About

Swiss luxury brand Bally honours its 170-year shoemaking history as architects of leather with a dedicated ‘My Craft, My Legacy’ campaign.

Based in the company’s state-of-the-art shoe factory in Caslano, Bally’s artisans undergo three years of rigorous training before utilising a dedicated and proprietary approach to handcrafting iconic styles, ‘Made in Switzerland’. This includes the men’s Scribe formal shoe, which was first designed in 1951 on the occasion of Bally’s centennial and requires 240 artisanal techniques to complete.

‘My Craft, My Legacy’ pays tribute to Bally’s team of 100 artisans, whose passion and skill have continued the company’s heritage of craftsmanship and design for generations. They are celebrated through a series of intimate photographs by photographer Jackson Frederick, who captured their personal portraits alongside the instruments of their craft. These remarkable individuals champion the spirit of Bally and its founding, representing the ingenuity of the brand as well as its future, as standard bearers of quality and excellence since 1851.

Today, Bally artisans craft between 150,000–200,000 pairs of shoes each year, mastering a diverse range of roles including polisher, leather cutter, stitcher, finisher and shoemaker. These skills are showcased in the Bally Haus London store with a live demonstration from one of Bally’s artisans, featuring the detail and technicalities that go into making a pair of shoes.