Ales Pelletterie was founded in 1993 in Tolentino, Marche by Alessandro, Lanfranco, Edoardo and Sauro, with a vision to produce sublime, high quality, artisanal leather goods. They pride themselves on their ability to fuse form with function which has seen them handcrafting leather goods for some of the most globally recognised luxury brands for almost the past twenty seven years.
Above: Edoardo Mattioli CEO Ales Pelletterie
An unsung hero yet vital component of the Ales Pelletterie success story is the man, myth and legend called Fernando Teordori. 'Nando' as we call him, has more than 40 years of luxury bag experience which the majority of the major houses have capitalised on at some point in time. He translates designs into technical specifications, paper patterns and prototypes as well as advising on sustainable materials, hardware selection and finishes. Rarely is one man within the Italian luxury bag market so in demand and we are grateful to have him on our team.
ALES was born from the knowledge of Mestieri D'arte by highly skilled maestri artigiani/ master leather artisans: They formed a new reality and much like Crafted Society, decided to challenge convention. Style, tradition and technology blend themselves to create high-quality products with exquisite functional character. Inspired by the global aesthetics of modern and sustainable materials, they transmit design and creative direction into “Life Instruments” and ultimate objects of beauty.
The master artisan overseeing all of the in-house artisans is Sauro. His sense of fun and humour is infectious and he leads the team through his inspirational addiction towards excellence & craftsmanship. There is not one product produced at ALES which doesn't pass by his strict eye for quality and he is not afraid to reject a product if it does not meet his high standards. For this he is commonly referred to as The Controller - and we are delighted to have such high standards vetting each and every one of the bags and small leather goods we produce at ALES.
Above: Sauro Tiberi.
Upon our first visit to Ales in 2016, we saw first hand the compassion and social responsibility values central to this small workshop's heart. In October 2016, central Italy suffered from a devastating earthquake with its epicentre not far from the idyllic Marche commune of Tolentino. The quake brought widespread destruction to the region with many schools, public buildings and commercial properties completely wiped out.
Walking around the workshop floor with Edoardo in November 2016, we noticed that two-thirds of the artisans were wearing red aprons and one third were wearing blue aprons. This immediately caught the attention of our founder Martin, a passionate football fan, who originates from an English town close to Liverpool. The similarities were uncanny. He immediately asked why that was. The answer proved that ALES was going to be the right partner for us.
The Artisans in red were employees of ALES. The ones in blue were from a competing workshop! This was intriguing, so we dived a little deeper. One of ALES's competitors lost its place of work in the earthquake so they decided to donate one-third of their own facility so that their fellow artisans could continue to produce and provide a livelihood for their families and provide support to their local community. Putting purpose over profit was so inspiring to see and it is true that there is no better resilience toward a disaster situation than the spirit of the locals residing within the local community. We saw first hand how the #artisans4artisans movement was, in fact, a reality.
Above: Luisa Baldini Ales Pelletterie
Luisa did such a great job crafting our womens tote bag, we named it after her!
