Are ATP Atelier Shoes Worth It? An Honest Look

Turn an ATP Atelier shoe over, look inside it, and most of the answer is already in your hand. The leather styles are cut from calf, nappa and suede, lined in leather and handmade in Italy by small family workshops in Tuscany. The house itself is Swedish: Maj-La Pizzelli and Jonas Clason founded it in Stockholm in 2011, and the initials stand for All Tomorrow’s Parties. There is very little decoration to judge, so the honest test is the make, and how the shoes behave once you start wearing them.

What goes into a pair

• Handmade in Italy. Every leather style is finished by hand in small family workshops in Tuscany, with the design work done in Stockholm. We covered the workshops in detail in where ATP Atelier is made.
• Leather inside as well as out. Every leather shoe in the range Coveti carries has a leather lining. A leather lining breathes and gives with the foot, which is a large part of why these shoes wear in rather than out.
• Uppers matched to the shape. Calf leather does most of the work on the sandals and boots. Nappa and shiny nappa appear on the ballet flats, slingbacks and pumps, while suede runs through the loafers, the sandals and several of the ankle boots. A few styles use cow-print calf hair for texture.
• Heels you can walk in. Listed heel heights run from 1 cm on the Tenno loafer and the Erve boot up to 6.5 cm on the Miola and Sarconi boots. Nothing in the line is built to be carried home at midnight.

What you get: materials and make

The clearest way to judge the make is shoe by shoe. The Alassio flat sandal is nappa leather on a leather lining, handmade in Italy and cut on an Italian last. The Airola loafer comes in black nappa, in Cannella, Muschio and Walnut suede, and in cow-print calf hair, all on a 2 cm heel. The Nemoli ankle boot pairs black calf leather with a walnut suede version, on a 3.5 cm heel and a 14 cm shaft. At the top of the boot range, the Sarconi is calf leather all the way to a 44 cm shaft, on a 6.5 cm heel.

One pair breaks the pattern. The Verbania rubber boot comes from the collaboration with Tretorn. It is moulded rubber with a textile lining, designed in Sweden and not made in Italy. Judge it as a rain boot, on its own terms, and not as Italian leatherwork.

What you do not get is much range. The line works a small number of shapes in a short list of leathers, and the case for buying rests on how well those few things are made.

How it compares, in craft terms

Comparing designer shoes gets easier when you ignore the label and ask the same four questions of every pair. Where is it made, and by whom? What is the upper? What is the lining? How high is the heel, and could you walk across a city in it?

ATP Atelier answers all four plainly. Italy, by small family workshops. Calf, nappa and suede uppers. Leather linings throughout the leather styles. Heels no higher than 5.5 cm on any shoe that lists one, and 6.5 cm on the boots. Plenty of fashion shoes get one of those right and let the others slide. This house is consistent across all of them, and that consistency is the real argument for it. We go further into the craft question in whether ATP Atelier counts as a luxury brand.

Where it gives ground is in range and drama. If you want a wider choice of shapes in the same quiet spirit, the alternatives we compared are the better place to start.

Who it suits

It suits someone building a small wardrobe of shoes meant to last, who would rather own three good pairs than eight ordinary ones, and who wants a shoe that stays quiet. It suits less well if you want a statement heel, because the house does not really make one.

Where it is weakest

The collection is narrow. There is little for formal evenings, and the Ziano mule, in grained calf with feathers, is the closest thing to an occasion shoe. Where a heel height is listed, the shoes stop at 5.5 cm. The palette stays close to Black, Walnut and Cannella, with Linen, Cipria, Mandorla, Muschio, Peltro, Grumello and Melograno filling in. If range matters more to you than make, look elsewhere first.

Browse the full shoe collection, the sandals and the ATP Atelier brand page. For a pair-by-pair edit, read the best ATP Atelier shoes, and check the ATP Atelier shoe size guide before you order.

Frequently asked questions

Are ATP Atelier shoes worth it?
Yes, if you judge them on the make. The leather styles are handmade in Italy by small family workshops in Tuscany, with leather uppers on leather linings. It is a weaker case if you want a wide choice of shapes.

What are ATP Atelier shoes made of?
Calf leather, nappa, shiny nappa, suede and grained calf, with cow-print calf hair on a few styles. Every leather style has a leather lining. The Verbania rubber boot from the Tretorn collaboration is moulded rubber with a textile lining.

Are ATP Atelier shoes comfortable?
Most of the range is flat to low. The listed loafer heels run from 1 cm to 2 cm, and the slingbacks, pumps and kitten heel mules stay between 3.5 cm and 5.5 cm. A leather lining on every leather pair helps the shoe settle to the foot.

Do ATP Atelier shoes last?
They are made to wear in rather than out, with leather uppers on a leather lining. Look after them like any good leather shoe, with shoe trees, a suede brush for the suede pairs and a day of rest between wears.

Is ATP Atelier a luxury brand?
On craft, yes. It is a Stockholm house that has its leather shoes handmade in Italy by small family workshops, with a quieter look than most names in the category.

What is ATP Atelier best known for?
A clean Scandinavian line on Italian-made leather. The house was founded in Stockholm in 2011 by Maj-La Pizzelli and Jonas Clason, and sandals are the largest family in its shoe range at Coveti.