A jutti upper is a single piece of leather folded under the foot with the toe turned up, and it is closed with a running stitch in a contrasting thread. The stitch is done by hand, and the tension in it is what keeps the shape.
The sole is built from layers rather than moulded, and the binding that holds them is where a hand-made pair is judged. A sole that separates in a shipment is a binding failure, not a leather failure.
Sizing is the commercial problem. A hand-stitched upper is made to a last, and the tolerance across a size run is wider than a moulded shoe. For an export order we ask for the last used, the size grid the workshop actually cuts, and a fitting pair before the batch, rather than assuming a full European range.
Finish questions come second: whether the leather is vegetable tanned, what the dye fastness grade is on a lined pair, and whether the piece will be sold as fashion or as footwear, because the labelling and the testing differ.
The accessories records we carry from this belt are the printed cotton carry bag, the quilted wash bag and the stole, all photographed from supplier decks. The jutti stock in these photographs is field material from the October craft fair and is not yet a published reference on this site.
Packaging is the quiet constraint. A hand-stitched upper will crease if it is shipped flat, and a crease in vegetable-tanned leather does not fall out. A pair that arrives looking wrong is usually a box problem rather than a workshop problem, so we specify the last shape and the filler with the batch.
On a jutti the stitch is the structure, not the finish.
