Every Guidi shoe is the physical manifestation of a promise the Italian shoemaker made to never compromise. This maker specializes in world-class handiwork indicative of a pre-modern age, its soft leather boots handmade by artisans in a small picturesque Tuscan town. Everything is done by hand using mostly the same methods Guidi has used since it began life as a tannery in the 19th century.

But what if one of the world’s finest bootmakers, a rare example of traditional Italian craft that’s fast going extinct, created sneakers? And trendy sneakers, at that. You get the catchily named Guidi RN01P.

While they’re a far cry from modern-day runners, the flat-soled RN01P shoe is, by Guidi’s standards, pretty sporty. 

The slim sneaker-style shoe is produced to the Italian shoemaker's exacting standards using the same high-grade Tuscan leather it utilizes for boots, with a single hide patiently cut to size and individually stitched to create a recognizable but refined form.

Though it's made utilizing in old-world cobbling techniques, Guidi’s RN01P lands squarely amidst a current sneaker movement. 

Although it's hardly a direct replica, the RN01P has strong overtures of the German Army Trainer sneaker, colloquially called the GAT. The RN01P’s low profile, arrow-shaped toe-box paneling, and the stitching around the heel all resemble the famously simple and widely copied military shoe that's become an archetype of good taste. 

It makes sense, really: classic bootmaker makes classic sneaker. It's just that Guidi's object-dyed shoe — that is, a finished object dunked in dye to create a rich color destined to shift with wear — is in a league of its own.

The Maison Margiela Replica is the most famous of the many GAT imitators, essentially a one-to-one copy of the thin army shoe luxe’d up with soft leather and a cushy sole (the original GATs weren’t quite so comfortable). Then you have adidas, producer of the original German Army Trainer, aggressively scaling up its own GAT output while transforming close relatives like the Samba and Handball Spezial.

Luxury labels have also gotten in on the action with Matthew Williams’ new namesake project making GAT-flavored runners its debut sneaker offering, Dior reviving its decades-old GAT impersonator, and Dries Van Noten practically shifting overnight into a hyped sneaker label thanks to its surprisingly popular GAT-adjacent low-top. 

But in the face of this swelling footwear sub-genre, the RN01P is the top dog, at least where craft is concerned. We may be a golden age of GATs but no pair holds a candle to Guidi’s $1,000 take.

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