A new sense of comfort — Decorte's first in-house brand
Decorte was founded in 1983. Having followed its own ideas and sensibilities for four decades, the company is taking a new step just before its 40th anniversary: drawing on the technical strength its clients have long trusted, and on its appetite for fresh ideas, Decorte has launched its first original brand, built around the ballet flat. Pursuing what only Decorte can do — and giving it shape in step with the times — the brand leads the wearer into a wonderful lifestyle, starting from her feet.
Shoemaking that stands apart from the rest with its strong fashion sensibility
Decorte was founded in Asakusa by President Masao Tanaka. Before launching it, he worked in sales for a company that imported overseas shoe brands, supplying select shops in Harajuku just as that scene was beginning to grow. As more and more shop buyers asked him for Japanese-made leather shoes rather than imports, Mr. Tanaka set out to answer that demand — and that effort, he says, is exactly the origin story of Decorte. "I tried every maker I could find, looking for high-quality leather shoes, but couldn't find what I had in mind. In the end I decided that if it didn't exist, we'd just have to make it. I'd come up through sales and couldn't make shoes myself, so I gathered skilled craftspeople — and that's how Decorte began." At the time, almost all manufacturers were producing OEM for major brands or wholesaling private-label shoes to department stores; a maker selling directly to apparel shops was a rarity. Mr. Tanaka had loved fashion since childhood and had visited France and Italy many times — experience that fed his fashion-led approach to shoemaking and won over discerning select shops. "Shoes and clothes are part of a single culture; they don't stand alone. I admired the stylish people I saw abroad expressing themselves without even thinking about it, and our shoemaking is rooted in that taste of mine."
Built around the in-house signature ballet flat.
Decorte has produced footwear for many brands and select shops. Whereas most makers specialise in either men's or women's shoes, Decorte has long handled both, with a particular strength in casual, fashion-forward styles. Its inventive design ideas have been recognised by leading Japanese brands, and Decorte has even produced shoes that walked the Paris Collection runway. Of all the shoes Decorte makes, the one it takes the most pride in is the ballet flat: a style the company began producing about fifteen years ago, with around 10,000 pairs built by hand each year. That, says director Karis Tanaka, was the seed for Decorte's very first in-house brand. "We were making ballet flats for select-shop labels, and a friend who bought a pair said, 'These are amazingly easy to wear — I want more designs.' We had just been thinking about taking on something new before the company's 40th anniversary, so we decided to build a brand that drew on our ballet-flat craft."
An in-house brand packed with craft and care.
Born from all of this is Decorte's genderless original brand, 〈Je t'emmène〉. The name — French for "I'll take you with me" — is drawn from a French saying that "beautiful shoes take you to beautiful places." With the roots of fashion lying in France, it is a fitting name for Decorte, which has long made footwear with a strong fashion sensibility.
The first launch is the JAZZ flat shoe. Layer upon layer of careful choices have gone into delivering a new kind of underfoot comfort.
Slipping them on, the first thing you notice is a fit that feels like wearing socks. Soft, carefully chosen Japanese leather wraps gently around any foot shape. Construction is Bolognese — the same method used on the ballet flat — which omits the insole and delivers a highly flexible sole. The build is unusual: because each piece of leather stretches a little differently, the lasting is done not by machine but by hand, with the artisan adjusting tension by feel to give the shoe its airy softness. That craft is precious even in today's Asakusa shoemaking world, and the team wants very much to pass it on. The outsole is Vibram's lightweight rubber, so grip and walking ease are excellent too.
Above all, the JAZZ flat shoe is built around a soft, springy underfoot feel. Two layers of resilient sponge sit between insole and outsole, giving outstanding shock absorption and — paired with the shoe's flex — taking real load off the foot. Most OEM lines avoid using two sponge layers because of the cost, but as an in-house brand the maker can specify exactly that. The result is a JAZZ flat that delivers a new kind of comfort — neither sneaker nor pump.
Letting these shoes carry the word of Asakusa's leather footwear further
Crowd-funding pre-orders for the JAZZ flat shoe were a much bigger hit than expected even before its public debut. As well as being comfortable, its single-piece leather and pared-back design slot easily into any look — exactly the sort of versatility today's customers want. Light and unstructured, the shoe stays in shape, packs compact and travels well, making it ideal for trips and business travel. Director Karis Tanaka talks about the thinking behind Je t'emmène: "With this much anticipation even before launch, we plan to stay true to the concept and keep adding new shapes. Through these shoes, we want to build the same kind of recognition for Asakusa that Imabari has for towels, Sabae for eyewear or Kojima for denim — the goal is to put 'Asakusa = leather shoes' on the map and lift the whole industry."
