Press
FOR THE PRESS
Press.
A small atelier. A few good things. Quiet on most days.
ALTO is a small French Maison founded in Paris in 2021. We make a limited number of leather pieces — most of them numbered, all of them assembled by hand in our atelier in the 11th arrondissement.
We don't pitch. We don't run campaigns. But we answer letters, and we are always happy to talk to journalists, editors, and writers who are working on the things we care about — leather, craft, slow making, and the small disappearing trades of Paris.
THE MAISON, IN A FEW LINES
About ALTO.
ALTO is a French leather goods Maison, founded in 2021 by Louis Alto. Each piece is cut, stitched and finished by hand in our atelier in Paris 11ᵉ — from a single pair of hands, by one of twelve artisans, in roughly forty-eight hours.
The leather is vegetable-tanned in the Tarn for six weeks. The stitch is the traditional saddle stitch — two needles, one waxed linen thread, sewn by hand. The editions are small, numbered, and made once.
Our promise is simple: a piece carried for twenty years, then repaired, and carried again.
KEY FACTS
The Maison, in figures.
- Founded
- Paris, 2021
- Founder
- Louis Alto
- Atelier
- 11ᵉ arrondissement, Paris
- Artisans
- Twelve
- Production
- Entirely by hand, in France
- Leather
- Vegetable-tanned, Tarn
- Stitch
- Saddle stitch, by hand
- Time per piece
- ~48 hours
- Editions
- Limited, numbered, no restock
- Repair
- Lifetime, in-atelier
A WORD FROM THE FOUNDER
Louis Alto.
“I started ALTO because I wanted a bag that would not be thrown away. Most things in fashion today are made to be replaced. We wanted to make pieces that ask to be kept.”
“We make few things. We make them well. Leather aged for six weeks, stitched by a single pair of hands, carried for twenty years — then repaired, and carried again. That is the whole programme.”
— Louis Alto, founder
CORRESPONDENCE
Press enquiries.
For interviews, atelier visits, product loans, high-resolution imagery, or any editorial request, please write to us — please mark the subject line Press so we can route the message properly.
contact@altoparis.com
ALTO — Paris 11ᵉ, by appointment
If you are working on a piece, tell us a little about it. We are more useful when we understand the angle.