Open Closed

Open Closed traces to REFAC srl, a shoe manufacturer founded in the 1990s in Civitanova Marche, in Italy's Marche region — one of the country's historic footwear-manufacturing districts, also home to houses such as Santoni and Bontoni. The OpenClosed brand itself was launched at the start of the 2000s as the company's line of vintage-finished leather footwear: boots, derbies and loafers built with hand-applied aged and distressed leather treatments rather than the smoother finishes typical of formal dress shoemaking. Beyond its own-name collection, Open Closed has worked as a manufacturing partner for designer labels, producing footwear for Rick Owens and Ann Demeulemeester among others — part of a wider Marche-region pattern in which small family-run factories combine limited in-house collections with private-label production for larger international brands. The company remains headquartered in the industrial zone of Civitanova Marche. Its retail identity leans on the vintage, worn-in character of its leather rather than seasonal design statements, and it is stocked internationally by retailers specializing in avant-garde and directional menswear, including Canada's Gravitypope.