italian artisan
Case studyFootwear · Private label · Finland / UK

Hagelstam: six collections of luxury footwear, developed and made in the Marche

A Nordic founder with a decade of shoe sketches and one rule: Italian-made, comfortable, built to last. Since Act One in March 2024, every Hagelstam collection has been developed and produced with Italian Artisan in a fifth-generation atelier in the Marche. This is how the partnership works, season after season.

Start your own project See the collections at hagelstam.com
Hagelstam pointed-toe pumps in brown calf leather with a cut-out lattice vamp, made in Italy with Italian Artisan
Cut-out pump · Italian calf, Marche atelier
  • 6collections since 2024
  • 4proprietary heel heights
  • 1atelier, fifth generation
  • 100%LWG Gold leather
Hagelstam SS26 lookbook: a model in a lace skirt wears pointed-toe pumps in taupe leather
01The brand

Nordic minimalism, Italian making, heels you can walk in

Hagelstam is the eponymous footwear brand of Sandra Hagelstam, a Finnish designer and entrepreneur based between London and Helsinki. She started the footwear platform 5 Inch and Up in 2010 while studying at London College of Fashion, and spent the next decade filling notebooks with shoe sketches and walking leather fairs before launching her own label in March 2024.

The brand's position is precise: timeless silhouettes, Nordic restraint, and heels engineered for comfort rather than endured for beauty. Each style is named after a gemstone or mineral, in memory of her mother, a gemologist. Collections are released as numbered Acts, from Act One's polished classics to Act Six's embossed crocodile and snake textures for AW26, priced from €560 to €990.

Her condition from day one was traceable European leather and production in Italy. What she needed was a partner who could turn that into lasts, heels, patterns and a factory that would still be there for the sixth collection, not only the first.

  • Based inLondon and Helsinki
  • CategoryWomen's luxury footwear: pumps, mules, boots
  • Made inMarche, Italy · family atelier, fifth generation
02The brief

Not one collection. A footwear operation.

A shoe is not one supplier. It is a last maker, a heel factory, an insole maker, a tannery, an accessory supplier and an atelier that assembles it all. The brief was to build that chain once, in one district, and run it every season.

  • Proprietary lasts and heelsSignature heights at 55, 85, 95 and 105 mm, each on its own last. The 105 came first; the lower heights were developed to carry the same line down.
  • Comfort as a specificationArch support, toe balance, a cushioned insole and an anti-slip grip pad on every sole. Comfort is written into the tech pack, not left to the wearer.
  • Traceable materialsItalian calf uppers and bovine leather soles rated Gold by the Leather Working Group, insoles in recycled fibre, components sourced locally in the Marche.
  • Two seasons a year, every yearSmall, limited-edition runs with a founder who designs the next Act while the current one ships. The chain has to stay warm between collections.
03The collections

Six Acts on one set of lasts

Every Act adds a shape, a height or a texture to the same foundation. That is what lets a small brand release two collections a year without rebuilding the product each time.

  • A cream leather pump with a sculpted heel photographed on a black marble step

    Pumps Acts One to Six

    The core of the brand: pointed, elongated square and peep-toe pumps on the 105 mm signature heel, the 85, the 55 mm kitten heel and, from SS26, a new 95 mm block heel. Polished calf, embossed exotics, seasonal colours.

    • Upper: 100% Italian calf leather, LWG Gold tannery
    • Sole: leather with colour-matched anti-slip grip pad
    • Retail: €560–630
  • A pair of brown leather pumps with a cut-out lattice vamp, photographed on gravel in sunlight

    Cut-outs and mules SS25, SS26

    Spring styles developed on the same lasts: lattice vamps, open backs, kitten heels. The detail work, cut-outs that hold their edge and straps that stay put, is where the atelier's hand shows.

    • Construction: hand-lasted, leather-lined
    • Heels: 55 and 85 mm, covered to match
    • Fit: true to size, sizes 36 to 41
  • A model in a black dress wears Hagelstam black knee-high leather boots

    Boots Acts Two, Four, Six

    Knee-high and ankle boots for the cold-weather Acts: a pull-on knee boot with a wide, gathered shaft, and a crocodile-embossed ankle boot for AW26. Same heel line, same last family as the pumps.

    • Upper: calf and embossed croc-effect calf
    • Heights: 85 and 105 mm
    • Retail: €850–990
  • Hagelstam crocodile-embossed black ankle boot with a sculpted heel, Act Six
    Act Six: embossed croc ankle boot
  • Hagelstam Act One black pointed pump with ankle strap displayed on a white sculpture
    Act One: the first pump, March 2024
  • Five Hagelstam pumps in black, burgundy and navy laid out on a concrete floor
    One last, five styles
Develop your footwear line Footwear from 50 pairs per style · how we manufacture shoes
04Behind the scenes

How a collection gets made in the Marche shoe district

The Marche is where Italy makes its women's shoes: lasts, heels, soles, leathers and the ateliers that assemble them, all within a short drive. Italian Artisan's job is to put the founder in the middle of that district twice a year and make the rest of it run between visits.

01The foundation · 2023 to Act One, March 2024

A last, a heel and an atelier that would stay

The brand started with the hardest part: a proprietary last and a 105 mm heel that look sharp and walk well. Italian Artisan matched the founder with a family-owned atelier in the Marche, now in its fifth generation, and the district's heel and insole specialists around it.

Act One launched in March 2024 with polished-leather classics named after gemstones. Because the last and heel were the brand's own from day one, every Act since has been able to build on them instead of starting over.

Sandra Hagelstam examines a shoe last in the atelier, in front of a wall of shoemaking tools
The founder with a last, in the atelier
02Design support · every season

From the founder's sketches to renders the buyers can see

Sandra designs. Italian Artisan's in-house designers turn her sketches into technical drawings and photorealistic renders for each new Act, so a style can be shown to buyers and press before a single sample exists. Lasts, heel heights and leather references are locked at this stage, which keeps sampling to one or two rounds.

  • Renders of the new styles delivered ahead of the founder's buyer meetings.
  • Design sessions in the Marche with the designer, the atelier and the leather samples on the table.
  • One tech pack per style, with materials, structure and accessories defined before sampling.
Sandra Hagelstam at the atelier's pattern table with sample shoes and sketches on the wall
Design session at the atelier
Sandra Hagelstam and an artisan review heel shapes in front of a mood board of shoe sketches
Reviewing heel shapes with the artisan
03Heel and last development · Dec 2025 to Jul 2026

Two working days in the district, twice a year

Twice a year the founder flies in for two days that Italian Artisan plans hour by hour: the heel factory in the morning to approve a modified shape, the atelier for design sessions, the insole maker for a new comfort midsole, the accessory suppliers for buckles, the tannery for leather colours. Decisions are taken in front of the component, not over email.

The December 2025 visit set the AW26 styles and started the slimmer 70 mm "Hagelstam heel" that carries the 105's line down to a lower height. The July 2026 visit approved the Hagelstam 2.0 heel, opened the SS27 collection and sourced a feather-trim supplier for the new season.

Shelves of wooden shoe lasts in the last maker's workshop, a technician at a drawing screen in the foreground
The last maker
An artisan finishes a stack of sculpted heels on a buffing wheel at the heel factory
The heel factory
04Production, quality and after-sales · continuous

Small runs, finished by hand, serviced after the sale

Each Act is produced in limited runs at the atelier: lasted, stitched, heeled and finished by hand, inspected pair by pair, boxed with the brand's dust bags and shipped to Helsinki and London by express courier with the paperwork handled.

The relationship does not end at delivery. Repairs and re-heeling come back to the same atelier through Italian Artisan, and leftover components, heels, lasts, leathers, are tracked so the next Act can draw on them. The same account manager has run the project since the start.

An artisan in a blue apron works on a line of brown pumps at a bench in the atelier
Finishing, pair by pair
An artisan fits a sculpted heel to a brown pump at the atelier bench
Heel fitting at the atelier
05Timeline

Six Acts in thirty months

  1. 2023 – Mar 2024

    Act One

    Atelier matched, proprietary last and 105 mm heel developed, polished-leather classics launched.

  2. AW24 – SS25

    Acts Two and Three

    Cold-weather boots, then spring styles on the 105 and a new 55 mm kitten heel.

  3. AW25 – SS26

    Acts Four and Five

    New 85 mm heel, then sharper toes and a 95 mm block heel. Design renders and Marche working visits become the seasonal rhythm.

  4. AW26 – SS27

    Act Six and beyond

    Embossed exotics and a longer point for AW26. Hagelstam 2.0 heel and SS27 in development since July 2026.

06What made it work

Four things this partnership teaches about footwear

  • Own the last and the heel

    They are the brand's real assets. A proprietary last is what makes six Acts look like one brand, and what makes the seventh cheaper and faster than the first.

  • Build the chain in one district

    Heel, last, insole, tannery, accessories and atelier within a short drive of each other. Two days on site replace two months of email.

  • Render before you sample

    A photorealistic render costs a fraction of a sample and lets the founder sell a style to buyers before the atelier cuts leather. Sampling rounds drop to one or two.

  • Keep the same people on it

    One account manager, one atelier, one heel maker across six collections. The brand's history lives in people who were there, not in a handover document.

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07In her words

What the founder said

  • “Partnering with Italian Artisan allowed us to bring our design vision to life with the level of craftsmanship our customers expect. The attention to materials, fit and finishing has elevated our footwear collection in both form and performance.”
    Sandra HagelstamFounder, Hagelstam
  • “Italian-made with a Nordic vision was always my goal, but it took me a decade to bring that vision to life.”
    Sandra Hagelstamin Vogue Scandinavia, March 2024
08Results

A brand that ships two collections a year from Italy

Thirty months after Act One, Hagelstam has six Acts in its archive, a proprietary last family at four heights, a seventh collection in development and the same atelier it started with.

  • 6collections released, March 2024 to AW26
  • 4proprietary heel heights: 55, 85, 95, 105 mm
  • €560–990retail price range across pumps and boots
  • SS27in development with a new heel since July 2026
  • Hagelstam knee-high boots worn with a black dress
  • Hagelstam campaign: a model leans against a tree holding a pair of cream pumps
  • Hagelstam cream pump on a marble step

Building a footwear brand, not just a first collection?

Tell us about your shoes, your heights and your seasons. We come back within 1–3 business days with the right atelier in the Marche, the development plan and a cost structure.

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