From a Venetian gondola to a Madrid flagship, Cayumas is more than just a friulane shoe reminiscent of 19th century Italy. It is the culmination of a vision Borja and Ana Cerrata had back in 2010, when the husband-and-wife founders took a trip to Venice. As gondoliers sailed past them through the glittering canals, Ana and Borja were enchanted by the unexpected: their shoes.
“Ana and I fell in love with those Venetian slippers we saw in many small shops around every corner and between the canals,” said Borja Cerrata, Cayumas co-founder. “We decided to learn about the slippers and their rich history.”
Flash forward to 2019: Ana Cerrata decided to return to Venice and finally launch her own label of these beloved friulanes. She also visited the shoemakers in the nearby Friuli region and was paired with an expert artisan. From there, Cayumas was born (not even 2020’s pandemic delay could curtail the brand’s success).
The friulane shoe is a staple in Italian sustainable fashion, as it was (and still is) handcrafted with recycled materials—as far back as the early 1800s. Hailing from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in Italy, the friulane was first worn by impoverished, innovative women. Poverty darkened most of Italy during this time; only the lucky could afford new footwear. Friuli’s women improvised by stitching shoes out of old fabric scraps. They used anything they could find, such as old bed sheets, coffee filters and even old bicycle tires for the rubber soles.
And thus, the friulane shoe was born.
Eventually, these velvety flats caught the eye of gondoliers in nearby Venice. Yes, the shoes’ elegance masked the fact that they were economical improvisations from a dire time. But the soles made from discarded tires served a useful purpose for Venice’s canal sailors. Traditional wooden shoes scratched the boat’s varnish and lacked traction on rainy, slippery days sailing the lagoon. The friulane’s slip-resistant rubber sole solved this problem.
Cayumas honors the innovation of its original artisans by crafting each shoe with similar sustainability. Each shoe is entirely Made in Italy, with the decades-old practice of reusability and no-waste lovingly woven in every stitch. Organic velvets and threads shape each shoe, which lacks glue of any kind. In the strappy Boheme shoe, each buckle is nickel-free. Recycled bicycle tires still serve as the rubber soles. Authenticity is at the heart of each of the five styles: the Boheme, Aida, Norma, Pagliacci and Traviata.
And Cayumas provides shoe gurus a twist.
Perfume.
When your Cayumas package arrives at your door, a subtle, unique fragrance floats in the air—and lets you know exactly what it feels like to step foot inside the Madrid boutique. Ana and Borja Cerrata paired with legendary French perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin in Grasse, France, who cultivated four new scents exclusively for Cayumas: Famille Parfait, Famille Revee, Musc Peau and Musc Blanc. Diptyque’s 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain Paris 5e is Cayumas’ signature scent, which fragrances not just the shoes but the socks that accompany each footwear purchase.
While Cayumas prides itself on its Made in Italy authenticity, it also embodies a love of travel and European artisanship that practically spans the continent. “The new products such as the cashmere stoles are also Italian,” explained Borja, “[while our] hats are from Australia (selling the Lorna Murray brand) and balaclavas and gloves come from Germany.”
Cayumas is Made in Italy and at home in Spain. The store, socks and some packaging are Spanish, while the fragrances are, of course, distinctly French.
“In Cayumas, we would like to contribute to the modern aesthetic with some concepts that are important to us,” added Borja, “such as simplicity, simple designs and less is more quality. We have lost some big deals for not deciding to mass produce collections at low cost with some multibrand superstores.”
Tradition is at the top of Borja and Ana’s list; preserving the shoemaking artisanship of the past is what keeps the quality of the Cayumas friulane on par with its original wearers, and keeps the brand distinctly slow-fashion, sustainable and above all, historically one-of-a-kind.
