Behind the Scenes 16 - What does Handcrafted really mean?

BEHIND THE SCENES 16

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Here at GORAL we've been handcrafting footwear since 1936, working with luxury brands to create shoes, boots and trainers. We're recognised for our attention to detail and high quality results because of our approach. But what do we mean when we say 'handcrafted' and why does it matter?

Handcrafted means that at every stage of production our shoes are in the hands of one of our experienced craftsmen, no automation, no outsourcing, everything stays in house and we use traditional crafting methods throughout the whole process. We hand-cut, hand-stitch and hand-last our shoes, we apply all adhesives by hand and every single pair passes through quality control to be inspected by a member of the team. 

Why does this matter? 

The bottom line is that working this way results in better quality craftsmanship. Automation more often than not results in errors and these errors don't get spotted until it's too late, either during quality control which results in waste or when the product reaches the consumer resulting in an unsatisfactory experience. Putting extra time and effort in during production may mean the whole process takes a bit longer but it's worth it in the long run to ensure every pair of shoes that leave the workshop meet our standards.