Z-Tractor Furrow — a furrow-tread sole with a rugged suede upper and mudcloth heel counter. Bogolan mudcloth is placed as a considered construction detail, never as surface print, and the aged-gold Z-Closure™ hardware signs the shoe. Worn with the register's very slim tapered trouser with a hairline Bogolan mudcloth seam stripe.
The seven views
01 Front — Straight-on front: toe shape, lace path and the placement of the Bogolan mudcloth panel.
View 1 of 7: 01 Front of Z-Tractor Furrow — Unisex. Straight-on front: toe shape, lace path and the placement of the Bogolan mudcloth panel.
IP visibility
3 public · 2 partial · 3 protected
The House publishes imagery and design narrative. Construction files, refinement records and production data remain confidential House IP.
Studio imagery · seven viewsPartly viewable
1 of 7 views released as published photography; remaining angles read the design board.
House name & collection linePublicly viewable
“Z-Tractor Furrow — Unisex” is published under House · Z-Vibe Footwear as a protected House mark.
Design story & Bogolan placementPublicly viewable
The narrative and where the Bogolan signature sits are told openly; the artwork files are not.
Material & colourway registerPublicly viewable
Fabric family and heritage colourways are stated; mill sourcing and finishing recipes are withheld.
Sole architecture & Z-Closure™ hardwarePartly viewable
Tread identity, stack height and hardware naming are public; tooling geometry and moulds are protected.
Held in the Innovation Vault behind authenticated, short-lived signed links. Never published.
Z-Studio refinement record & promptsProtected · vault only
Refinement pipeline settings and prompt history are internal studio IP.
Factory, sampling & cost recordProtected · vault only
Supplier identities, sampling stage and costing stay confidential to the House.
Heritage colourways
Espresso
Harvest Tan
Onyx Utility
In development
Reference study · not yet for sale
This piece is documented from an atelier design board. It is shown for reference only while the house completes its photography, sizing and release. Purchase, pricing and availability appear here once the owner approves the finished piece.
Readiness · 1 of 8 complete
Seven approved image views (01 Front, 02 Left, 03 Right, 04 Back, 05 Interior, 06 Inner tags, 07 Fabric detail)1 of 7 angles shot. The rest are read from the design board.
Approved primary assetDesign board in use — reference only, awaiting owner approval.
Product name and descriptionName and description written.
SKU and variant / colour mappingNo registered SKU for this piece yet.
Approved retail priceNo approved price — nothing is displayed.
Real inventoryNo connected stock feed — quantities are not shown.
Fulfilment and return policyFulfilment and returns not attached yet.
Owner approval to publishAwaiting explicit owner release.
Single-path high-contrast vector for trade-show tents and tables, scaled across 3×6m dye-sublimation panels with zero pixelation.
Fabric
Oiled full-grain leather and technical canvas, reinforced rubber rand, woven Bogolan mudcloth trim, deep-lug outsole, aged-gold Z hardware. Z-Grip™ Furrow Cut (ZG-3280) on the Z-Grip™ lugged rubber chassis, raked sawtooth blades set on a 12° forward rake, rounded volume last with a deep instep for thick socks, stack 40 mm heel / 26 mm forefoot, 14 mm drop, laced in twin-tone Bogolan flat tape, obsidian on ivory, aged-gold aglets, diamond Z at the lateral wall, Z-VIBE at the medial wall
Story behind the design
The Bogolan story
Sirablen mudcloth in plum & cream, worked into the crop neck band, left cuff, right cuff.
plum & cream
ZB-SIRA-PLU-835
crop neck band
left cuff
right cuff
front placket
The cloth
Bogolanfini begins as hand-woven cotton strip cloth, joined selvedge to selvedge before it ever meets the dye. It is dyed with a wolo bark tannin with iron-rich mud drawn from the Niger banks — the pattern is not printed on, it is drawn in mud and then the ground around it is lifted away. On this piece the mudcloth meets oiled full-grain leather and technical canvas, reinforced rubber rand, woven bogolan mudcloth trim, deep-lug outsole, aged-gold z hardware. z-grip™ furrow cut (zg-3280) on the z-grip™ lugged rubber chassis, raked sawtooth blades set on a 12° forward rake, rounded volume last with a deep instep for thick socks, stack 40 mm heel / 26 mm forefoot, 14 mm drop, laced in twin-tone bogolan flat tape, obsidian on ivory, aged-gold aglets, diamond z at the lateral wall, z-vibe at the medial wall.
The motif — Sirablen
The tape carries a broken line stepping across the ground cloth. In the Bamana reading, Sirablen is the road home — steadiness on a long journey. Z-Vibe keeps the motif at heritage scale rather than shrinking it into a logo pattern, so the hand of the maker stays legible on the finished piece.
Why it sits where it sits
Mudcloth is placed on construction points, never scattered as decoration: crop neck band, left cuff, right cuff, front placket. These are the lines the eye already follows on this silhouette, so the cloth reads as structure — an edge, a facing, a seam — and holds its meaning at three metres and at arm's length alike.
The hand-work
Each length is hand-turned and pick-stitched in silk thread, then pressed over a ham so the tape sits flat, not glued. Tape width and motif repeat are cut to the size band, so a petite run and an extended run carry the same proportion rather than the same measurement.
Global Heritage Fusion™
African heritage, global luxury, future design: the mudcloth is set against European finishing and the aged-gold Z-Closure™ mark. Nothing is erased on either side — the meeting is the design. Different Roots. One Human Story.
Care · Air the piece after wear and store folded with the tape inside. Steam from the reverse — a hot iron directly on the mudcloth flattens the weave.
Refinement provenance
Z-Studio refined · 1/7 views shot
Each step below reflects work that actually exists for this piece. Refinement is a design process — it does not imply the piece is production-released.
Owner-approved design board intakeComplete
The signed design board was registered as the source of truth; silhouette, Bogolan placement and hardware were locked from it.
Z-Sole Architecture™ assignmentComplete
Sole identity resolved for this style — Z-Grip™ Unisex Cut (ZG-3914) on the Z-Grip™ lugged rubber chassis, woven-cord relief echoing a Bogolan warp, asymmetric anatomical last shaped to the natural toe splay, stack 28 mm heel / 18 mm forefoot, 10 mm drop, laced in flat woven Bogolan mudcloth tape, aged-gold aglets, diamond Z at the lateral wall, Z-VIBE at the medial wall. Tread, last and stack height were made unique to the shoe rather than shared across the register.
Bogolan signature verificationComplete
Mudcloth was confirmed as a construction detail (laces, panel, tongue or heel band) and not surface print, and the aged-gold Z-Closure™ mark was placed.
Z-Studio 4K refinement passComplete
Studio refinement rebuilt the shoe at 4K: cleaner last geometry, corrected proportions and true material rendering on the released angles.
Seven-view studio captureIn progress
1 of 7 angles are distinct photographs; 02 Left, 03 Right, 04 Back, 05 Interior, 06 Inner tags, 07 Fabric detail still read the design board.
