internationally for its instinct to anticipate new trends and to introduce emerging brands and languages into the contemporary fashion landscape. It is a fitting choice, mirroring the very nature of He(ART): a project founded on research, experimentation, and the ability to transform material into expression.
On 23 September, Antonioli will host the official presentation of He(ART), creating a moment where creativity, design culture, and Italian savoir-faire converge. Throughout Semaine de la mode de Milan, the installation will guide visitors through a project that carries one of the most authentic expressions of Italian excellence into the world. The collection will be sold exclusively at Antonioli.
The details
Event: He(ART) presentation, Paul Andrew x Cuoio di Toscana Venue: Antonioli, Milan Date: 23 September 2026 Time: 6.00 pm to 9.00 pm Access: By invitation only On view: 21 to 28 September 2026, throughout Milan Fashion Week Women’s Availability: Sold exclusively at Antonioli
About Cuoio di Toscana
Cuoio di Toscana is the leading international Consortium in sole leather production, with a market share of 95 percent in Italy and more than 80 percent in Europe. It embodies the excellence of a unique leather sole produced through slow vegetable tanning, an ancient process based on natural tannins drawn from chestnut, mimosa, and quebracho wood. The brand was founded to become a global ambassador for one of the tanning industry’s leading districts. The companies that make up the brand are all located in the province of Pisa, between Santa Croce sull’Arno (Bonistalli e Stefanelli Spa) and San Miniato, in the Ponte a Egola area (Gruppo Conciario CMC International Spa, Conceria Gi-Elle Emme Spa, Cuoificio Otello, Lamonti Cuoio Spa, and Volpi Concerie Srl). The Consortium has established the CDT Prize, an ongoing initiative that supports young creatives and environmentally sustainable projects.
About Paul Andrew
Paul Andrew is among the most authoritative designers on the international stage in the luxury accessories sector. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with some of fashion’s most important houses, including Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Narciso Rodriguez, Alexander McQueen, and Salvatore Ferragamo, where he served as Creative Director. Founder of his eponymous brand and winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2014, Andrew is recognized for a creative vision that unites innovation, artisanal excellence, and deep attention to shoe construction. In 2026, he signs a limited-edition capsule collection with Cuoio di Toscana that celebrates the meeting of contemporary design and one of the most authentic expressions of Italian craftsmanship.
