Two Spanish newspapers, El Mundo and La Razón, have published reports on the shoes worn by the Queen of Spain, Mrs. Letizia Ortiz, whose preferred manufacturer is a firm from the Alicante town of Elda called Magrit, which also uses the 3D printing to successfully complete your delicate work.

The Alicante family of footwear artisans keeps silence. She prefers that it be her work that speaks. Even so, as La Razón has been able to confirm, Doña Letizia has her own last in the Alicante house, made from her foot and adapted to the particularities of the her physiognomy. It is a mold that corresponds in its length to a classic 37. The specificity of the Queen's insole is that it is somewhat narrower than normal, in such a way that the shoe is polished to fit the detail and allow greater mobility without causing any chafing.

The creation of Doña Letizia's last was carried out like that of any other client who requests a custom shoe. With the prototype of the last –currently it is digitized and even materialized in 3D printers–, a first model is created with the corresponding materials, the corresponding fit test is carried out, the corrections are made if necessary and finally the shoe is manufactured. .

Processes are followed where mechanized techniques are combined with the artisan tradition, maintaining the same phases that were followed in the workshops of a hundred years ago. Specifically, the process of adapting the different parts of the Queen's shoe to the last –what is known as the last– continues to be the responsibility of a shoemaker who does it by hand, using a hammer and sandpaper. “Unless there is a significant weight change or the feet swell due to age, this last is valid for life because it is rare that the structure of the foot is modified, that is, the measurements of the fit, bridge and length”, he details. Hermelando Albert, master craftsman at the Footwear Museum in Elda.

With the last made, the most complicated challenge comes when it comes to adapting that last to one of the real client's requests: the great height of her heels to compensate for the 30 centimeters difference in height with respect to Don Felipe. And that Doña Letizia measures 1.67, that is, six centimeters more than the average of the Spanish.

This challenge is not easy: a heel that sometimes exceeds 12 centimeters and with the e that she has to move in official acts for several hours without her back and her own foot and her back taking their toll. “The most that a normal woman can bear is three inches, unless they are trained, something that is not usual due to the tendency to wear sports shoes and ballerinas. An hour a day of training is enough to learn to wear heels. In the case of Doña Letizia, we can say that the fact of wearing them every day allows her not only to walk with elegance, but also to endure long working days wearing them. Those eight centimeters, with a platform, can become a maximum of twelve so that the weight is compensated, stepping forward 75 percent of its weight and leaving the other 25 behind, "explains Albert, who recommends not continuously forcing this height ». Having a last is the guarantee that the shoe fits like a glove, you suffer less and there is less feeling of fatigue, but you have to avoid always pushing the heel to the limit », he insists.

The truth is that Doña Letizia has her own tricks. On the day of the proclamation, the day began with the Leonor model, with a 10-centimeter heel that had a small wedge hidden under the lining. Even so, during the hand kiss she decided to change and pulled on the “peep toes”, renamed “letizios”, with a larger platform that allowed her to maintain her height without losing stability or forcing her foot. Some and others move around 200 euros a pair.

The truth is that it is coherent and practical that Doña Letizia has opted for a head dressmaker and shoemaker with whom to configure her official "looks", while the knowledge they have about their client and her trust with their suppliers makes the job faster. They know almost perfectly the personal tastes of the Queen as well as the demands that the protocol establishes for each of the acts in which she has to take part. In the same way, it is not necessary to take measures and the essential tests are carried out, which allows the Queen. That does not mean that both Varela and the Magrit family can go to Zarzuela if the occasion requires it. In the Zarzuela environment they comment that he is not at all worried about repeating shoes. What's more, he doesn't ask for a new one of his reference classics until it's really worn out and amortized.

Thus, Doña Letizia remains in direct contact with the Magrit. Each design that she wears becomes a real-time quality test, because in the workshop they know almost in real time if it meets the needs of her most special client, that is, if they have managed to compensate height with comfort. This constant "feedback" with the Queen has allowed them to improve the ergonomics of their products both for the other custom-made clients they have, as well as for the more commercial collections available on their website.

For its part, El Mundo, when talking about the footwear of the Queen of Spain, says that all kinds of designs have been seen on her feet: sandals, slingback models, platforms of up to 11 centimeters, python skin, ankle straps, satin, colors bright as red and gold, buckles, zippers... In general, he matches his shoes with the Felipe Varela model chosen for each occasion. So it is foreseeable that Varela himself is in permanent contact with Magrit to order shoes, the famous 11-centimeter 'letizios' from Peñafiel, which match his clothes and protocol.

Letizia, on the other hand, is not the only woman from the Royal House who wears shoes in this inner corner of Levante. Reina Sofía (who probably has her own last in the factory, due to her foot imperfections typical of her age), wears many house shoes. Even Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall, married Prince Charles of England on a couple of her copies. They join countless celebrities who are passionate about Magrit stilettos and pumps, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, among other international VIPs.

NOT EVERYTHING IS JIMMY CHOO

Because not everything is Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik under the Hollywood vineyard. Did you know that Magrit manufactures shoes for Donna Karan, Carolina Herrera, Barbara Bui or Paule Ka, among many other Italian and French brands? The best footwear in the world is made in Spain, specifically in Elda, where, apart from the Magrit factory, there are those of Hispanitas, Sara Navarro, Unisa and other firms with foreign names such as Stuart Weitzman and Rebeca Sanver, completely 'made in Spain'.

With regard to the name of Magrit, it comes from that of Margarita, the first that the firm had in 1919, when its founder undertook the shoemaking business. So they put that name without any special reason, but they changed it in the 90s to Magrit because it was better pronounced in other languages ​​and thus promoted the internationalization of the firm, which exported all its shoe production in the 50s and that 40 years later he went back to selling footwear in Spain. Currently, and in honor of the business that feeds the saga, there is more than one woman in the family named Margarita.

José Amat Sanchíz, grandfather of Pepe Amat Mira, constituted the first generation of the Amat dedicated to the trade. Later Manuel Amat Pérez (second generation) took over and was followed by his sons (third generation): Pepe (by José María) and Manuel Amat Mira. Pepe is in charge of general management and customer relations and Manuel is in charge of production. José Amat Fernández, son of Pepe, is the fourth generation in the company and the current creative director of Magrit.

THE 'ROYAL' PULL

In business publications from the footwear sector, Pepe Amat has recognized that there are models whose production and sales skyrocket as soon as Letizia puts them on. But today, not only because of the royal pull but because of their quality product, they sell 150,000 pairs a year, of which they export around 90%. 2014 has been a real boom for the company, which has increased its production by 30% due to the opening of its online sales channel and the expansion of the market in the Middle East, Belarus and the USA.

Unfortunately, Pepe Amat Mira, manager of Magrit, does not grant interviews to talk about Doña Letizia, his best client and a walking advertisement for his brand, but he makes small exceptions. Discreet and respectful, he barely slips information about her relationship with the Royal House for more than 10 years. In 2011 he made an exception in LOC and wrote a few lines about the then princess of Asturias: «We are very proud to be able to serve SAR shoes and very happy that he wears them on so many occasions. She chooses the models with a very personal taste and is always perfectly shod. It has its own style. He does not choose many models, because he uses the same ones many times. Our maximum effort is that she feels comfortable, because her days are usually very long and the acts require a long time to stand. Our shoes, as she says, are her 'work' shoes. Such a special and important job and how well it does.