Anderson’s – belts with a history of pride and craftsmanship

The family business Anderson's was founded in 1966 by Carlo Valenti in Parma, Italy. A region known for its special climate and not least the Parma ham  and the more exclusive Culatellon which is produced in the foggiest and most humid part along the Po River. During our visit we get to experience both the raw climate and the Culatellon, which we enjoy together with aged parmesan from the area and emotional anecdotes from the company's almost 60-year old history.

The Swedish-sounding name Anderson's suggests a Scandinavian connection, but the truth is that Valenti, who had a passion for the British tailoring tradition, found great inspiration in the legendary men's tailoring shop Anderson & Sheppard, on Savile Row in London and therefore chose to name his company Anderson's.

Today, the company is run by his son and host of the week, Ricardo Valenti. A man with a rarely seen mindset and worldly experience. One thing quickly becomes clear to us – Ricardo and the, to us surprisingly, small-scale workforce in the factory really know what they are doing. Just like the previously mentioned delicacies, the production requires a slow and careful process where the result comes from meticulous craftsmanship that has been refined over generations.

The process is really one big quality control and Ricardo himself, with his many years of experience, personally checks all leather pieces to ensure its quality and durability. He spends up to 14 hours a day on quality-assurance on everything from material selection to cutting, while also managing the business's ppresence in markets all oer the world. A life dedicated to the legacy of a passion for creating a product and a brand you can truly stand for. In an everyday life where you care for both each other and our environment.

Each belt goes through about 100 steps – something that is difficult to explain in a text like this. We wish you could have heard Ricardo himself talk about the process, but we can briefly summarize our conclusion: an Anderson's belt is more than just a belt. It is probably one of the simplest, yet most elaborate products you can wear.

Even if technological advances have transformed the manufacturing industry, Anderson's has remained true to its craft. While some aspects have been streamlined to keep up with the times, each belt is still crafted with the utmost care. Traditional techniques such as vegetable tanning, a process in which natural ingredients are used to colour and strengthen the leather, remain a core value in the manufacturing process. 

For those in the know, this may be obvious, but even I, who have worked in the industry for a relatively long time, was surprised when it turned out that a regular leather belt consists of not one, not two, but three layers that have been glued together to be as durable as possible. Each layer must have exactly the same properties, of which the base material should be taken from the same piece of leather but still needs a lot of processing. Handling different types of leather requires varying techniques and processes. Softer materials are particularly challenging to work with, while a leather with grain provides a more forgiving work surface. After the layers have been glued together, each belt is allowed to rest for 5-7 days, and to seal them seamlessly, three separate rounds, containing several steps, are carried out one week apart, so that the layers are ultimately not visible and thus perceived as one piece. 

In total, Anderson's produces 200,000 belts a year – which means roughly 600 per day, by hand. The beauty of it all is that there have been opportunities to scale up the volume but where instead they have chosen to maintain the high standard to ensure that the company's values are not compromised. For Ricardo Valenti and Anderson's, that's the great thing about being small – every belt that leaves the factory carries a story of pride and craftsmanship.