A Trip to the French Alps with Paraboot
Can you give us a brief history of Paraboot?
In this area, at the foot of the Alps, there were a lot of shoe producers. They are strong shoes for the mountains. In the First World War, Remy Richard, our founder, was injured. Some people in the army asked him to go back to his town to repair shoes. After that, he tried to develop this business by making new shoes. He created a company with an investor. They visited Brazil and discovered the rubber production and how to use silica to make rubber stronger. Para was the name of the port in Brazil from which they sent rubber around the world.
Julien, his son, was the next generation. He was great at developing relationships and looking after his employees, but he wasn’t interested in managing the finances of the company. The new generation came in 1973. Ten years later, the financial situation became critical. The boss, Michel, had to fire a lot of people, but he refused to compromise on the quality of the shoes we make. In Italy, we could get cheaper shoes because they were cemented and not stitched. It was fashionable all over the world to use cementing and not stitching, so everyone stopped using that technique. Visually, the shoes look the same, but the quality had decreased because cemented shoes aren’t at all as durable. Paraboot shoes are built to last a lifetime.
One of my favorite stories you shared with us was about how the brand has been working with the Chartreuse monastery for so long and about how the sandals they wear were designed.
Paraboot is near the Chartreuse mountains and the world-famous monastery there. Back in the 1960s, more or less, the Chartreuse monastery asked my father to create some sandals for the monks. They have a vow of silence, so when he visited, he tried to be quiet, but he was very excited about everything he saw. So I don’t think he could ever be a monk, but he was really excited to develop a new style with them because their way of living is so admirable. They needed sandals that you can use to work all day long. For that, you need an upper-back which can maintain your heel very well, so you can walk all day long in the mountains. You need a special grip for going up and down the mountains. At the front of the shoe, there is also a strap to protect your toes; it’s good for the monks when they’re kneeling to pray.
Another thing that I thought was really interesting was about how the monks have two sets of three people, each with one part of the ancient secret recipe. And no two people with the same part of the recipe may travel together, in the event that something happens and the ingredient list is lost forever. At the Paraboot factory, you have two people allocated to man each machine and there was a trip where your CEO stepped in to pay for it under the condition that the teams rode separately.
Yes, that’s right. We try to have some multitasking with all our workers. It’s so important to have different people who can do different kinds of work on our shoes in case of absences. When the Chartreuse monks have a big trip, the three monks who know the secret recipe must travel separately: one by car, one by plane and one by train. So when our staff decided to go to a big football match, they wanted to travel together and have a party on the bus, but Michel, the boss, said, “No. I want to pay for you. But I’ll get two buses and I’ll divide up every team between the two buses” — one Norwegian stitcher in one bus and the other in the other bus, for example. It was the same for the whole factory.
Your team feels more like a family than a staff. Where do you think that ethos comes from and how do you keep it lasting so long?
In Paraboot, it’s so important to respect everybody. If you are arrogant with the workers, they will not respect you. Respect creates respect. It’s the same in your family; you always tell your children to keep their chin up, to look people in the eye and to always say hello and thank you. And in Paraboot, we’re a big family, we all respect each other. As part of their integration into the company, we show our workers every part of the company so they understand why their work is important.
Tell us about some of your collaborations that you've been the most excited about over the years. Maybe some future ones as well that you might want to hint about?
I prefer to keep quiet about our collaborations, but can I ask you do you know any brand in the world we didn’t do a collaboration with? (It’s a joke.)
What makes each shoe so special?
Each pair of shoes is different because each pair of hands is different. Every worker is an artisan. It’s a craft and it’s a passion. Every Paraboot shoe has three aspects: leather, rubber and stitching. It’s the DNA of the brand. And we never change that. We keep the best leather, best rubber, best stitching … made in France.
