Mario Maraolo, shoe designer

Mario Maraolo, shoe designer

Brief Info about Maraolo Designer Shoes

In 1938 Domenico Maraolo founder Mamar. A shoe design company. His son Mario Maraolo started designing for Mamar around 1956-1969 and became Maraolo designs. He was very popular in the 80's and 90's where most of his stores were in the US and mainly New York. The brand was also sold in Sack's Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. All shoes were made in Italy inside Maraolo's factory was in Naples. 

In 1992 the company started to struggle and the expansions were cut to only one more store opening in New York. Maraolo had started manufacturing in China a few years prior. Only five stores in New York were generating revenue for the company. To avoid further declined Maraolo signed an agreement with The Donna Karan Co. to form The Donna Karan Shoe Co. That will exclusively produce all men's, women's, and children's footwear bearing the Donna Karan and DKNY labels. He also started producing for Armani and Joan and David. Because of this, his legacy has been blurred by the legacy of other design houses and his name not found easily inside the books of fashion history.

The quality and details in his designs are exquisite and hard to find in today's shoes and bags ( he also designed bags) The usage of crocodile skin seems to be some trademarks from 1979-80s. 

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