How Alligator Shoes are Made

Posted by Aaron Sarfati on Jul 19, 2023

If you're a fan of Alligator Shoes and have always wondered how they are made and why they cost as much as they do, here is the process of what goes into most commercially made alligator shoes. The first and foremost thing that needs to be done is the design of the alligator shoe itself. A shoe designer who usually is from Italy where most shoes seemed to be designed will pen a style of dress shoe and either try to make a classic style or something newer or even edgy. After the shoe design has been approved by the management of the shoe company, a last of the shoe has to be hand carved. A last is a shoe form that is usually made of wood but can be made of other types of carve-able materials. If new style alligator shoe is going to have a unique toe or silhouette, a new shoe last needs to be created. Once that is done, the upper style of the alligator shoe needs to literally be formed by taking every piece that the upper is going to be made with and put down on a cutting pattern that will be used for the entire process of making these pricey shoes. Now this process is not much different from making mass produced dress shoes but here is where the difference will come into play.


One of the things that sets apart alligator shoes from lesser dress shoes is that they are completely made by hand. Top to bottom, inside and out. There is no machine that attaches a sole to an upper or such. Everything thing about a pair of alligator dress shoes is done by hand.

We will start with taking those expensive alligator skins and cutting the pattern pieces of the various sections of the upper. Since alligator skin has scales, there has to be attention drawn to matching the scale types and size for consistent look. You could easily create a pair of shoes, left and right and because of the difference of scale shape and size create a pair of shoes that don't match at all.

Once the pieces of the skin are cut, before they can be sewn together they must go through a skiving machine that thins the edges of the skin for a smoother seam and smoother look. Each piece carefully goes through the machine where the edges are going to be and gets the processed thinning. After the skiving machine, any decorative holes or embroidering must be done before the upper part of the shoes will be sewn together. After the fashion detailing of the uppers are done, they are ready to be sewn. A skilled shoe artisan who usually has about 20 years under his or her belt will be the ones making these alligator shoes. You simply can't have an inexperienced shoe cobbler working with these expensive skins. One mistake and the skin is ruined and can't be used for the shoes. After the outside of the upper is created, the glove leather lining of the alligator shoe must be sewn together as well. You're not going to find anything but a full leather lining in the interior of a fine crafted pair of shoes like those made of alligator. When you fabric inside a pair of dress shoes, that usually shows you how the cost of the manufacturing process was cut and shows you that shoes like those are lesser in quality.

Once the upper of the alligator shoe has been attached to the leather lining of the shoe, it is time to attach the upper to the mid sole to the out sole of the shoes. The shoe artisan will take that shoe upper and forcfully put it on the last with the unfinished bottom showing and get the soles prepared. You will see the shoe artisan start to grind down the bottom of the upper to make it as smooth as possible for the best possible fit of the sole. There will be grinding as well as hammering done and the sole won't be attached to the alligator uppers until the shoe artisan deems it ready. This is the point where the bottom of the alligator upper receives a coating of glue and then the handmade leather sole is attached, first by glue and then using a special shoe sole sewing machine where the shoe artisan slowly and carefully sews the hand carved leather sole and heel to the upper of the alligator shoe.

There are two types of ways that the sole may be attached. One is where the stitch work is fully visible on the bottom of the sole and the other is where it is not. There is no better version. It really boils down to taste. Some people prefer not to see the stitches on the bottom so the shoe artisan uses a special machine that cuts an edge around the sole and pulls it up in a vertical fashion. Once this is done, the sole is sewn on and then the edges of the sole must be flattened down and glued for a smooth appearance. Either way is fine quality wise. After this is all done. The shoes are complete and must have the soles and heals sanded smooth to fit the size of the shoe with a vertical belt sander and once that is complete, hand polishing of the uppers for these fine alligator shoes and ready to be put in the box.