Discover arsutoria
Your best choice for technical and design training in the field of footwear and leathergoods
I fell in love with Arsutoria school when I first started working for my family business back in 2003. Coming from a traditional scholastic background and typical office setting, I was astonished to see students creating shoes and bags with their very own hands. At almost twenty years from when I first began working here, I have continued to follow the same dream together with my extraordinary colleagues: the study of design and technical training in a practical context, where a stylistic idea finds the right path for its transformation into a real product.
Year after year, we have continued to invest in additional space, fields of expertise, and machinery, striving to make the Arsutoria offering more complete and professional. In 2022, we will take one more step forward in introducing a new curriculum in the field of digital design, launching a new version of the one-year diploma, which will see our students develop the prototypes of a capsule collection with the help of our dedicated tutors. Please feel free to take a look at our brochure and contact us with any questions or doubts you might have.
.01
75 years of excellence
We have trained the most successful footwear and leather goods professionals for 75 years. From pattern makers to designers, from generation to generation, our programs have been recognized by the industry as the most up-to-date and hands-on education in the footwear and leather goods sectors.
.02
Uniqueness
Besides studying, the true basis to comprehend the pattern maker, designer or any footwear/leather goods industry profession is practice. We are the only school with an internal sample room with factory’s machineries, so enable our students to gain a practical and unique experience.
.03
Industry relations
As for 75 years we have trained the best industry professionals, we have also built up solid relationships with Italian and International brands so are able to organize customized trainings and pathways for company’s staff. In particular from 2009 to 2020 we have offered specific workshops for USA footwear brands in Boston, NYC and Los Angeles training over 1000 employees.
.04
Highly focused
There are many schools in the Italian and international education landscape, still Arsutoria School is the only international school able to offer complete paths thoroughly centered on footwear and leathergoods professionals training.
.05
Diversity
Over 50 nationalities for a students’ population that comes from any part of the world as our programs are held in English and Italian.
.06
Accommodation
We are very lucky as we are located in the Italian fashion capitol, Milan. Besides the school training, we put at our students’ disposal a variety of apartments within the school’s building, to be able to live and fully breath the Italian experience within Arsutoria School.
.07
Hybrid programs
Covid-19 Pandemic has certainly not stopped our desire to train more talents in the footwear and leathergoods field. For this reason and for the ambition to attract students from any part of the world, our classes can be followed onsite or through a hybrid formula with online classes.
Ars-Lab
Our footwear and leathergoods sample rooms
We strongly believe that a shoe design or a shoe engineering course should include a number of hours dedicated to making shoes with the support of expert technicians in a shoe factory or in a sample room.
We are the first design school in Italy with our own sample room equipped with all the machines commonly used to make shoes and bags in a factory.
Giving a student the opportunity to experiment, even make mistakes, realize which choices have to be made and which compromises have to be faced in production it’s the only way to teach the art of shoe and bag making. That is the reason why we have decided to set up a complete and running footwear and leathergoods sample room in Arsutoria School.
For years we have moved the shoe class to an external laboratory equipped with machines for shoe making. In 2015 we have decided to launch the Ars-Lab, and we have invested into a complete sample room with all the machines of a footwear and leathergoods factory.
A team of expert workers guide our students through the unique experience of making their shoes and bags. So far we are not offering courses to train factory workers: our expert teachers run the machines and not the students. But we are convinced that shoe students learn much more if not only they are exposed to but if they can participate in the shoe and bag manufacturing process.
Partnerships and collaborations
During the last 10 years we have developed a strong international network with different entities worldwide to bring the Arsutoria School expertise all around the globe and to exchange knowledge and talents.
International courses
We organize courses and workshops all over the world for some of the best footwear companies in the world, in collaboration with the associations of the sector: United States, Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and South Korea.
Collaboration with other schools
We export our knowledge to fashion management and design schools to offer classes on technical design for their students. Among them: Istituto Marangoni and Domus Academy in Italy, TafTC in Singapore, the University of Oregon in the USA.
Tailormade training
Together with leading companies, we have developed and implemented customized programs to improve employee knowledge and skills.
Available scholarships
Thanks to our worldwide network of collaborations, we are able to provide scholarships through our partners
Joseph C. Moore Footwear Scholarship
United States
In honor of the now retired president of FFANY, to celebrate his remarkable efforts for the U.S. shoe industry, one student each year is selected among Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design, SCAD, Rhode Island School of Design and FIDM to attend the 15-week Shoe Technical Program at Arsutoria School.
JSMA
Japan
Every year the Japanese association of the shoe industry selects two students and sends them to Milan to upgrade their skills in shoe pattern making.
ANPIC
Mexico
The Association of the suppliers for the shoe industry in Mexico organizes courses in Leon and selects one student per year to take courses at Arsutoria School in Milan.
Design A Bag
Hong Kong
Design a bag competition is organized by APLF fair in Hong Kong. The winner of the design contest is awarded with a training course in Italy at Arsutoria School.
ACICAM
Colombia
In Colombia, from ACICAM Association, one shoe designer per year is selected to study shoe design in Italy at Arsutoria School.