Craft guide
ORBISSHOEMAKERS & BOOTMAKERS IN PARIS60 stores · curated ORBIS register
Adieu makes unisex footwear informed by creepers and other classic shoes, using proprietary soles and French and Italian leathers. Amélie Pichard approaches shoes through a playful accessories collection, continuing the Paris designer's work begun in 2010. Anthology designs footwear and leather goods in France, with manufacturing mainly in Portugal and Spain.
Paris / Online
Founded in Paris in 2012, Adieu makes unisex shoes informed by creepers and other classic forms; it uses proprietary outsoles and high-quality French and Italian leathers.
Best for Unisex Paris shoes with proprietary soles and French-Italian leathers
Paris
Paris bespoke and ready-to-wear bootmaker founded 1973 by Turkish-trained shoemaker Sukru Sensozlu; known for its hand-applied patina service (offered since 2003) from a boutique at 11 rue Lincoln.
Best for French-Italian bespoke shoes
Altan Bottier was founded in Paris in 1973 by Sukru Sensozlu, who began training as a bootmaker in Konya, Turkey, from age eleven before continuing his apprenticeship in Paris. The house was bespoke-only for men and women until 1998, when it launched its first ready-to-wear collection; it is named for Sensozlu's son Altan, born the same year the company was founded. In 2003 Altan Bottier introduced a complimentary custom patina service on ready-to-wear shoes, which became a signature draw for Parisian shoe collectors. The brand maintains a boutique at 11 rue Lincoln in Paris's 8th arrondissement, opened in 2012.
Paris / Online
Paris accessories and shoe designer since 2010 — playful, tongue-in-cheek footwear and ornaments with offbeat feminine attitude.
Best for Playful, offbeat Paris shoes and accessories
Amélie Pichard is a Paris-based accessories and shoe designer who launched her eponymous label in 2010. Her first boutique opened in Paris in summer 2017, located at 34 rue de Lappe in the 11th arrondissement. Pichard's design aesthetic is characterized by playful wit and creative reinterpretation of vintage references, particularly '90s-inspired sensibilities given a contemporary, sometimes kitsch treatment. She describes her approach as creating wearable, sophisticated takes on nostalgic femininity—essentially high-quality Barbie-inspired shoes that maintain masculine refinement. Her accessories and footwear are handcrafted with close attention to creative detail, making each piece distinctive. The brand has expanded to distribute through major retailers while maintaining the Paris flagship as her creative hub. Pichard's work has been featured in Into the Gloss and recognized within fashion design circles for her distinctive point of view that bridges playfulness with craft.
Paris / Online
Founded in 2014 by siblings Astrid and Alexandre Suermondt, who grew up wearing espadrilles in the French Basque Country; shoes are made in partner workshops in Portugal from organic cotton, and the brand is B Corp certified.
Best for French espadrilles, slippers and easy summer shoes
Angarde was founded in 2014 by siblings Astrid and Alexandre Suermondt, who grew up in the French Basque Country wearing espadrilles as children and built their first product around that regional shoe. The company describes its name as an invented word blending 'avant-garde' with an old-French sound, meant to signal a bridge between traditional espadrille-making and updated, more sustainable production. Shoes are made in partner workshops in Portugal, which Angarde credits for artisanal know-how, using organic cotton grown without pesticides for the uppers. The company holds B Corp certification and frames its work around circularity and reduced waste in footwear manufacturing. In 2022 Angarde expanded beyond footwear into 'responsible clothing,' adding loungewear and slippers designed to be worn from day into evening, alongside its original espadrille lines such as the Cenitz model for men and women. The brand remains a family-run operation rather than backed by outside ownership, and stays based in Paris while manufacturing continues in Portugal and Spain.
Paris / Online
Paris footwear and leather-goods label founded in 2011 by Hugues de Peyrelongue and Anthony Knopfer, aiming to fill a gap between classic and contemporary shoe design; pieces are designed in France and manufactured mainly in Portugal and Spain.
Best for Clean-lined Paris shoes and leather bags in easy colors
Anthology Paris was founded in 2011 by Hugues de Peyrelongue and Anthony Knopfer, who set out to make footwear that split the difference between timeless and current. The brand's range covers women's and men's shoes as well as bags, belts, wallets and small leather goods. Design work is based in France, with manufacturing carried out mainly by workshops in Portugal, and some production in Spain, using leathers the brand selects directly. The label is stocked by multi-brand retailers including Smallable, Otte New York and Place des Tendances, and maintains its own boutique presence and e-commerce site under anthology-paris.com.
Paris
Italian-designed footwear label — wedge sneakers, buckle boots and rock-tinged trend shoes. Stocked at Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
Best for Italian-designed wedge sneakers, buckle boots, and rock-tinged trend shoes
Paris
Bespoke and ready-to-wear shoemaker founded in 1935 by André and Renée Aubercy at 34 rue Vivienne in Paris. Still family-run four generations later, it developed English-influenced construction methods from 1950 and added a dedicated bespoke bootmaking workshop around 2000.
Best for Bespoke shoes, Parisian
Aubercy was founded in 1935 by André and Renée Aubercy at 34 rue Vivienne, in the Paris stock-exchange quarter near the Bourse. The house initially made high-end ready-to-wear men's shoes rather than bespoke pairs, with its first collections produced in a small workshop in the Buttes-Chaumont neighbourhood. In 1950, with help from family friend Arturo Lopez, the Aubercys built connections with established London shoemakers and studied the artisanal construction methods behind English shoemaking's reputation, incorporating those techniques into the house's own production. In 1956 the family decided to develop a dedicated bespoke offering, aiming to give clients shoes made to the same rigour as master shoemakers, and the company opened a bespoke bootmaking workshop in central Paris around the early 2000s. As of the late 2010s the house remained independently owned and run by the founders' family, administered by Philippe and Odette Aubercy and their son, Xavier, continuing the business into a fourth generation. Aubercy today produces both ready-to-wear and made-to-measure or bespoke shoes from its rue Vivienne address, positioning itself among a small number of Paris houses that still offer full bespoke shoemaking.
Paris / Online
Chanel’s former shoe designer (11 collections) gone independent — Clergerie-trained pumps of sixties-Seberg insouciance; two Paris boutiques, no web shop of her own, carried by 58M.
Best for Clergerie-trained pumps with sixties-Seberg style from Chanel's former shoe designer
Paris, France
Bensimon is a French footwear brand built on a canvas tennis shoe Serge Bensimon developed in 1979 from French-army-surplus stock, hand-dyeing the canvas without bleeding into the rubber sole; its first store opened in 1986 in Paris's Marais.
Best for Canvas sneakers, casual
Bensimon's roots go back to 1945, when Serge Bensimon's grandfather started a family business importing secondhand American clothing to France. In 1979, Serge and his brother Yves acquired roughly 100,000 pairs of surplus white tennis shoes originally made for the French army. Serge developed a dyeing process capable of coloring the canvas uppers in a range of colors without the dye bleeding onto the rubber soles.
In 1980 he founded Surplus Bensimon, and by 1984 the brand had introduced its first full apparel collection. The first dedicated Bensimon store opened in 1986 in Paris's Le Marais district, via the retailer Autour du Monde. The shoe became associated with a particular French off-duty style, worn publicly by figures including Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin.
Paris / Online
Beracamy focuses on leather handbags and accessories, spanning shoulder, crossbody, bucket and tote shapes plus wallets and pouches; the current collection also includes shoes.
Best for Leather shoulder, crossbody, bucket and tote bags, wallets, and pouches
Paris
Parisian shoemaker since 1895 — the Alessandro wholecut, Venezia leather, and patina worked like watercolor. LVMH-owned, and still the summit of French men's shoes.
Best for Patinated Venezia-leather shoes, from Alessandro wholecuts to bespoke.
Alessandro Berluti, an Italian craftsman, established his Paris bootmaking house in 1895; four generations of the family shaped it, none more visibly than Olga Berluti, who developed the house's defining art — the patina. Berluti shoes are colored not by dyed leather but by hand-applied translucent washes built into cognacs, plums, and blues of unusual depth, often over Venezia leather, the house's supple calfskin. The result made shoes into objects closer to polished furniture or old paint. The Andy loafer, named for Warhol, is the emblematic model. Under LVMH ownership the house expanded into a full menswear wardrobe and leather goods carrying the same patinated surfaces and its scritto motif — eighteenth-century calligraphy engraved into leather. Bespoke remains at the summit in Paris. The classic models in a hand-finished patina are the essential Berluti: color as craft.
Existing pairs can be sent for re-patination as colors evolve with wear; the service, like the original finish, is done by hand and worth using.
Paris / Multiple
Lyon-born 1985—Eric Botton's shoemaker produces handmade Goodyear-welted men's shoes with Portuguese craftsmanship and French leather at direct prices.
Best for Goodyear-welted shoes at direct prices, Lyon-born
Bexley was founded in 1985 in Lyon by Eric Botton, who created the brand and its complete concept without prior training in shoemaking—an unconventional origin reflecting entrepreneurial intuition rather than inherited craft tradition. The company is headquartered in Villeurbanne, France. Bexley's business model prioritizes direct-to-consumer pricing by manufacturing in Portugal with experienced shoemakers rather than maintaining French production, allowing affordable access to Goodyear welting and handmade construction. The brand sources leathers primarily from the d'Annonay tannery, a historic French leather maker, anchoring material quality to European standards even as assembly occurs internationally. Product lines extend beyond footwear to include formal and casual shoes, knitwear (jumpers, shirts), tailored pieces (blazers, suits, trousers), and accessories (belts, shoe care). Bexley represents a pragmatic approach to accessible luxury: quality-price ratios are central to the business strategy, with tiered pricing that rewards bulk purchase. The brand has maintained consistent presence across French retail and expanded e-commerce operations, positioning itself in the segment between mass production and true-luxury positioning, appealing to consumers who value construction transparency and material sourcing without aspirational pricing.
Paris / Online
Bobbies designs shoes in Paris and handmakes them in Portugal, spanning loafers, derbies, oxfords, sneakers, sandals, pumps and Mary Janes for women and men.
Best for Paris-designed, Portugal-made loafers, derbies, sneakers, sandals, and pumps
Paris / Online
French Goodyear-welt shoemaker under the Manfield group, a family shoe business dating to 1844. Combines English last-making heritage with Italian finishing, using leathers from Northamptonshire, Brazil, Paris tanneries and Tuscany.
Best for Goodyear-welted shoes on classic English-style lasts at accessible French prices
Bowen is a French shoemaking brand built specifically around Goodyear-welt construction, tracing its identity to the 19th century, when French shoemakers travelled to Northampton, England to learn the technique. The brand operates under Manfield, a family shoe business founded in 1844 that has passed through six generations. Bowen's connection to England deepened in 1998, when it began a formal collaboration with Alfred Sargent Shoemakers of Northampton, and in 2012 Bowen took a majority stake in the Alfred Sargent company. Every Bowen shoe is Goodyear-welted as standard, using leathers from established French and Italian tanneries alongside sourcing from Northamptonshire, Brazil and Tuscany.
Le Marais, 75004 Paris
Bulgarian shoe brand with a massive Paris following — minimalist, '90s-inspired heels and boots. The Rachel bag and Tanya mule are cult items. Sleek, modern, and very Instagram-friendly.
Best for Rachel bags, Tanya mules, and '90s-inspired shoes
Paris / Online
Founded in Mallorca in 1975, Camper develops its footwear in Inca, with women’s, men’s and children’s shoes across long-running icons including Twins and Peu.
Best for Mallorca-designed Twins, Peu, and playful shoes for women, men, kids
Paris / Multiple
Founded in 1952 by Georges and Rosa Carel, who opened their first shoe boutique on Boulevard Saint-Michel near the Sorbonne, favoring low 'trotteur' heels over stilettos. Its signature Kina Mary Jane launched in 2010.
Best for The Kina Mary-Jane flat from Paris's shoe institution since 1952
When Georges and Rosa Carel opened their first women's shoe shop on Boulevard Saint-Michel in 1952, they positioned it deliberately close to the Sorbonne to reach the university's young female students. Their core idea ran against the era's fashion current: rather than the high stiletto heels then in vogue, Georges Carel designed low 'trotteur' heels of three to five centimeters, built for women who actually walked through the city. The brand also broke from the muted palettes favored by competitors, using saturated color that made its shoes identifiable at a glance. Carel's production has long depended on Italian workshops, a partnership the house still credits for its craftsmanship. Its best-known model today, the Kina, launched in 2010: a three-strap Mary Jane-style 'babies' shoe with a four-centimeter heel, cut low over the toes to wear from daytime errands into an evening out. Over seven decades the house built a run of collaborations with photographers and designers, but its identity still traces back to that original Left Bank shop and its founders' bet that comfort and color, not towering heels, would define a Parisian shoe brand.
Paris, France
Paris shoe atelier specializing in men's footwear and accessories. Blake-stitched construction with custom orders and accelerated patina finishing available.
Best for Blake-stitched shoes with painterly patinas from a Montmartre atelier
Caulaincourt is a French footwear and accessories maker focused on men's shoes and lifestyle products, emphasizing creative craftsmanship and French manufacturing. The atelier offers a diverse range including formal shoes, boots, seasonal silhouettes, and sneakers under the Bandit line. A key differentiator is the custom-order program producing 'Paires uniques' (unique pairs) with personalized specifications. Caulaincourt provides 'Patinés en Express' (express patina finishing) completed within ten business days, suggesting in-house leather finishing capabilities. The brand's emphasis on patina—the visible aging and weathering of leather—connects to a philosophy of durability and personal history. The site references 'A-Delà du Cuir' (A-Delà of Leather), indicating foundational expertise in leather selection and treatment. Caulaincourt appeals to men seeking heritage-rooted, handcrafted footwear that matures through wear.
Galerie Véro-Dodat, Paris
Christian Louboutin apprenticed at Folies Bergère dressing showgirls, passed through Charles Jourdan and Roger Vivier's orbit, and opened his own Paris boutique in 1991 in the Galerie Véro-Dodat — the covered passage his headquarters never left.
Best for So Kate stilettos and studded loafers.
Christian Louboutin apprenticed at Folies Bergère dressing showgirls, passed through Charles Jourdan and Roger Vivier's orbit, and opened his own Paris boutique in 1991 in the Galerie Véro-Dodat — the covered passage his headquarters never left. The red sole arrived in 1993 by improvisation: a prototype felt flat, an assistant was painting her nails, and he lacquered the sole with her red polish. The flash of Rouge Louboutin underfoot became fashion's most litigated and most recognized signature — trademark battles fought worldwide, largely won.
The catalogue built a full theater on that sole: the So Kate's 120-millimeter dagger line, the Pigalle, spiked Louis sneakers that conquered menswear, and beauty — that origin-story nail polish now sold in an obelisk bottle.
Still independently controlled by Louboutin and co-founder Bruno Chambelland, with Exor holding a minority since 2021, the house remains Paris shoe theatre incarnate: sculpture you walk in, with the punchline hidden until you do.
Paris / Online
Robert Clergerie’s Romans-sur-Isère architecture — platform derbies and sculptural women’s footwear since 1981.
Best for Platform derbies and sculptural women's footwear since 1981
Paris
Pierre Corthay’s sculpture — the Arca last and flame patinas, a Living Heritage atelier off Place Vendôme.
Best for Hand-welted, museum patina; Bespoke Shoes, Patina
Paris
The foam clog phenomenon — Classic Clogs, Jibbitz charms and unlikely couture collaborations. Stocked at Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
Best for Classic Clogs, Jibbitz charms, and unlikely couture collaborations
Paris / Multiple
Founded 1927 by Albert-René Biotteau near Cholet, France; the Éram name (1932) merges the founders' reversed first names, René and Marie-Josèphe. Pioneered direct plastic-sole injection in 1955.
Best for French footwear from the Cholet family business, a high-street staple since 1927.
Eram was founded in 1927 by Albert-René Biotteau, then 29, the grandson of a bootmaker and son of small industrialists, in France's Choletais shoe-making region near Cholet. The brand name itself dates to 1932, formed by reversing the first names of the founding couple, Albert-René and Marie-Josèphe (Biotteau-Guéry): 'Er' from René, 'Am' from Marie-Josèphe. The company's early product was the galoche, a leather-topped child's clog, and Biotteau built out factories at Saint-Pierre-Montlimart and Chalonnes-sur-Loire that together turned out roughly 2,500 pairs of shoes a day, making the Choletais region France's leading center for children's and volume-production footwear. In 1955, company engineer Paul Guéry patented the 'Plastifor' process, which injected plastic soles directly onto the shoe upper in a single mold, a manufacturing innovation for the French footwear industry. Groupe Eram remains a family-controlled French company built from that original Cholet workshop, now operating nationwide on the high street as a mid-market shoe retailer rather than a manufacturer of a single flagship line.
Paris / Online
Paris footwear brand founded in 1986 by Jean-Pierre Dahan and David Cohen, specializing in Goodyear- and Blake-welted men's dress shoes; grew through franchising after salesman Arnaud Bruillon opened its first franchise store in the 1990s.
Best for English-style Goodyear-welted shoes at accessible Paris prices.
Finsbury was founded in Paris in 1986 by Jean-Pierre Dahan and David Cohen, taking its name and welted-shoe construction method from Northampton, England - the historic home of Goodyear welting. The founders aimed to sell high-end Goodyear-welted men's shoes below 1,000 French francs, a pricing strategy that helped the brand build a following as a specialist in Goodyear and Blake stitched footwear. In 1994 Arnaud Bruillon joined as a part-time salesman, later becoming Finsbury's first franchisee with a store at Petits Champs in Paris and opening seven further points of sale between 2000 and 2010.
Paris / Online
Paris footwear brand founded in July 2014 by Alexia Aubert (ex-Christian Louboutin, Pierre Hardy, Oscar de la Renta), named for her grandfather Jacques Solowejczyk; shoes are handcrafted in family workshops in Portugal.
Best for Alexia Aubert's soft Paris loafers
Jacques Soloviere Paris is a footwear brand founded in July 2014 by French designer Alexia Aubert, who trained in applied arts and as an industrial shoe modeler before working at Christian Louboutin, Pierre Hardy and Oscar de la Renta. The brand's name is a tribute to her Russian-Jewish grandfather, Jacques Solowejczyk, who Frenchified his Ashkenazi surname to 'Soloviere' after the war. The label treats the shoe as a garment rather than an accessory, producing derbies, loafers, sneakers, boots, mules and sandals in limited quantities. Shoes are handcrafted in family-run workshops in Portugal. The brand is headquartered at 3 Rue Moliere in Paris's 1st arrondissement.
Paris / Northampton / Online
The Hermès-owned John Lobb house — its first Paris boutique opened in 1899, with bespoke made in Paris and ready-to-wear made in Northampton. The City II oxford, Lopez loafer and William double-monk carry its Paris-bespoke and English-making lineage.
Best for Paris bespoke and Northampton-made City II, Lopez and William models.
The John Lobb name now belongs to two distinct houses that share one founding lineage. The independent family firm remains at 9 St James's Street in London; this page covers the Hermès-owned John Lobb Paris house, whose first Paris boutique opened in 1899 and which has been part of Hermès since 1976. It combines a Paris bespoke workshop with a ready-to-wear line made in Northampton.
The City II oxford, Lopez loafer and William double-monk are modern benchmarks, Goodyear-welted in fine leathers. Paris bespoke works from an individual last; the Northampton line translates that shoemaking standard into ready-to-wear. Fit carefully, register the pair with the house, and use its refurbishment service when the soles finally ask.
Paris / Online
Paris footwear house founded 1964 by Marcel and Josette Nakam on rue Saint-Placide in Saint-Germain-des-Pres; still family-run three generations later, with shoes made mainly in Portugal, Spain and Italy.
Best for Trend-right boots and Mary Janes since 1964
Jonak was established in 1964 by Marcel and Josette Nakam on rue Saint-Placide in Paris's Saint-Germain-des-Pres district. The brand name blends the founders' first names with the family name Nakam, a combination credited to Marcel's son Joseph, who took over and expanded the company. The 1990s brought significant retail growth with roughly thirty stores opened, and in 2012 two of Joseph's children, Marcel and Lisa, joined the business and brought it into e-commerce. Now in its third generation of family ownership, Jonak designs footwear manufactured primarily in European factories in Portugal, Spain and Italy, and has recently begun expanding into Asia with a first store in Hong Kong.
Fougères
The 1970 French shoe of school gates — crepe-soled boots in primary colors. Stocked at Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
Best for 1970s French crepe-soled boots in primary colors
Paris / Online
KLEMAN makes workwear-rooted footwear in France at its historic La Romagne workshop, including derbies, boots, loafers, sandals and sneakers with signature lug soles.
Best for Made-in-France derbies, loafers, boots, sandals, and lug-soled workwear shoes
Paris / Online
Kurt Geiger spans shoes, bags and accessories, with current collections running from heels, sandals, sneakers and boots to Kensington bags and smaller accessories.
Best for Shoes, Kensington bags, sandals, boots, and fashion accessories
Paris / Online
French shoe brand launched late 2020 by Groupe Cleon, a family shoemaker founded in 1945 by Rene Cleon in La Romagne, Anjou (Maine-et-Loire) - not Normandy. Goodyear and cemented men's shoes made in the group's own Anjou factory.
Best for Norman-made shoes stocked via Cléon & Co.
Le Formier is the newest brand from Groupe Cleon, a French footwear manufacturer with nearly 80 years of history in the Mauges area of Anjou, one of France's historic shoemaking regions. The group was founded in 1945 by Rene Cleon, a cobbler-bootmaker, in the town of La Romagne, where the company's manufacturing facility still stands today. Le Formier launched at the end of 2020, its name a direct reference to the 'formier' - the craftsperson who shapes the wooden shoe last. All Le Formier shoes are made in France at the Cleon manufacturing facility in La Romagne, sitting alongside the group's other menswear shoe brands, Kost, Kleman, Redskins and Christophe Auguin.
Paris / Multiple
Paris menswear-shoe brand ('LodinG', 'the brand with the Sulky') describing itself as 30 years old, making Goodyear- and Blake-welted men's shoes, boots and leather accessories from French and Italian tanned leathers.
Best for Classic-shape men's shoes and shirts at simple pricing
LodinG is a French menswear footwear brand selling moccasins, city shoes, sneakers, boots, richelieus, derbies and Chelsea boots for men, plus leather accessories such as belts and travel bags. Its own site describes it as a French high-end ready-to-wear brand for men for 30 years. Construction methods cited include Goodyear and Blake welting, drawing on English and Italian shoemaking traditions, using full-grain leather sourced from what the brand describes as leading French and Italian tanneries.
Paris / Multiple
Paris footwear brand founded 2012 by Antoine Vigneron, Guillaume Alcan and Thibault Repellin as M.Moustache menswear shoes; rebranded ODAJE around 2024 as a circular-economy sneaker company.
Best for A Paris shoe maison now rebranded as ODAJE — same house, new name.
The Paris footwear brand now called ODAJE started in 2012 as M.Moustache, co-founded by Antoine Vigneron, Guillaume Alcan and Thibault Repellin as a men's shoe label offering an alternative to a fairly conservative men's footwear market. Over time the brand's customer base shifted heavily toward women - reportedly around 75% of buyers - and its focus moved toward women's trainers and sneakers alongside a growing emphasis on eco-responsible production. The company rebranded from M.Moustache to ODAJE (a name intended to evoke 'ode to joy') to better match this shift in what it made and who it made it for. Under the new name, the brand positions itself as a circular-economy footwear company, collecting customers' worn-out shoes and recycling the materials into new trainers.
Paris / Online
Paris shoe house founded in 1904 near the Moulin Rouge as Ernest Chausseur, renamed Maison Ernest in 2015; handmade heels, boots and pumps produced in Italian workshops.
Best for Elegant heels, boots, and pumps from a refined Paris shoe house.
Maison Ernest traces to 1904, when Ernest Chausseur opened a boutique at 75 Boulevard de Clichy in Pigalle, steps from the Moulin Rouge, making shoes for the cabaret dancers and performers of the district. In the 1920s the house's heels caught on with Jazz Age figures including Mistinguett and Josephine Baker. Around 1950 Ernest's daughter Jeanine took over and shortened the name to simply Ernest. In the 1970s photographer Helmut Newton photographed the house's Elysee pump and its 14cm heel, and in the 1980s designer Jean Paul Gaultier collaborated with the house on the GO pump. In 2015 the company restored its full name, Maison Ernest, and moved to Saint-Germain-des-Pres. In 2017 it introduced the 'bijou de talon,' a heel ornament treating the shoe as jewelry. The house's shoes are today handmade by artisans working in Italian workshops.
Paris / Online
Designer Marion Toufet launched her eponymous Parisian women's shoe label in 2015 after a decade working with international footwear workshops; leathers are sourced from Italy, Portugal and Spain, with manufacturing based in northern Portugal.
Best for Boots, loafers, and sandals made with responsible production, for women.
Maison Toufet is a Paris-based women's footwear label founded by designer Marion Toufet in 2015, following roughly ten years spent collaborating with manufacturing workshops around the world before launching her own eponymous brand. The house designs its shoes in Paris while sourcing leather and other materials from Italian, Portuguese and Spanish suppliers, with manufacturing itself located in northern Portugal. A distinctive branding detail: each shoe model is given a first name, described as a tribute to the women who inspire the label. The brand positions its aesthetic as feminine and timeless rather than trend-driven.
's-Hertogenbosch
Northampton shoemaker Manfield dates to 1844; its Paris retail history began on Boulevard Montmartre in 1889.
Best for Polished leather city shoes from a Northampton shoemaking house dating to 1844.
Paris
Chanel’s bootmaker — the Cambon atelier that made the two-tone slingback, bespoke since 1894.
Best for Chanel bespoke shoes, Paris
Paris / Online
Founded in 2003, Mellow Yellow designs women’s shoes in Paris, with collections spanning footwear and accessories; its shoes are produced across France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Morocco.
Best for Paris-designed women’s shoes, boots, loafers, sandals, and accessories
Paris / Online
Michel Vivien is a Paris footwear designer who worked for Dior, Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent before launching his eponymous women's shoe label in 1998; shoes are made in Italy, with a signature Louis XV block heel.
Best for Sculptural heels, sandals, and boots from this Paris shoe designer
Michel Vivien worked for major French fashion houses — Christian Dior, Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent — before launching his own footwear label under his name in 1998. Based in Paris, he designs women's shoes manufactured in Italy, drawing on traditional Italian shoemaking technique for construction and finish.
Vivien has described himself as a 'craftsman of the shoe,' and his collections are built around a recurring signature: a Louis XV-style block heel.
PRINTEMPS
Paris luxury footwear — Julia Toledano's debut 2019, Italian-made platform shoes and ornamental jewelry pieces.
Best for Chunky Mary-Jane platform shoes and the cult Bulla Babies style
Nodaleto is a luxury footwear and accessories brand founded in 2019 by Julia Toledano, a London College of Fashion graduate based in Paris. The brand's name, an Italian word meaning 'little knot', symbolizes the company's attention to fine craftsmanship and detail. Nodaleto operates studios in Paris and Los Angeles and manufactures shoes in Italy. The brand specializes in platform shoes and decorative jewelry pieces including shoe clips, anklets, necklaces and toe rings, organized into seasonal collections alongside a signature permanent line. Julia Toledano's fashion heritage informed the brand's foundation, and she currently leads the company with advisor support from co-founder Olivier Leone. Nodaleto's designs emphasize ornamental, sculptural footwear with luxury positioning in the contemporary fashion market.
Paris / Online
Paris-designed footwear label founded 2019 by former Chloe designers Paule Tenaillon and Marine Braquet; shoes are handmade in a family-run factory in Montopoli, Tuscany, using upcycled and vegetable-tanned leathers.
Best for Responsibly made women's shoes with Italian craftsmanship and comfortable shapes
Nomasei was founded by Paule Tenaillon and Marine Braquet, two designers who met while working together at Chloe after both had also passed through houses including Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Givenchy. The brand's name is a play on the Italian words 'mano' (hand) and 'sei' (six) reversed, referencing 'six hands': the two founders' own hands, plus a symbolic pair belonging to each customer. Nomasei positions itself around sustainability - using upcycled offcuts and deadstock materials, metal-free certified leathers, and vegetable-tanned leathers. Every pair is designed in Paris and manufactured in Montopoli in Val d'Arno, Tuscany.
Paris
Parallèle makes polished women’s footwear, including boots, pumps and sandals with discreet styling. The Galeries Lafayette counter lets shoppers test heel height, leather and last shape before choosing.
Best for Refined boots and pumps of discreet Parisian luxury
Paris / France
Patricia Blanchet designs playful, glitter-accented shoes and bags from her Paris studio on rue Beaurepaire, selling the full collection of pumps, boots and sandals through a direct online shop with international shipping. The brand also maintains a store-finder page pointing customers to stockists that carry the line in person.
Best for Shoes, leather goods, womenswear
PRINTEMPS
Paris-founded sneaker and accessories house (1978) started by milliner-turned-shoe-designer Philippe Model, born 1956 in Sens; every pair is still handmade in Italy.
Best for Italian-made low-top sneakers with couture-milliner roots, Parisian elegance
Philippe Model launched his eponymous label in Paris in 1978 at age 22, after building a career as a milliner producing hats for fashion houses including Jean-Paul Gaultier and Claude Montana. Born in 1956 in Sens, southeast of Paris, he had early exposure to leatherwork through his family's tannery. Model decided from the outset that every pair of his shoes would be handmade in Italy rather than France, pairing French design sensibility with Italian shoemaking craft. The brand's breakthrough came in the 1980s with the Elastique, a shoe that became associated with a modern, urban femininity. Philippe Model has since built out a wider accessories and ready-to-wear offering, but its sneakers remain the core of the business.
Paris / Online
Pied de Biche is a French leather-footwear brand founded in 2015, designing men’s and women’s shoes for everyday wear and producing them in Portugal. Its workshops are in the Porto region, using leather sourced from European tanneries for boots, loafers, derbies, sneakers and other durable city shoes.
Best for Portuguese-made derbies, loafers, boots and sneakers in European leather
Pied de Biche is a French luxury footwear brand that designs high-end shoes for both women and men. The brand is based in La Rochelle (not Paris as sometimes implied), where design and development occur. Production takes place in Portugal using Italian leather and European construction standards. The company emphasizes premium materials, careful construction, and refined styling. Pied de Biche sells directly to consumers through their online platform and offers free shipping within Europe for orders above EUR 150. The brand positions itself as a direct-model producer emphasizing transparency in the supply chain and avoiding traditional retail markup structures.
Paris / Online
Born in Paris in 1956, Pierre Hardy trained in plastic arts and danced professionally before designing footwear at Christian Dior (1987-1990) and then Hermès from 1990, where he later added high jewelry design in 2001; he launched his own label in 1999 and sold a minority stake to Hermès in 2016.
Best for Architectural heels and the Cube bag from Hermès's shoe maestro
Pierre Hardy was born on 1 February 1956 in Paris, the son of a ballet instructor and an athletics teacher. He earned a teaching degree in plastic arts from the École Normale Supérieure in Cachan and worked professionally as a dancer before moving into shoe design, first assisting an established designer. In 1987 he took a design position at Christian Dior, working there until 1990, when he began designing footwear for Hermès, a relationship that has continued for more than three decades. In 2001 his role at Hermès expanded to include high jewelry design. Hardy launched his own eponymous footwear label in 1999; within its first year the brand sold 5,000 pairs of shoes to retailers including Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York. For Hermès's spring/summer 1998 collection he designed the Quick trainer, made entirely of leather, which is credited as the first sneaker produced by a luxury fashion house. In 2016 Hardy sold a minority stake in his own company to Hermès. His work is known for architectural heels and graphic, minimalist sneaker designs.
Chambretaud
French children’s shoes since 1870 — first steps in supple leather. Stocked at Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
Best for Supple-leather first-steps shoes for children since 1870, stocked at Galeries Lafayette
Paris / France / Online
Parisian ballet shoe maker since 1947 — the Zizi, BB, and Rose flats. Brigitte Bardot's favourite. The couture stitch sole construction.
Best for Parisian ballet flats and shoes
Paris / Online
Rivecour focuses on French shoe label for loafers, pumps, boots, sandals, and elegant everyday women’s footwear. At Paris, the range centers on loafers, pumps, boots, and sandals from this French women's footwear label.
Best for Loafers, pumps, boots, and sandals from this French women's footwear label
Paris
Rivieras makes lightweight mesh slip-ons and leisure shoes with a relaxed Mediterranean identity. Material, sole and fit variations make the Galeries Lafayette counter useful for trying pairs in person.
Best for Mesh slip-on leisure shoes for petanque and pastis hours
PRINTEMPS
ROA makes hiking footwear and apparel that sits between trail use and fashion, with a Fall Winter 26 collection currently on sale. Current shoe lines include the Andreas, Cingino, Fedaia, Hida, Hoggar, Katharina and Sella, sold alongside knitwear and outerwear. Collaborations have included Our Legacy, Wrangler and Mental Athletic, and an archive sale holds earlier seasons. The brand sells through its own online store, which ships to Europe, Japan and the United States.
Best for Technical sneakers, hiking shoes, and fashion-forward trail footwear
ROA is an Italian footwear and apparel brand founded in 2015. It applies a sportswear approach to outdoor products, treating function as the starting point rather than adding trail references to ordinary fashion shoes. The company names advanced materials and performance-derived construction as central methods. Its range separates shoes from apparel, with footwear models including Andreas and Katharina. That product naming gives the catalogue continuity while materials and sole construction change between releases. Clothing extends the same outdoor premise into outerwear and knitwear. ROA's position between mountain use and contemporary fashion is therefore built into the product system, not only the styling. The direction of travel distinguishes ROA: technical outdoor requirements inform the design language, then the products circulate in fashion contexts. The 2015 founding date and Italian identity provide clear anchors, while the shoes-and-apparel split shows the present scale of the offer. Buyers should read ROA as a young performance-derived label rather than a historic hiking outfitter.
Paris
Roger Vivier opened his own maison in Paris in 1937 and went on to patent the buckle-throated pump in 1942, design the coronation shoes for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and create the first stiletto heel in 1954; the house's boutique stands at 20 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
Best for Comma heels and Parisian shoe jewelry since 1937
Roger Vivier opened his Paris maison in 1937 and became footwear's great inventor: he patented the buckle-throated pump, designed Queen Elizabeth II's gold-kidskin coronation shoes in 1953, and in 1954 — working with Dior, whose shoes he signed jointly, an unheard-of credit — created the stiletto heel itself, steel-cored and epochal. The Comma heel, the Choc, the Virgule: he sculpted heels the way Brancusi sculpted birds.
The second immortal object came in 1965: the Belle Vivier buckle pump for Yves Saint Laurent's Mondrian collection, sealed forever when Catherine Deneuve wore it in Belle de Jour. That square buckle remains the house's monogram in metal.
Tod's Group revived the maison in the 2000s; Gherardo Felloni directs it today from the 20 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré boutique, mining the archive with jeweler's wit — crystal buckles, embellished slingbacks, the Viv' Run sneaker translating the buckle for pavement. Paris shoe-making's aristocratic line, unbroken: the heel as signature, the buckle as crown.
PRINTEMPS
Contemporary American footwear brand founded 2004 by designer Sam Edelman and wife Libby, offering accessible trend-forward women's shoes and accessories.
Best for The Loraine loafer and accessible trend-driven footwear
PRINTEMPS
Maine boat-shoe maker founded 1946 in Westbrook by Daniel Wellehan Sr, William Beaudoin and Joseph Cordeau; its Dockside moccasin, now a preppy-style staple, launched in 1970.
Best for Docksides, penny loafers, and Maine boat-shoe heritage since 1946
Sebago was founded in 1946 in Westbrook, Maine, by Daniel J. Wellehan Sr., William Beaudoin and Joseph Cordeau, taking its name from nearby Sebago Lake. The company's first product, a hand-sewn welted penny loafer drawing on Native American moccasin construction, sold well enough that Sebago reached its millionth pair by 1954. Sailors within the company's own ranks pushed development of a dedicated boat shoe in the late 1960s, and the resulting Dockside launched in 1970, becoming closely associated with Ivy League and preppy dress through the 1970s and '80s, including an appearance in 'The Official Preppy Handbook' (1980).
Paris
Paris footwear house founded in 2009 by Marcos Fernandez and Mathieu Preiss to make high-grade Goodyear-welted men's shoes affordable; shoes are made in a century-old Spanish manufacture with French and English leathers.
Best for Value handmade shoes
Septieme Largeur is a French shoemaker founded in 2009 by Marcos Fernandez and Mathieu Preiss with an explicit mission to make well-made men's shoes accessible to a wider customer base. Fernandez, whose family emigrated from Spain to southwest France in 1946, has decades of footwear-trade experience: he began importing Sebago into France in 1973 and went on to found several other shoe brands. Production is centered in a century-old shoemaking manufacture in Spain, using leathers sourced from France and England. The brand has built a following around its 'Patina Studio' - an in-house and online-simulated hand-patina service - alongside a Paris retail presence.
Paris, France
French footwear house founded in 1936 in Paris's Belleville district by Georges Grimmeisen, who combined tennis experience with rubber-industry know-how to create the first canvas tennis shoe with a four-hole ventilated vulcanized rubber sole; still family-run.
Best for Original tennis shoe, ventilated
Spring Court was launched in 1936 in the Belleville district of Paris by Georges Grimmeisen, a tennis enthusiast with a background in the rubber industry. His innovation was a breathable cotton-canvas tennis shoe fitted with a vulcanized rubber sole punctured by four ventilation holes, later adopted widely after 1960s counterculture embraced it. The company remains headquartered at Passage Piver in Paris and is today led by three sisters descended from the founder. In 2026 the brand marked its 90th anniversary with the campaign 'It's Good to Be Old.'
Paris
Tory Burch offers American sportswear, shoes, bags and accessories with polished resort influences. The Galeries Lafayette counter supports fit and material checks, especially for footwear and structured handbags.
Best for The Reva flat's double-T and Riviera-prep American sportswear
PRINTEMPS
Sheepskin boots and the Tasman slipper, at Printemps.
Best for Classic sheepskin boots and Tasman slippers
Paris / Online
Vagabond Shoemakers — footwear, bag, or leather-goods source for shoes, sandals, belts, wallets, travel pieces, and refined accessories.
Best for Shoes, sandals, belts, wallets, and refined leather travel accessories
Paris / France / Online
Parisian sustainable sneaker brand — transparent production, wild Amazonian rubber, organic cotton. The V-10 and Campo are fashion's favourite ethical sneakers.
Best for Sustainable French sneakers
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