Paris family businesses here include Aubercy, where bespoke shoes and ready-made footwear share a Rue Vivienne address. The house began in 1935, while Camps de Luca works on bespoke suits from Rue de la Paix. Its shirt programme includes a one-piece collar, adding another commissioned garment alongside tailoring. Spring Court began in Belleville in 1936, making canvas tennis shoes with a ventilated rubber sole pierced by four holes.
Bespoke tailoring house founded in Rome in 1880 by Giuseppe Cifonelli and established in Paris in 1926; the signature cran Cifonelli shoulder was developed by his son Arturo. Now a fourth-generation, Paris-based maison.
Best for Legendary bespoke shoulders.
Cifonelli is a bespoke tailoring house founded in Rome in 1880 by Giuseppe Cifonelli. His son, Arturo Cifonelli, trained in cutting at London's Minister's Cutting Academy before establishing the house's first Paris workshop in 1926, developing what became its signature 'cran Cifonelli' shoulder - a structured cut blending British precision, Italian line and French finishing. The house remains family-run through a fourth generation, cousins Massimo and Lorenzo Cifonelli, who have kept it independent of the luxury-conglomerate consolidation that absorbed many other historic tailoring names. A bespoke Cifonelli suit takes more than 80 hours of hand work. The house's Paris operations are centered on rue Marbeuf in the 8th arrondissement.
Family-owned perfume house founded in London in 1760 by James Henry Creed; relocated to Paris in 1854 at the request of Empress Eugenie. Still led by the Creed family, now in its seventh generation.
Best for Aventus and Green Irish Tweed.
The House of Creed traces to 1760, when James Henry Creed established himself in London as a tailor whose scented gloves and waters seduced the court; Empress Eugénie's patronage drew the firm to Paris in 1854, and the family has compounded fragrances ever since — seven generations, each master handing the organ to the next, royal warrants collecting like sediment — George III commissioned Royal English Leather in 1781, and Jasmin Impératrice Eugénie still carries the empress's name. The original London rooms stood on Conduit Street.
Olivier Creed, sixth generation, wrote the modern legend: Green Irish Tweed in 1985 — the fresh fougère a thousand colognes imitate — and Aventus in 2010, the pineapple-and-birch juggernaut that became the most influential men's fragrance of its era, its batch variations debated online like wine vintages. Millésime concentration, hand-weighed ingredients, and origin stories starring kings and film stars complete the mythology.
Kering Beauté acquired the house in 2023 for a sum reported near €3.5 billion — its founding purchase — with Olivier's son Erwin representing the seventh generation. The boutiques, Paris's above all, sell perfumery's rarest asset: continuity you can smell.
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.
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 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.
Family-run Paris label founded in 2011, focused on a single well-made grey t-shirt in organic cotton, using a proprietary Supradoo fabric, manufactured in Portugal in limited runs rather than seasonal collections.
Best for Paris menswear basics with obsessive quality focus
GoudronBlanc was founded in Paris in 2011 as a family-run business built around a narrow idea: designing one genuinely well-made t-shirt rather than chasing seasonal collections. The company partners with small-scale manufacturers in Portugal, where its garments are produced, and has used 100% organic cotton since it started. Its signature material is a proprietary jersey it calls Supradoo, developed to hold shape and color over repeated wear rather than degrade after a handful of washes — the point being a shirt meant to last years rather than a season. Production runs are kept deliberately limited, and the range stays narrow, mainly t-shirts in muted, considered colorways designed to work in both casual and slightly dressed-up settings. The brand's name, roughly 'white tar' in French, plays on the idea of taking something ordinary — the plain t-shirt — and refining it into something durable and specific, rather than the disposable basics typical of fast fashion.
Paris made-to-measure suiting with accessibility — custom tailoring at startup-generation pricing since 2009.
Best for Made-to-measure Paris suiting at startup-friendly prices
Louis Purple, founded in 2009, specializes in made-to-measure menswear with boutiques in Caen, Metz, and Paris. The flagship Paris shop is located at 6 Boulevard Malesherbes in the Madeleine district. Their signature suits feature half-canvas construction for natural drape and lasting structure, available with over 800 fabric options and extensive customization. Delivery typically takes 3 to 4 weeks. The brand belongs to a large manufacturing group producing 1 million suits annually, giving Louis Purple deep expertise in sleeved pieces originating from its half-measure heritage. They serve customers of all body types with made-to-measure options including everyday wear and wedding suits.
French workwear maker founded 1927 in Paris by Edouard Beerens, who received an apron-and-overall factory as a wedding gift; moved to Lambersart near Lille in 1930. Still family-run and 100% manufactured in France, four generations later.
Best for Bleu de travail workwear from the original French maker since 1927
Vetra was founded in 1927 by Edouard Beerens, whose mother gave him a small factory producing aprons and work overalls as a wedding present. The workshop opened at 3 rue de Bretonvilliers, on the Île Saint-Louis in central Paris, and the brand name — VETRA — was formed from 'VETements de TRAvail,' French for 'work clothing.' Beerens designed the original logo, rendered in red with a schematic factory building, a mark the company has kept in its visual identity since. As the workwear line grew, the Paris premises became too small, and in 1930 production relocated to Lambersart, a suburb of Lille in northern France's historic textile belt — the region's dense concentration of weaving and garment-making infrastructure made it a natural fit for a growing manufacturer. Vetra has remained under Beerens family ownership and management since its founding, now run by the third and fourth generations, and continues to manufacture 100% of its garments — chore jackets, moleskin trousers, and the classic 'bleu de travail' workwear associated with French tradesmen — in its own French factory rather than outsourcing production, a point the company treats as central to its identity nearly a century on.
Parisian slipper and loafer label founded in 2012 by Francois du Chastel. Slippers are customizable with monograms, tassels and trims, made by family-run workshops near Porto, Portugal, from Italian and Spanish leathers. Boutique at 94 Rue du Bac, Paris.
Best for Personalized Paris slippers and loafers with tassels and color
Chatelles was founded in 2012 by Francois du Chastel, who came to fashion after a stint in investment banking in London. Du Chastel designed a pair of slippers embossed with a Victor Hugo verse for a girlfriend, who kept the shoes even after the relationship ended - prompting him to turn the idea into a business. Chatelles built its identity as a single-product brand centered entirely on the slipper and loafer, customizable with initials, tassels, and other trims. Manufacturing takes place in three family-run factories in a small town in northern Portugal's Porto region, using leathers sourced from Italy and Spain. The brand's flagship boutique operates at 94 Rue du Bac in Paris's 7th arrondissement.
Parisian leather goods house founded in 1990 in the Marais by Thomas Tchen, from a family of three generations of leather artisans; known for the ACE baguette bag (1998) and for keeping roughly a third of production in its Paris-region workshop.
Best for French handbags of dependable polish, made since 1990
Lancaster was founded in 1990 in Paris's Marais district by Thomas Tchen, whose family had worked in leather craft for three generations. The house built its identity on accessible, French-made leather goods, and its 1998 ACE baguette bag remains a recurring style - about 70% of the collection carries over year to year. Roughly a third of Lancaster's pieces are still produced in a workshop in the Paris region, with the rest of manufacturing extended to Asia as the brand grew a wider, international customer base.
A Valet de Pique label, made in Europe; Valet de Pique was founded in Paris in November 2018 by Martin Meunier and Gabriel, working with a century-old Belleville leather workshop now run by its founding family's fourth generation.
Best for Minimal leather bags and quiet-luxury accessories
Le Feuillet is a leather-goods label operated by Valet de Pique, the Paris maroquinerie founded in November 2018 by Martin Meunier and Gabriel. The founders built the company around a century-old leather workshop they discovered in Paris's 11th arrondissement, originally specializing in leather goods for tradespeople — mailbags for postal workers, tool cases for railway employees — and historically run by the founding family; it is now managed by fourth-generation siblings Axelle and Eric Guillette. Valet de Pique's early designs referenced that trade heritage directly, with pieces like the Edmond document holder and Émile satchel modeled on 1960s postal-service bags. Under the Le Feuillet name, the operation applies the same Belleville-area, European manufacturing and vegetable-tanned leather to a more minimal collection — briefcases, handbags, and belt bags — sold in part through Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche in Paris. The company frames its approach as a reaction against fast fashion: made-to-last construction, European sourcing, and production kept within the same family workshop it started with rather than outsourced overseas.
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 leather-goods brand founded in 2018 by Martin Meunier, working with a fifth-generation Paris sellier-harnacheur workshop; early bags like Edmond and Emile were inspired by 1960s French postal-service satchels.
Best for Classic French leather bags, belts, and accessories
Valet de Pique is a French leather goods brand founded in 2018 by Martin Meunier, an engineer by training who set out to spotlight traditional French leatherworking craft. Rather than opening his own tannery, Meunier partnered with an existing family-run atelier in Paris's 11th arrondissement - a saddlery and harness-making workshop now run by its fifth generation. The brand's name refers to a traditional leatherworking clamp used to hold hide steady for hand-stitching with an awl. Valet de Pique's first hand-made pieces, launched in 2018, were named after and inspired by mid-20th-century French trades: the Edmond briefcase and Emile satchel echo the leather bags carried by 1960s French postal workers.
Founded in Millau in 1924 by Étienne Fabre, Maison Fabre remains family-run into its fourth generation, hand-cutting lamb, peccary and sheepskin leather gloves. Its range spans driving, fencing, golf and ceremony gloves, all made in its Millau workshops.
Best for Millau-made driving, fencing, golf, ceremony, and leather gloves
Maison Fabre was founded in 1924 in Millau by Étienne Fabre, then 40 years old, whose interest in glovemaking traced back to 1909, when he served as a mounted gendarme and first encountered the trade. The house has stayed in the same family across four generations since, based in Millau workshops with an additional presence in Paris's Palais-Royal.
The company works in lamb, peccary and sheepskin leathers, lined in cashmere, fleece or silk, and produces a range built around specific uses rather than a single generic glove: driving gloves, fencing gloves, golf gloves, ceremony gloves and mittens each have their own cut. Alongside gloves, Maison Fabre also makes small leather goods, belts, bags and jackets, extending its leatherworking beyond hands alone.
Maison Fabre's own materials describe its approach as using natural, local and traceable materials and frame the house as carrying forward "French craftsmanship rooted in its territories".
Paris high-jewelry house founded 1613 by a family of tinkers from Val Vigezzo, Italy, and passed down 14 generations. Billed as the world's oldest jewelry house and the last independent one in France, it remains headquartered at 9 Rue de la Paix near Place Vendome.
Best for Historic Paris jeweler with high jewelry, precious stones, and old-world craft
Mellerio dates its founding to 1613, tracing its origins to an Italian family from the Val Vigezzo valley in northern Italy who first worked as itinerant tinkers before establishing themselves in the French jewelry trade. The house describes itself as the oldest family-owned jewelry house in the world and the last independently owned one in France, with the business having passed through 14 generations of the same family. It has long been associated with the Place Vendome district of Paris, describing itself as the first jeweler to settle in that area, and today operates from 9 Rue de la Paix in the 2nd arrondissement. The house's offerings span fine and high jewelry organized into collections such as 'Les Muses,' Giardino and Cabinet de Curiosites, alongside engagement and wedding jewelry, jewelry watches, and a line of fragrances and candles.
Paris fine-jewelry line launched 2017 by Sophie Lepourry, formerly of Hermes, Prada and Saint Laurent, combining her first name with her city for the brand name. Pieces are cast in recycled 18k gold since 2021 and handcrafted at a family-run workshop in Porto; boutiques in the 7th and 3rd arrondissements.
Best for Delicate stone jewelry and charms for feminine everyday wear
Sophie d'Agon was founded in 2017 by Sophie Lepourry, who spent years working for major luxury houses before starting her own jewelry line around age forty. The brand's name merges her first name with 'agon,' a nod to Paris. Design is self-taught and intuitive, built around colorful, movement-driven pieces in blues, reds and yellows. Since 2021 all pieces have been cast in recycled 18-karat gold, made at a family-run workshop in Porto, Portugal. The house now operates two Paris boutiques: one at 66 Rue de Grenelle, and one at 62 Rue de Saintonge in the Marais.
The 1828 dynasty of French perfumery — Shalimar, Mitsouko, Habit Rouge and the bee bottle; five generations of Guerlains, now LVMH’s scented crown.
Best for Shalimar, Mitsouko, Habit Rouge and bee-bottle fragrances
Guerlain is the longest continuous conversation in perfumery. Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain opened on Rue de Rivoli in 1828, won the title of Imperial Perfumer with Eau de Cologne Impériale for Empress Eugénie in 1853, and founded a dynasty: five generations of Guerlain noses, each handing the organ to the next. Jacques Guerlain alone wrote a canon — Mitsouko's peachy chypre (1919), Shalimar's vanilla-smoke orientalism (1925), L'Heure Bleue's melancholy dusk.
The house's inventions are structural to the industry: Jicky (1889) is often called the first modern perfume, the bee bottle of 1853 remains the maison's emblem, and the Guerlinade — tonka, iris, vanilla, bergamot — is the signature accord running under two centuries of formulas. Thierry Wasser, the first non-family in-house perfumer, keeps the organ today, with production at the Orphin manufacture in France; Habit Rouge (1965) holds the men's wing of the canon.
Under LVMH, Guerlain runs from the restored 68 Champs-Élysées flagship: fragrance fountains, bespoke bottle engraving, and Shalimar still sold where empresses shopped.
Paris spice house at 3 rue Dupuis in the 3rd arrondissement, run by the Thiercelin family since 1809; formerly branded Goumanyat and now trading as Thiercelin 1809, it prepares saffron on site and supplies chefs including Pierre Gagnaire and Alain Ducasse.
Best for Six generations of saffron — the Thiercelin family’s spice temple
The Thiercelin family's spice business dates to 1809, when Jean Thiercelin — originally a cooper and vinegar-maker in Pithiviers — began trading in spices. Seven generations later, the house is still known above all for saffron, which it prepares as powder and threads on site using techniques passed down through the family. The Paris boutique sits at 3 rue Dupuis in the 3rd arrondissement, a shop long known to Paris food circles under the name Goumanyat before the family consolidated its retail identity under the older Thiercelin 1809 name. Its client list has included star chefs such as Pierre Gagnaire and Alain Ducasse, who source spices there for restaurant use, and the shop stocks a wide range of spices beyond saffron for both professional cooks and home visitors. The rue Dupuis address remains the house's Paris retail anchor, continuing a specialist trade that has survived under one family's stewardship since the early 19th century.
Paris bakery founded in 1932 by Pierre Poilane at 8 Rue du Cherche-Midi in Saint-Germain-des-Pres; still family-run, now led by his granddaughter Apollonia, baking the wood-fired sourdough miche stamped with a P.
Best for Pierre Poilâne's 1932 P-scored miche, baked in wood-fired ovens
Poilane is a Paris bakery founded in 1932 by Pierre Poilane, a native of Normandy, at 8 Rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th arrondissement. At a time when Paris was moving toward white baguettes, Poilane baked large round sourdough loaves from stoneground, unprocessed flour in wood-fired ovens; each miche is scored with a P. Pierre's son Lionel began taking over the business in 1973 and expanded it internationally. Since Lionel's death in 2002, the bakery has been run by his daughter Apollonia Poilane, continuing the same wood-fired sourdough method across three generations.
Pastry shop opened in early 2021 on rue de Charonne in Paris's 11th arrondissement by chef Bertrand Grebaut of Michelin-starred Septime, with partner Theophile Pourriat. Its name is an anagram of patisserie; batches are baked hourly from a single oven.
Best for Septime's pastry annex — natural-wine-generation tarts and choux
Tapisserie is the pastry offshoot of Septime, the Michelin-starred Paris restaurant run by chef Bertrand Grebaut. Grebaut opened it in early 2021 with his business partner Theophile Pourriat at 65 rue de Charonne in the 11th arrondissement, a short walk from Septime itself. The name is a French wordplay - an anagram of patisserie - and the shop carries over Septime's sourcing standards, using organic, seasonal and local ingredients. All pastries are made on site around a single oven, with batches produced hourly rather than baked in bulk in advance. The result functions as a stand-alone patisserie rather than a mere annex.
Founded in Paris in 1801 by Giovanni Antonio Galignani — a family in the book trade since 1520s Venice — and at 224 rue de Rivoli since 1856, Galignani is an English-language bookshop. Six family generations on, its wood-panelled rooms hold three departments: English, French, and the Fine Arts section added when English books were banned under the Occupation.
Best for English-language books and fine-arts volumes in Paris
BDK Parfums is an independent Parisian perfume house founded by David Benedek, heir to three generations in French perfumery. Its Collection Studio pairs fragrance with fashion-inspired materials.
Best for Independent Paris fragrance by David Benedek
Paris shaving-brush maker founded in 1808 by Jacques-Louis and Marie-Hélène Plisson, who both came from brush- and fan-making families and later supplied Napoleon; still family-run, it combines horn, ivory and exotic-wood handles with badger and synthetic bristle work.
Best for Badger-hair shaving brushes and the barbière ritual since 1808
Plisson was founded in Paris in 1808 by Jacques-Louis and Marie-Hélène Plisson, a couple who both came from established families in the brush-making and fan-making trades — crafts built on the same underlying skills of fitting fine bristles or materials into a shaped handle. Their manufacture combined two distinct artisan disciplines: tabletterie, the shaping and finishing of noble materials such as horn, ivory and exotic woods into small objects, and brosserie, the selection and precise placement of bristle fibers into a functional brush head. That combination positioned Plisson well when the modern shaving brush began to take off as a household grooming tool in the nineteenth century, and the house built a reputation that reached Napoleon's court — the Plissons made the emperor a beard brush designed for travel, and the brand adopted an eagle as its emblem for years afterward in reference to that association. Plisson has remained under family ownership through its history, continuing to combine both original disciplines rather than specializing narrowly in one: its range spans razors, shaving brushes in both natural badger-hair and synthetic-fiber versions, shaving cosmetics, hairbrushes, and grooming tools for beards and mustaches. The brand sells both through its own outlets and through counters inside larger retailers, including a presence within the Paris department store Printemps, keeping the more than two-century-old maker within reach of a mainstream retail audience rather than confined to a single flagship address.
Founded in Paris in 1852, Louis Fouquet is a five-generation chocolatier-confiseur making chocolates and confectionery in the city. The house is especially known for old-style pralines, fruit palets and meticulously sourced nuts and cacao, and carries France's Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label.
Best for Old-style pralines, fruit palets and Paris-made confectionery from an 1852 family house
The most English-language bookstore in the world — the original was a gathering place for the Lost Generation. The current version on the Left Bank continues the tradition. Readings, workshops. Established 1951.
Best for English-language books, readings and Left Bank literary history
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