The history of Frau is not just the history of a company but the reflection of an entire Italy that, immediately after the Second World War, needs everything but has nothing. Frau, the namesake of the famous armchair that draws the concept of comfort from the latter, was born in Turin from the mind of a Friulian established, only later, in Veneto, thus representing the paradigm of the development of the entire Italian footwear industry.

It was 1952 and Renzo d’Arcano, Mr. Frau, then lived in Turin. He had just graduated from high school and thought he was enrolled in law school but his father already had other plans for him. A footwear salesman and a shoe wholesaler, he faced a much more serious problem than his son’s professional wishes, namely the lack of cheap slippers, at a time when demand far outstripped the offer. So, he decided to start producing them alone by entrusting his son Renzo, then still a minor, with the company’s guide. Renzo d’Arcano, therefore, starts working for his only client of those times, his father, who was followed in a few years by one of the most important clothing chains of the time: Upim. Employees increased as well as the size of the company but just in time to train the new members of his staff that already lost them because the new recruits moved to Fiat in the nearby Rivalta factory. One day, due to this lack of manpower, Renzo d’Arcano took part in customers and suppliers including some representatives of the tanneries of Arzignano in the province of Vicenza where he was about to be born what in the Sixties would become the first leather district in the world.
So d’Arcano decided to move to Veneto where people lived largely in agriculture or were forced to emigrate abroad. Veneto, therefore, becomes that place where plenty of labor and the desire to work make the new allocation of the company perfect.

At first, Frau exclusively produced shoes with an applied sole and a textile upper with unique customers from the Germans. It will be the seventies the keystone of the brand offering the opportunity to D’Arcano to become a symbol and reference point for casual men’s shoes. This is the period in which Frau dedicates his entire production to the Desert Boots model Clarks, interpreting the taste of Italian men of the time in an avant-garde way and basing his entire production on the importance of the quality / price ratio.  So it was that within 20 years Frau became not only an important brand symbol of Made in Italy and respect for raw materials but also a flagship for the entire Italian footwear industry. Today, the brand continues not to abandon its orientation towards the comfortable product but has been able to readjust it to the economic context and interpret the tastes of Italians.
The women’s collections of the brand tell the philosophy and spirit of the Veronese brand: elegance, refinement and love for details. Among the other models stand out the indispensable boots, with exposed welt and satined materials with a lived-in effect, décolleté, chelsea boots and ankle boots.
Men’s models, on the other hand, take on new connotations thanks to the use of refined materials and cutting-edge leather processing techniques. The modern Dandy, finds its ideal shoe among the models like the moccasin with crosspiece or the sportier lace-up ankle boot and the intellectual style is conjugated in models with the Hipster character, thanks to the inevitable suede turkey and the Derby shoe in grained leather rough, as well as the Oxford model with buckle and fringe on the mask with English fretwork. A collection that tells the philosophy and spirit of the Veronese brand: elegance, refinement and love for details.