Silk ties and scarves sit alongside leather bags at Barindelli e Trezzi, the Bellagio shop established in 1944. Bordeaux's Coutellerie Prince specialises in cutlery, with sharpening offered through its family business on Rue Sainte-Catherine. Its history dates to 1917, while Turin's De Carlo Coltelleria e Casalinghi began in 1912 under Achille De Carlo. The Turin family continues to sell knives from its central shops, giving specialist cutting tools another address here.
Trading under Bellagio's lakefront arcades since 1944, Barindelli e Trezzi makes silk ties, scarves and handmade leather bags, plus individually crafted umbrellas, drawing on family lines in wool-spinning and leatherwork.
Best for Bellagio silk ties, leather bags and handmade umbrellas
Barindelli e Trezzi has traded from Piazza Mazzini in Bellagio, on Lake Como, since 1944, under the arcades between the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni and Hotel Florence. The business draws on two family trades: one great-grandfather, Ettore Sola, ran wool spinning in the Biella valleys in the early 20th century, while another, Francesco, developed leather container-making in the family workshop - a combination that still shows in the shop's split between silk and leather goods today. By the family's own account, American servicemen stationed in Bellagio at the end of the Second World War were among the first to buy the Italian-made silk and leather pieces that built the shop's early reputation. The current range centres on men's silk ties, scarves, bow ties and pocket squares in 100% pure silk, alongside handmade women's leather bags and travel luggage; handcrafted umbrellas are made individually using the same traditional techniques rather than assembled from stock parts, sitting as a genuine but secondary line next to the silk and leather. The workshop also makes fabric-and-leather trolleys and toiletry cases, and keeps a practice of recovering offcuts from larger production runs into smaller items like coin purses and key rings rather than discarding them - a detail that reflects a small workshop's economics as much as any sustainability branding.
260 rue Sainte-Catherine, 33000 Bordeaux, France / Bordeaux / France
Family cutlery house on rue Sainte-Catherine; the Prince family bought the shop in 1917 and has run it across four generations, with on-site sharpening (Petit Futé 2026; official).
Best for Four generations of cutlery and on-site sharpening on rue Sainte-Catherine.
London tailoring house whose self-supporting waistband was invented by Alec Simpson in 1934, giving the DAKS name (from 'Dad' and 'slacks'). Sold through the Simpson Piccadilly store, Britain's largest menswear shop when it opened in 1936.
Best for Trousers, heritage
Daks traces to Simeon Simpson's bespoke tailoring business, founded in Whitechapel in 1894. In 1934, his son Alec Simpson took the company into ready-to-wear tailoring and invented the 'self-supporting' waistband - small rubber pads sewn into the waistband that held trousers in place without a belt or braces, aimed originally at golf and sportswear. The company held a worldwide patent on the design for years. The DAKS name itself was coined from 'Dad' and 'slacks.' The brand became the flagship of Simpsons of Piccadilly, which opened in April 1936 as, at the time, the largest menswear store in Britain, and Daks grew under that platform into one of the country's major ready-to-wear tailoring names, later expanding into its recognisable house check.
London-designed, Turin-made coats: siblings Giulia and Aldo Acchiardi launched the label in 2010, producing in their family's Piedmont tailoring factory, running since 1928 (originally ladies' gloves).
Best for Wool coats
Harris Wharf London was launched in 2010 by siblings Giulia and Aldo Acchiardi, who design the collection in London while manufacturing it in their family's factory in Turin, Piedmont. The factory dates to 1928, when the Acchiardi grandparents used it to produce ladies' gloves, before the family later moved into garment tailoring. The brand's identity rests on British design paired with an Italian production line the family has controlled for close to a century, applied mainly to outerwear: unlined, unfussy coats and jackets. The company is stocked through a network of multi-brand retailers across Europe.
Historic 12-floor stationery emporium founded in 1904. Fountain pens, washi paper, leather accessories, and art supplies from around the world. The 'Gift Lounge' offers same-day wrapping in exquisite.
Best for Fountain pens, washi paper, leather accessories
A fourth-generation family salting Collioure anchovies by hand since 1903, packing fillets in oil and whole fish in salt. The maison also runs a concept store selling anchoïade, rouille and other Catalan foods.
2-11-23 Higashi-Naka, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka 812-0892, Japan / Fukuoka / Japan
Meigetsudo was founded in Tenjin in 1929 by Akiimaru Yūichirō; Hakata Torimon was created in 1993 after the house lost the castella trade to Nagasaki makers.
Best for Hakata Torimon from a Tenjin house founded in 1929.
2170 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6K 1N6 / Vancouver / Canada
Grandfather Wong Chew Lip founded Ming Wo Hardware in Chinatown in 1917; it evolved into a cookware house serving restaurant kitchens; remaining Vancouver doors continue after the 23 East Pender flagship closed 28 Feb 2020.
Best for Cookware from a Vancouver house founded in Chinatown in 1917.
Japanese down-gear maker founded in 1941 as Yokota Sewing in Shiga Prefecture; began making sleeping bags for a major outdoor brand in 1988, adopted the Nanga name in 1995, and launched its Aurora down jacket in 2003.
Best for Down jackets
Nanga began in 1941 as Yokota Sewing, a futon-making business founded by Akira Yokota in Shiga Prefecture, with its first factory at Motoichiba in Maibara City. The company spent decades as a contract manufacturer, expanding in 1950 to handle sewing work for major futon makers. Its shift toward outdoor gear came in 1988, when a major Japanese outdoor brand commissioned it to produce sleeping bags — work that drew on the same down-filling and sewing expertise built up in the futon trade. In 1995 the company adopted the name Nanga, after Nanga Parbat, one of the Himalayas' most difficult peaks, signaling its move into serious outdoor equipment. Down jackets followed in 2002, and by 2003 Nanga had introduced its Aurora Down Jacket, the model that established the brand's reputation for down insulation outside Japan. The company has since collaborated with other Japanese labels, including supplying down jackets developed jointly with the Tokyo apparel brand Natal Design, extending its futon-era sewing know-how into contemporary outdoor and streetwear collections.
Norwegian outdoor-gear house founded 1929 by Jorgen Jorgensen as J.J. Norrona Sporting Goods and Leather Factory; still family-run four generations later, headquartered in Lysaker near Oslo.
Best for Norwegian mountain, bold; Mountain wear
Norrona was founded in 1929 by Jorgen Jorgensen, who started J.J. Norrona Sporting Goods and Leather Factory to make outdoor gear suited to Norway's harsh terrain. The company folded in 1933 during difficult times but Jorgensen restarted it within the year. Four generations later, Norrona is still family-operated, now headquartered in Lysaker, Norway. Each Norrona product line is traditionally named after a Norwegian place associated with its intended use - the lofoten collection, for instance, is built for freeride skiing and takes its name from the Lofoten islands, but is a product-line name rather than the company's origin.
ul. Poznańska 26, Warsaw, Poland / Warsaw / Poland
Adam Baryliński founded the brush workshop in 1925 after losing his sight in the Battle of Warsaw; granddaughter Urszula still makes brushes by hand at Poznańska 26.
Best for Brushes still made by hand at Poznańska 26.
Founded in 1940, Rammagerðin gathers Icelandic design into a Reykjavík gift house, including lopapeysur, jewellery, lava ceramics, fish-leather goods and cosmetics from Icelandic makers. Its range spans handmade wool sweaters, ceramics and design from more than 100 Icelandic designers.
Best for Icelandic wool, ceramics, jewellery and design since 1940
Spanish designer born in Verín, Ourense province, in 1945; studied in Paris, took over his family's leather-goods company in 1967, launched his own label in 1982, and in 1983 opened a Paris boutique on rue de Grenelle — one of the first Spanish designers with a Paris retail address.
Best for Spanish tailoring and polished everyday clothing
Roberto Verino was born Manuel Roberto Mariño in 1945 in Verín, a town in Ourense province, Galicia, where his family ran a leather-goods manufacturing company. He studied in Paris before returning to Spain in 1967 to run the family business, and designed collections for the French label Billy Bonny before launching his own name, in 1982, as a fashion house. In 1983 he opened his first freestanding store, in Paris at 33 Rue de Grenelle, making him one of the first Spanish designers — after Balenciaga — to hold a retail address in the city. His work has been recognized across Spanish fashion institutions in the following decades, including the Aguja de Oro award in 1992, three T de Telva awards (1991, 1994, 1995), the Prix d'Excellence from Marie Claire in 2002, and Spain's Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes in 2008. The house remains associated with tailored, feminine ready-to-wear built from careful fabric sourcing, continuing a design line traceable back to Verino's original family leather-goods trade.
Peranakan heritage boutique run by beadwork specialist Bebe Seet from a 1928 shophouse at 113 East Coast Road, Katong; sells handmade sarong kebaya, beaded slippers and bags, and teaches beading and embroidery classes.
Best for Beadwork kebayas traditional crafts
Rumah Bebe is a Peranakan heritage boutique in the Joo Chiat/Katong district of Singapore, run by Bebe Seet, a specialist in traditional Peranakan beadwork. Housed in a restored 1928 shophouse at 113 East Coast Road, the shop displays Peranakan artefacts, furnishings and porcelain alongside its retail offering of ready-to-wear and custom sarong kebaya, beaded slippers and bags. Beyond retail, Rumah Bebe functions as a small cultural venue, running beading and embroidery classes and hosting visitors interested in Peranakan craft and material culture.
Alpine-gear brand founded 1935 in Munich as a leather/saddlery workshop; refocused on mountaineering in the 1950s and moved its HQ to Bolzano in 1990 after Oberalp's acquisition.
Best for Alpine shells, packs, and via ferrata kit.
Salewa was founded in 1935 by Josef Liebhart in Munich, originally as a leather-goods and saddlery workshop - the name abbreviates the German Sattler ('saddler'), Leder ('leather') and Waren ('goods'). The company shifted focus toward mountaineering equipment starting in the early 1950s, developing gear including adjustable twelve-point crampons, a tubular ice-screw design, the Andes backpack and the Helium helmet. In 1990 the Bolzano-based Oberalp Group acquired Salewa and relocated its headquarters from Munich to Bolzano in South Tyrol. Oberalp completed a new Bolzano headquarters building in 2011. Salewa remains part of the family-owned Oberalp Group alongside other outdoor brands.
Australian clothing brand tracing to 1914, when tailor Wolf Bardas emigrated from London to Melbourne; opened as a Collins Street retailer in 1947, renamed Sportscraft in 1948, still family-run through three generations.
Best for Australian heritage casual
Sportscraft's history begins in 1914, when tailor Wolf Bardas emigrated from London to Melbourne bringing an advanced pleating machine, laying the groundwork for what became the Sportsleigh manufacturing business. The company moved into retail in 1947 with its first stores on Collins Street and Toorak Road, Melbourne, and was renamed Sportscraft in 1948 as it shifted toward tailored casualwear. After Wolf Bardas's death in 1959, the business passed to his son Morris and later his grandson David, remaining a family-owned, Australian-designed company. Sportscraft has repeatedly supplied Australian Olympic team uniforms, including the 2020 Games opening ceremony, its eighth appearance in that role.
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