Del Toro: A Modern Classic

Del Toro: A Modern Classic

There is something quietly powerful about a beautifully made shoe. Not loud. Not trendy. Just right. The kind of piece that makes you stand a little taller and feel a little more like yourself the moment you slip it on. That is exactly the feeling we had the first time we held a pair of Del Toro shoes in our hands, and it is precisely why San Martini is so proud to carry this extraordinary brand.

If you have been building a curated closet full of investment pieces that reflect your personal style, or if you are just beginning that journey, Del Toro deserves a place at the very top of your list. This is a brand born from a teenager's stubborn creativity, forged in Italian workshops, endorsed by NBA legends, nearly lost to corporate mismanagement, and ultimately resurrected by a customer who loved it too much to let it disappear. The story alone is worth the read. The shoes are worth everything else.

A Brand Born from a Teenager Who Refused to Wait

Every great brand has an origin story, but few are as charmingly scrappy as Del Toro's. In 2005, a nineteen-year-old named Matthew Chevallard wanted custom velvet slippers embroidered with his school crest for senior year at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. The only option on the market was Stubbs & Wootton, a $1,000 pair with a twelve-month turnaround. For a teenager, that was neither affordable nor practical.

So Chevallard did what any resourceful young man raised between Torino, Italy, and Palm Beach, Florida, might do: he decided to make them himself. Born in Torino and deeply connected to his Italian heritage, Chevallard had spent his childhood watching his father navigate the fashion world, absorbing a fundamental lesson; know your industry inside and out. He enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York to study business administration and foot anatomy, then connected with multigenerational artisan workshops in Italy to begin producing handcrafted velvet slippers that were luxurious yet accessible.

The name "Del Toro" is a love letter to his childhood: it references the fans of Torino Calcio, the Italian football club he grew up cheering for, and the brand's original bull's-head logo pays tribute to that same passion. From the very first pair, Chevallard's vision was clear, blend Italian craftsmanship with American prep sensibility and a dose of sneakerhead energy. As he once explained: "It wasn't that I wanted anything new; I just wanted to be less cookie cutter, less cliché. So I decided to infuse some Americana, some sneaker culture, some different elements into the brand."

That instinct of American prep meets Italian elegance meets sneaker culture, became Del Toro's signature DNA and the reason the brand resonates so deeply with anyone who values timeless style with a modern edge.

Made in Italy, By Hand, the Old-School Way

In an era when "handmade" has become a loosely applied marketing term, Del Toro stands apart with a commitment to Italian craftsmanship that is genuinely, sometimes stubbornly, traditional. Every pair of Del Toro shoes is designed, sourced, and crafted by hand in Italy. Specifically in the Le Marche region along the Adriatic Coast, the same legendary shoemaking corridor that produces footwear for Tod's, Santoni, and other luxury houses.

The process begins with pencil and paper. No computer programs, no digital shortcuts. Designers sketch each silhouette by hand before physically visiting fabric markets to touch and feel every material, the finest Nappa leathers, goat suedes, Italian velvets, and deerskin, selecting only what meets their standard. The brand describes their sourcing approach with a beautiful analogy: "Like chefs going to market late at night after a long shift." Every fabric is hand-selected, every shoe is hand-assembled, and every finished pair is hand-inspected before shipping.

What sets Del Toro's craftsmanship apart even further is their 100-mile walk test. Before any design goes into production, the team wears prototypes through one hundred miles of real life, walking, dancing, driving, cycling, to ensure the shoe performs as beautifully as it looks. The brand's philosophy on this point is refreshingly direct; "We have a hard time trusting robots, but we do trust our hands."

That dedication to quality is why Del Toro calls their shoes investment pieces. And they are right. As the brand puts it on their website: "Investment pieces should be designed to last a lifetime. They should be traditional, but with enough modernity to be relevant. They should age like Tuscan wine." For those of us at San Martini who believe in unhurried luxury and building a wardrobe of pieces that endure, that philosophy resonates deeply.

The Velvet Slipper & the Milano Loafer: Two Icons

Del Toro's product range spans loafers, sneakers, chukkas, boat shoes, sandals, and boots for both men and women, but two silhouettes define the brand's identity.

The Velvet Slipper ($475) is Del Toro's signature. The shoe that started everything. The classic version features sumptuous black velvet with a hand-stitched red grosgrain stripe running up the heel, a detail so distinctive it has become the brand's visual calling card. Inside, you will find a leather sole and lining, a cushioned footbed with suede heel cup, and a rubber-injected forefoot that prevents slipping. It is refined enough for a black-tie wedding, comfortable enough for a gallery opening, and distinctive enough that people will notice. The black velvet slipper has been called "the gold standard for the modern wedding shoe," and Del Toro even offers a complimentary Wedding Concierge Service to help style entire wedding parties, complete with bespoke monogramming of names, initials, or dates on the vamp, sole, or heel.

The Milano Loafer ($448) is the brand's bestseller and daily workhorse. A hybrid that merges the clean vamp of a Venetian loafer with the refined toe of a Belgian loafer, creating something entirely its own. Hand-stitched from premium Italian suede with calf leather lining and a cushioned footbed, the Milano is the kind of shoe you can shuffle on with linen trousers for a spring brunch or pair with a blazer for an evening out. We carry several colorways of the Milano here at San Martini, and it has quickly become one of our favorite pieces to style into our curated closet collections. Try pairing a lightweight knit with a denim jean and the Milano loafer for an effortless café-to-cocktail look.

Beyond these icons, Del Toro offers the Centesimo Penny Loafer in both classic leather and chunky lug sole variations, the Viaggio Travel Loafer with a flexible rubber sole built for days on the move, the Barca Boat Shoe for summer weekends, and a growing women's collection that includes classic loafers, velvet slippers, mules, and sandals. For spring fashion, the suede Milanos in lighter colorways like sage and sandstone are particularly irresistible, the kind of luxury footwear that signals effortless personal style without saying a word.

Survived Four Owners & Resurrected by a Superfan

What makes Del Toro's story truly remarkable is not just how it began, but how it survived. Few luxury brands can claim to have weathered four distinct ownership eras and emerged stronger each time.

After Chevallard built the brand into a cult favorite during the early 2010s #menswear movement, when velvet loafers littered Tumblr feeds alongside slim Italian tailoring, the company attracted serious celebrity attention. LeBron James famously put Del Toro on the map around 2010, and soon Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, and over one hundred NBA players were wearing the brand. Chandler Parsons became the face of the brand. Del Toro was, in Esquire's words, "impossible to ignore."

But growth outpaced infrastructure. In 2018, Chevallard sold his stake to an investment group that included Carmelo Anthony, Joel and John Madden, and LeBron James' manager Maverick Carter. The new owners pivoted aggressively toward streetwear, adding hoodies, sweatpants, and velvet slippers adorned with emojis. The brand's identity blurred, loyal customers drifted away, and by 2019, Del Toro was up for sale again with its website shut down.

Enter Andrew Roberts. A loyal Del Toro customer since 2015, when he walked into the Wynwood flagship in Miami and bought a pair of blue camouflage chukkas, Roberts could not bear to watch his favorite shoe brand disappear. In 2020, the thirty-one-year-old entrepreneur purchased the company with partners and immediately set about restoring Chevallard's original vision. He brought back the bull's-head logo, deleted the emoji slippers, liquidated the streetwear inventory, and relaunched with a focused collection of twelve silhouettes and forty-nine colorways. Roberts handled customer service emails personally. As he told interviewers: "I feel really strongly that this brand deserves to exist."

Today, under Executive Chairman and CEO Brady Perrigo, a Stanford MBA who took the helm in January 2024, Del Toro is expanding thoughtfully into new categories, adventurous collaborations, and a growing women's line, all while staying true to the made-in-Italy craftsmanship that defines the brand. The company now operates two retail locations in New York City: a shop in SoHo at 456 West Broadway and a space inside the Oculus at the World Trade Center.

From Ryder Cup Greens to Benihana Grills

Del Toro's collaboration portfolio reveals a brand that refuses to be predictable. In 2023, the company served as the official off-course footwear supplier for the U.S. Ryder Cup Team in Rome, designing three custom silhouettes for players. A white leather sneaker for the team's arrival, a black velvet slipper with personalized initials for the welcome dinner, and a brown leather Milano loafer for the opening ceremony. It was a statement moment that introduced Del Toro to the golf world in spectacular fashion.

Other collaborations are equally unexpected and delightful. The Benihana x Del Toro collection features velvet slippers with teppanyaki-inspired imagery, with a portion of proceeds benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The Andy Roddick Foundation partnership produced a tennis-inspired shoe supporting youth education. A collaboration with Litquidity, the beloved finance meme account, yielded a suede Milano in a playful nod to Wall Street culture. And most recently, the Renais x Del Toro collection, a partnership with Emma and Alex Watson's luxury gin brand, produced a Gatsby-era-inspired apparel capsule shot on film in Gordes, France.

These are not random partnerships. Each collaboration reflects Del Toro's ability to move fluidly between sport and style, humor and sophistication, charity and commerce. For fashion-conscious shoppers who appreciate brands with personality and purpose, that versatility is incredibly appealing.

Why San Martini is Proud to Carry Del Toro

At San Martini, every brand we carry earns its place in our collection. We are a small team with a big vision, and we believe deeply in sourcing the highest quality items that help you enjoy the moment. Whether that moment is a Saturday morning at the coffee shop, a sunset on the French Riviera, or a Wednesday afternoon that simply calls for a beautiful pair of shoes.

Del Toro embodies everything we value. Their shoes are genuinely handcrafted in Italy by multigenerational artisans. Their designs balance timeless tradition with modern energy—exactly the kind of pieces that anchor a curated closet and elevate every outfit they touch. Their story is authentic, resilient, and deeply human. And their commitment to quality, from hand-sketched designs to hundred-mile walk tests, mirrors our own belief that luxury should be unhurried, intentional, and built to last.

Whether you are stepping into your first pair of Italian-made loafers this spring or adding to a well-loved collection, Del Toro offers something rare in today's fashion landscape: a brand that has been tested by time, transformed by passion, and refined by the hands of true craftspeople. These are investment pieces for people who understand that personal style is not about chasing trends. It is about choosing quality, embracing what resonates, and wearing it with confidence.

We invite you to explore the Del Toro collection at San Martini and discover why we believe these shoes are, quite simply, a modern classic.

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