Paraboot

A  Brief History

As with many heritage brands Paraboot came from humble beginnings. With dedication, hard work and innovation is now an iconic French brand.

Founder Remy-Alexis Richard was born in 1878 to a rural family that sold leathers to shoemakers. Fast track to 1908, Remy started his own company designing and making shoes which he took to Paris to sell. After marrying Julliette Ponvert in 1910 he established the Richard Ponvert brand.

In 1926 Remy visited North America and saw rubber soled shoes for the first time. The raw material came from Amazonia and would be shipped from the port of Para in Brazil, and that is how he came up with the name "Paraboot, in 1927 the brand was registered and established. 

Read more about Paraboot history here if you're into it.

To this day Paraboot is run by the family now in it's third generation. Paraboot supplies the French navy with boat shoes (coming to Lark in the spring of 2011) and has seen the peak of Mount Everest, most notably on the feet of French explorer Emile Victor .

It's in the details

"Paraboot shoes are completely hand cut and hand stitched. Total loyalty to traditional techniques is as true for the“Norwegian Stitch” construction methods, as it is for the tanning process, to obtain the best leathers."

Norwegian Construction

Paraboot’s perfection of this technique, originally used for mountain boots, has made it the world leader. It offers many advantages :

- Two rows of stitching that steadfastly hold together the leather upper, the welt and the sole guarantee that the shoes will be waterproof.
- A technique that assures comfort and strength.
- A cork filling between the leather insole and the sole to assure maximum comfort and breathability.
- The possibility of resoling permits a long life for the shoes.



In 1919, 150 manual operations were required to make a pair of shoes. Today, not a single one has been eliminated.

At Paraboot, attention is paid to every detail: rigorous selection of the leathers, quilted linings, leather or rubber midsoles with cork inserts, etc, in order to guarantee maximum flexibility, waterproofing, comfort and hygiene.

Today, Praboot is the only manufacturer in the world that makes it's own rubber soles, proof of a quality rarely equalled. 200 craftsmen and women produce 350 000 pairs of shoes per year at our two factories in Izeaux and Fures, in the Isere valley in France.

Shop for Paraboot online for men and women