Give Back Friday: Celebrating Craft, Care, and the People Behind Our Shoes

Elegnano shoes have a beautiful history before you buy and wear them. They’re made by a group of passionate people. Someone cuts the leather. Someone else skives the edges, stitches the uppers, or lasts the shoe. Our shoes exist because of skilled Italian artisans: people who have spent decades perfecting techniques, refining gestures, and maintaining a standard of excellence through generations that can never be automated away. We believe technology can help it thrive, not replace it. We use nanotechnology to make shoes more durable, more weather-resistant, and kinder to the planet. But the soul of our work remains the same: Italian artisans shaping every pair.

This is why, instead of joining the race of Black Friday discounts, we’re doing something different. We’re turning Black Friday into Give Back Friday. From Thursday, 27 November 2025 to Sunday, 30 November 2025, for every pair you purchase, we donate €50 to Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte.

The Cologni Foundation, based in Milan since 1995, is one of Italy’s most respected organizations dedicated to protecting and advancing master craftsmanship. They’ve been preserving endangered métiers, supporting master artisans, and ensuring new generations can learn these skills. Mastering these trades and crafts is often a much longer learning process than getting a more traditional degree. The Foundation's apprenticeship program, “Una Scuola, un Lavoro – Training to Excellence,” gives young people the chance to train directly with master craftsmen. They fund cultural projects, publish research, and help ensure that traditional skills don’t disappear in a world that often favours speed over quality. Their mission aligns deeply with ours: to preserve the artistry that keeps European fashion both sustainable and meaningful.

The towns where we produce in the Marche Region are part of Italy’s shoe-making heritage, a place where entire communities were built around artisan workshops. And like many production regions, it feels the pressure of a changing world. Supporting organizations that keep craftsmanship alive is investing in and giving back to the ecosystem. Give Back Friday is our way of honouring the people who make our shoes (and maybe soon your shoes :) ), the craft that gives them life, and the future we want fashion to have: innovative, where quality endures, and deeply rooted in skill.

Start shopping and giving: https://www.elegnano.com/shop

Give Back Friday Terms & Conditions:

• Give Back Friday runs from November 27, 2025, until November 30, 2025 (inclusive, local time).

• For each pair of shoes sold in that window, Elegnano will donate €50 to the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte.

• Donation will be transferred within 30 days after the end of the campaign.

• The promotion applies only to purchases made on our official website elegnano.com (and elegnano.shoes in USA) (not third-party retailers).

• No refunds or cash equivalent will be offered instead of the donation.