Federico Zechetto, owner of DIAMANT (DMT), has a passion for building great cycling shoes, as its been his profession for 25 years.

 

During his tours of bike stores in the early years there were many requests for top quality cycling shoes from his clients. Zechetto returned to Italy and started a cycling shoe business, naming his new business DIAMANT, or Diamond.

 

"Cycling shoes were a lot different then, "he explained. "Black leather uppers with laces and laminated leather; we used to make 30 pairs a day, all handmade."

 

Zechetto found an outlet for his passion via a relationship with a major Italian footwear manufacturer. "We got a good reputation for quality and Diadora asked us to build some custom shoes for them. We built the first Diadora shoes for Giovanni Battaglin and brought them to him during the Giro d’Italia, which he went on to win with our custom shoes."

 

“As the trends in cycling footwear began to move towards using automatic pedals, we moved away from the old-style black leather shoes. We started to use more rigid, durable uppers on new soles that would transmit power more efficiently and this really changed cycling footwear" related Zechetto.

 

DIAMANT went on to work for all of the major brands of cycling footwear. After many years of making mid-range cycling shoes under the DMT name, and leaving the high-end to others, Zechetto decided to launch his own DMT brand in 1996, more as a matter of pride than a business decision. "We didn't have a big image (as DMT) and perhaps the industry didn’t have enough respect for our work as we built shoes for others, so we just decided to show what we could do. "

 

Initially, DMT launched one road model, the R3 with a 3-velcro upper, then added another 3-velcro model, the CRONOX in 1998. R3 & CRONOX have best in class features like a moulded heel cup and opposing velcro straps. DMT also developed an innovative Multi-System sole with specific inserts for each type of pedal system.