D.A.T.E. is simply the acronym of the names of the four young founders of the project: Damiano Innocenti (1980), Alessandro Zanobini (1982), Tommaso Santoni (1981) and Emiliano Paci (1971). In 2005, the four of them met up in London and there, feeling dissatisfied with their working lives, decided to make a change and throw themselves into an ambitious project to create their own range of sneakers. D.A.T.E. Despite various difficulties, they succeeded in preparing their first collection, made up of just a few pieces with a decidedly early Seventies British style. They contacted a couple of agents in Italy, which however, did not take much notice of them and the first season was a flop, with less than 700 pairs sold. Based on the figures, the suppliers contacted refused to manufacture the sneakers, putting the company in serious difficulties. After having studied the most desperate options, they realized that the only way to pursue the project and not give up was to manufacture the first D.A.T.E.s themselves.