Arche shoes are designed in Val de Loire in the heart of France by a team of crafts persons devoted to bringing you the quality you deserve. Arche shoes bring you a rich and inviting color palette gathered from the latest fashion trends. After much research into contours and shapes, Arche shoes have devised a product that will provide you with hours and hours of comfort and well being. Modern, simple and durable. A timeless classic that has made Arche shoes a “trademark” of great style. Arche shoes bring you the best in supple European leathers and the softest nubucks. Arche shoes unique care with the traditional tannery process allows these leathers to maintain their authentic look and feel.

Traditional timeless or tendencies of avant-garde, Authentic and essential.

Well-being : Arche established a relationship of comfort and natural well-being with its customers in a world of fashion and beauty. A commonly shared natural, relaxed and confident vision of beauty.

Harmony : For three decades, Arche has developed a personality characterized by bringing together opposites and not erasing differences. Harmonious expression of femininity, artistic sensitivity, serenity and universality.

Stylish Bohemian : The Arche customer refuses over the top glamour and provocative sexy looks for everyday wear. Nostalgic for days gone by when things were simpler, easier, she escapes to a wonderful dream. She is characterized by a certain form of anti-consumerism A woman with a Bohemian spirit, young in mind and body.

Zen : Arche has maintained a certain “Zen” culture, following the will of its founder. It has an influence on all of Arche’s actions: Search for well-being, good, beautiful. Priority to the mind, to senses. Selectivity. Serenity.

Timeless : Feminine footwear, for sports and city. Soft leathers and nubuck, neutral tones or trendy colors. Comfortable Lactae Hevea, latex or natural rubber soles, contemporary design (simplicity combined with technology) Classic, simple lines that refuse extravagance.

You will find Arche in Paris, New-York, Tokyo, Boston, Londres, San-Francisco, Las Vegas Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Berlin, Barcelone, Séoul, Hong-Kong, Sydney, Moscou, Shanghaï, Beijing… and other cities around the world

See some pictures of our stores

Arche’s first secret of success for the past 30 years has been its Design Office. An integral part of the production unit, it works on anticipating the fashions and trends of tomorrow. Drawings of new designs, the creation of prototypes, the finalisation of models, it is a world of creation and imagination which draws its inspiration from fashions from all over the world.

Research into soles, the basis for Arche’s legendary comfort and flexibility, is also conducted at this centre devoted to walking comfort. The aluminium moulds used to manufacture the hevea milk soles are also designed there.

The choice of skins used for the shoes is the key to offering the most flexible and fashionable models. It is a vital step in the development of Arche footwear. The extreme suppleness and the quality of traditional tanning, based on an artisanal technique which respects the leather’s natural appearance, is one of the many secrets behind the comfort of Arche. This quality also defines the rich range of Arche colours, with the skins being dyed to the very core.

See photos from our factory

]]> http://archeshoes.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/an-artisanal-manufacturing-spirit/feed/ 0 archeshoes arche-shoes manufacture http://archeshoes.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/manufacture-and-materials-totally-dedicated-to-well-being/ http://archeshoes.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/manufacture-and-materials-totally-dedicated-to-well-being/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:00:22 +0000 archeshoes http://archeshoes.wordpress.com/?p=24 ]]> Manufacturing Arche shoes requires about one hundred manual operations. A team of qualified men and women who love their job perform these operations that are the guarantee of quality, and a demonstration of unique skills.

Three fundamental elements are integral parts of Arche quality and contribute to footwear comfort: shapes, materials, soles…

Shapes: Hundreds of hours are spent carefully perfecting and studying shapes. They are constantly updated in function of evolution and fashion trends, and are adapted to regional morphological differences. A unique manufacturing procedure for maximum well-being, even after hours of walking and wear.

Materials: The most beautiful leathers of European origin: nubuck calf, glove quality full-grain calfskin, deerskin, peccary… Our leathers are traditionally tanned with extreme care to preserve their authentic look, their exceptional softness, all of their natural qualities that make Arche shoes so comfortable.

Soles: Soles made of 100% natural Latex, pure hevea milk. Harvested in tropical Asia according to ancestral traditions, stored in liquid form so that is will not be denatured, poured by hand into sole moulds created by Arche, hevea milk gives exceptional comfort to Arche’s soles. Hevea milk is noble and living, an exceptional product. The label, Lactae Hevea, guarantees authenticity.

See a video of our factory

The Hevea is a tree cultivated in the big Tropical plantations. It contains a rare and exceptional product: its milk.Hevea milk travels through a system of canals separate from its sap network. The milk is harvested by making fine cuts in the tree trunk. This harvest, far from weakening the tree, helps it flourish. Each tree produces about 50 grams of milk a day. To make an average pair of soles takes between 25 and 30 cuts. The height of the trunk that is cut is usually about 1.3 metres. Once one edge of the cut part of the tree has been reached, the other edge has had the time to regenerate, and a new cycle can begin

Craft skills

In the beginning, one idea: making soles like the native South American Indians, who in the past produced all sorts of exceptionally elastic objects from coagulated hevea milk. Drawing on this, ARCHE and RELTEX developed a process to refine hevea milk entirely by hand, similar to making cheese (pouring the milk into moulds, coagulation, cooking for one hour). LACTAE HEVEA soles are all made manually one by one, according to a unique know-how which requires precision and time: twenty manual operations are necessary to make one sole, following a long tradition. This process creates the famous bubble structure of LACTAE HEVEA soles.

Gift of Nature

Hevea milk gives birth to the LACTAE HEVEA sole. Its refining, similar to that of cheese, preserves the natural qualities of hevea milk and bestows its virtues. The purity of this milk creates the unique structure of air bubbles of the LACTAE HEVEA sole, which acts like natural shock absorber, harmoniously keeping in step with the movement of the foot. The medical profession has made a point of recommending the LACTAE HEVEA sole for added comfort when walking and for the future well-being of your feet.A

A dream comfort

Where does the outstanding comfort of LACTAE HEVEA soles come from? From their inimitable unique microstructure that comprises an infinite number of air cushions that act as shock absorbers. This microstructure is obtained during the long drying process of one week after the sole is taken out of the mould: the water contained in the hevea milk drains out, until it has completely evaporated, through thousands of tiny canals that form a capillary microstructure. All these air cushions give LACTAE HEVEA soles their comfort, their elasticity and their exceptional suppleness. Thanks to all these air bubbles, LACTAE HEVEA soles are lighter. Their density is about 0.9 g/cm2. (Try dropping them in water – they’ll float!)

Like all great designers and manufacturers, arche is constantly innovating and propose new models which characterize eras: mocassins with spikes, the riding boots, moccasins with fringes … all will seduce generations. But it is archette, a short boot draped which in 1980 became the symbol of the future welfare of the arche brand. Developed to all colors, the archette is experiencing a fury that drives the manufacturing plant to devote the time, over 30% of its production to the manufacture of phenomenon: a model always popular with the fashion victims and … the brand consumers loyal!