The brand was born at the beginning of 2013 by Francesco Masci who was born in a family of lawyers. Francesco has a master's degree in law, but he have always had a passion for quality suits and shoes. I've almost never worn sneakers and as he says, he have seen the quality of dress shoes was becoming worse every year. On his last academic year, his best friend gave him a gift: a shoe polishing kit. To discover the best way to use it, he found the now famous Shoe Snob blog, and he then decided that his future career would be as a shoemaker and not a lawyer. He started searching for a place to learn and in Rome he found his business partner, Florin, a certified Master with twenty years of experience.
He went to London to perfect his skills, since in his opinion hand welting is a dying art in Italy. When he came back from London he decided to open his own workshop in Rome thogether with Florin. F&F was born.
They decided to follow a few, simple guidelines: everything is made inside the shop using only high grade materials and following a masculine, truly roman style.
In 2016 Fran and Florin parted ways, amicably, and now Francesco runs F&F by himself.
The workshop is based in the northern part of Rome, far from the tourist routes.
F&F offers a choice of semi-bespoke and bespoke models. Semi-bespoke uses their standard lasts, adapted and modified for the customer, while full bespoke starts with a personal last. Francesco can build with all the three “standard” construction styles: Blake, hand welted and Norvegese, but the usual requests here in Rome are for Blake shoes.
The customer can choose every kind of upper leather (calf and suede are standards, exotics on request); rubber, normal leather or oak bark soles, a square, bevelled or fiddleback waist and can choose to have his initials on the sole or on the outer counter. Hand-coloured patina and ornamental pyrography on the waist are also available, on request.
Prices start at 350 € for a semi-bespoke Blake stitched shoe, 750€ for a semi-bespoke hand welted shoe. Full bespoke starts at 1500 €.
Location
, Italy
Founded
2013
Construction methods
Blake Welted, Norvegese, Hand welted
Product ranges
MTO, Bespoke
Price range
$$–$$$