“Who wove it best?” Every month, if not every week, seems to bring a new shoe silhouette defined by a kind of interlaced leather pattern that immediately calls to mind Bottega Veneta’s signature Intrecciato weave. So, you could say Bottega wove it best, though this new generation of Bottega-flavored leather weavers might beg to differ.

In the past few months, we’ve witnessed the Bottegafication of the Nike Air Force 1 Low, Converse Chuck Taylor All Star, and adidas Handball Spezial, spotted woven leather shoes in Miu Miu lookbooks and during COMME des GARÇONS and Merrell window-shopping sessions. Every time, the shoes feature an interwoven leather upper that recalls the Bottega Veneta Intrecciato, wherein thin strips of supple leather are layered to create an angular geometric pattern.  

There’s a logic to lifting a Bottega Veneta staple: this weave doesn’t just look great; it also signals a level of craft that’s missing from the hyperproduced slop of fast fashion (even if it may not adhere to the same standard of quality as Bottega). Offering a slightly more expensive, “elevated basic” take on a classic shoe is fine by me. And really, there are worse brands to dupe than a wildly popular luxury house whose revenue increased 3% in 2025, surpassing €1.7 billion amidst an industry-wide downturn. 

Bottega Veneta didn’t invent handwoven leather straps — chalk that one up to ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans — but since the invention of its Intrecciato technique in 1975, created as a workaround for sewing machines that couldn’t punch through particularly thick leather, Bottega Veneta has made this pattern central to its brand identity for the last half century. Intrecciato isn’t only for shoes, of course, but also for handbags and wallets and even T-shirts. It’s just that it’s currently most recognizable within the realm of footwear.

It wasn’t until the tenure of creative director Daniel Lee, from 2019 to 2022, that this design style — spurred on by Lee’s magic touch for turning out “it” items in Intrecciato — fully breached containment, leaking into the moodboards of other fashion brands. Though you could just as easily give Bottega Veneta’s own cheeky grabs at aping popular shoe silhouettes credit for inspiring these brands to respond with a bit of style theft themselves.

Bottega Veneta’s A$AP Rocky-approved Haddock Lace-Up Ankle Boot from 2023 was so Timberland-coded that the shoemaker struck back, releasing a woven version of its classic Premium 6-Inch a few years later. Meanwhile, the 2025 release of Bottega’s very Vans-shaped Saywer prompted Vans to go woven with its Old Skool, Slip-On, and Authentic models. 

Even shoes not inspired by Intrecciato can end up caught in the crossfire; my brain has become so Bottega-pilled by the sheer volume of Intrecciato-inspired weaving that I briefly thought Supreme had fallen victim, too. Its recent collaboration with California-based footwear brand Yuketen on the leather Leo shoe would slot easily into Bottega Veneta’s shoe line, yet its weave takes direct inspiration from Mexico’s traditional huarache silhouette — the Leo is even hand-cut and woven exclusively in Mexico for the collaboration. 

It can feel like a full-time job to distinguish between authentic craft customs and what seems like a bid to ride Bottega Veneta’s wave. But, then again, why bother? As someone who loves the look of Intrecciato but could only afford real Bottega if I sold at least two essential organs, I’m all for the proliferation of these far less expensive takes on a good woven leather shoe. 

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