The sandal market has no shortage of options. What it lacks is permanence. Most summer shoes are designed to last a season — light materials, fast construction, replaced annually. The Italian leather platform sandal is the opposite of that logic. It's heavier in hand, more specific in craft, and made to deepen rather than degrade with wear. A.S.98's RIBELLA is the clearest current expression of that.
What Makes an Italian Leather Platform Sandal Different
Platform sandals have existed in one form or another since antiquity. The Italian leather version carries a specific set of commitments that separate it from the mass category.
First: the leather itself. Italian tanneries — many of them operating under the Consortium of Pelletteria Italiana — produce hides finished through vegetable and semi-aniline processes that allow the leather to absorb natural oils, develop patina, and age with use rather than against it. You can see this in the RIBELLA's ebony upper: the colour is not static. It shifts and deepens at the flex points, along the strap edge, across the vamp. That's not a flaw. That's the leather doing what quality leather does.
Second: construction. A sandal built on a genuine leather platform requires lasting — the process of shaping the upper over a form before attaching it to the sole. This takes time. It creates a structure that holds its shape across seasons. The RIBELLA has a platform sole with real weight and density, not the hollow EVA compression of a fast-fashion platform. It sounds different on stone. It feels different underfoot.
Third: the detail work. The hand-set stud detailing on the RIBELLA is a signature A.S.98 element — seen across their Italian line since the brand's founding in 1998. Each stud is placed and set individually. At volume, this is expensive and slow. It is also the reason the shoe looks like nothing else in the market at this price point.
How to Wear a Leather Platform Sandal That Actually Works
The risk with a platform sandal is proportion. A heavy sole needs a counterweight in the rest of the outfit — something that matches its mass without competing with its detail.
The RIBELLA in ebony works best with:
Raw denim or wide-leg linen trousers. The platform needs length to land correctly. Cropped cuts read awkward with a substantial sole. Ankle-length or full-length gives the shoe room to function as an anchor.
Earth-toned wardrobe. Tobacco, ecru, slate, deep olive. The ebony leather reads as a neutral in this palette — it grounds the look rather than punctuating it. Avoid black-on-black unless the silhouette is strong enough to carry it.
Minimal hardware elsewhere. The RIBELLA's stud detailing is the accent. A second hardware moment — belt, bag, wristware — competes with it. One focus per outfit.
Unstructured layers. An open linen shirt, a cotton gauze dress, a slouched blazer. The shoe has structure. The clothes don't need to.
The Case for Buying One Pair That Lasts
The RIBELLA is $450 CAD. That price needs context.
At the $100–$150 price point, a leather-look sandal typically uses PU-coated synthetic upper, a bonded platform, and cement construction. Average lifespan in real-world use: one to two seasons before the upper separates or the platform compresses and loses its shape.
At $450, the RIBELLA is built on genuine Italian leather that improves with wear, a platform with structural integrity, and hand-set hardware that won't loosen after a summer of cobblestone walking. The cost-per-wear calculation inverts quickly.
This is not a justification for spending more. It's a clarification of what you're buying. The RIBELLA is not a trend purchase — it is a durable object. Canadian women who shop for quality over seasonality understand this distinction. The shoe is made for them.
Why A.S.98 Builds It This Way
A.S.98 — Ars Sutoria 1998 — was founded in Italy at the intersection of artisan shoemaking and rock-influenced aesthetic. The brand's DNA is worn-in, not pristine. Confidence without explanation. Craft over trend.
The RIBELLA is SS26 — but it doesn't read as a season-specific piece. The platform silhouette is structural enough to anchor multiple years of wear. The ebony colourway moves through every season. The stud detail is specific to A.S.98 without being loud.
Available exclusively in Canada through as98.ca, distributed by Ferragiacomo, Montréal.
The RIBELLA
Italian leather platform sandal. Hand-set stud detailing. Ebony leather upper. $450 CAD.
Explore the full A.S.98 SS26 collection at as98.ca.
