Bespoke shoes are the starting point at Aubercy, the Paris family business established on Rue Vivienne in 1935. Ready-made footwear accompanies its commissioned work, allowing the two forms of shoemaking to sit within the same house. De Bonne Facture links its clothing to named French workshops, with jackets among the garments made through that approach. At Gemmyo, appointments let customers compare gold and platinum before jewellery is produced to order in French workshops.
24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris / Worldwide / Online
Hermès' historic flagship at 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris, where Charles-Émile Hermès moved the workshops and opened a store in 1880. The house later expanded across neighboring numbers, including No. 28 in 2007; the address remains the Paris anchor for its leather goods, silk and saddlery heritage.
Best for Birkins, Kellys, carrés, and saddle-stitched leather.
Every luxury house claims craftsmanship; one house is structured by it. Hermès began in 1837 as a saddler — harness and tack for the carriages of Paris — and the saddle never left the building. The stitch that holds a Birkin together is the saddle-stitch: two needles, one waxed thread, crossing inside each hole, a seam that cannot unravel the way a machine's lockstitch can. It is slower. It is stronger. It is the whole company in one technique — the refusal to substitute the faster thing for the better thing.
The bags carry the fame: the Kelly, named for a princess who used hers to shield a pregnancy from photographers; the Birkin, born from an airplane conversation and now the most waited-for object in luxury. But the house's soul distributes evenly across its counters — the silk carrés whose hand-rolled edges are a craft of their own, the leather goods, everything made in France by artisans whose training is measured in years before they touch a sellable piece.
Craft above all is not Hermès's slogan; it is the org chart. The house famously declines the shortcuts its scale would permit — and the address on the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, number 24, has watched the entire modern luxury industry assemble itself around what this saddler declined to change. Competitors advertise heritage. Hermès simply continues it, two needles at a time, at the same address, for going on two centuries.
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.
Boulevard Haussmann’s domed grande dame since 1865 — seven floors beneath the art-nouveau cupola. 1923 cupola was dismantled in 1939 to protect it from bombing, stored at Clichy, and restored in 1973 by the grandson of its original designer using family-workshop drawings.
Best for Historic Paris department store
Jules Jaluzot founded Printemps on Boulevard Haussmann in 1865, and the store pioneered with commercial daring — among the first to use electric lighting, to hold seasonal sales as events, and to treat its building as advertisement: the corner rotundas with their mosaic friezes and the Art Nouveau cupola of 1923, a listed jewel of stained glass, crown the store still. The dome now shelters a brasserie beneath its colored light, and the rooftop terrace of Printemps de l'Homme offers one of the quarter's best free panoramas across Paris rooftops to the Eiffel Tower. The store trades across fashion, beauty — its beauty floor is among Europe's largest — and home, positioned slightly younger than its Haussmann neighbor. Lunch under the cupola and the rooftop view are the essential Printemps experiences; the shopping floors are the connective tissue between them.
Book a table under the cupola for lunch rather than just photographing it; eating beneath the stained glass is the building's intended use of its own masterpiece.
Boutique appointments run for about 45 minutes and let clients compare eighteen-carat gold, platinum and stones with an adviser. Pieces are then produced to order in the house’s French jewellery workshops.
Best for Colorful engagement rings and personalized fine jewelry.
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.
French eco-responsible fashion label founded 2017, workshop-boutique based near Bordeaux; garments made to order and manufactured in French ateliers using linen and recycled fibers.
Best for Made-to-order, responsibly made French fashion with clean silhouettes
Aatise is a French fashion label describing itself as a pioneer of "Slow Fashion," founded in 2017 with an emphasis on responsible, sustainable production over standard retail volume. Its own materials describe an eco-conscious approach built on eco-design, zero waste, limited series and made-to-order manufacturing, produced domestically in France. The company operates a combined workshop-boutique - coworking space, garment production and showroom together - currently based in Villenave d'Ornon, just outside Bordeaux, having relocated there from a central Bordeaux address in January 2023. Its clothing is manufactured across several French workshops, including locations in Pau, Bordeaux, Castres and the Paris region, with dresses and shirts made in Bordeaux specifically. Aatise favors natural and recycled materials - linen (France being a major producer of the fiber), Ecovero viscose and Tencel among them - and offers a customization service letting customers personalize garments. The brand sells both men's and women's ready-to-wear as well as made-to-order pieces through its own e-shop.
Atelier Tuffery supports its denim with repair, second-hand and workshop-visit programmes. Customers can also buy care products such as Marseille-soap stain sticks, extending the shop’s role beyond selling a new pair.
Best for French-made jeans, chore jackets, and overshirts from a Lozère workwear maker
Paris menswear accessories house founded in 2011 by Alexandre Chapellier. Bow ties, ties, and scarves made in France (workshops in Fontaine-Raoul, Loir-et-Cher); formerly stocked at Colette, Neiman Marcus, and Isetan Shinjuku.
Best for French-made ties, scarves, and bow ties with character
Cinabre Paris is a men's accessories brand founded in 2011 by Alexandre Chapellier, who opened the first boutique that year in Paris's 10th arrondissement, at 20 rue d'Hauteville. The house began with 'couture' bow ties made from luxury-house fabric offcuts before expanding into boutonnieres, ties, scarves, and leather goods; production is handled in-house at ateliers in Fontaine-Raoul, in the Loir-et-Cher department. Early commercial success came largely from foreign buyers, particularly American clients, and the brand was carried by Paris concept store Colette, the Neiman Marcus chain in the US, Isetan Shinjuku in Tokyo, and Le Bon Marche in Paris. GQ magazine nicknamed Chapellier the 'neck dresser of Paris.'
Founded 1993 on Lake Nantua by Raphaelle Cavalli and Pierre Pernod (previously of Tehen); pleated, hand-dyed womenswear is still produced in the house's Amberieu-en-Bugey workshop in the Ain, not Paris.
Best for Pleated, hand-dyed, artisan-feeling womenswear from Ain
Cotelac was founded in 1993 on the shores of Lake Nantua by Raphaelle Cavalli, who trained in fine art in Lyon, and Pierre Pernod, who had previously created the label Tehen. The house is based in the Ain departement, not Paris, and its collections are still produced in its historic workshop in Amberieu-en-Bugey, where fabric is pleated by hand and by machine. The brand built its identity around in-house fabric treatment - dyeing, pleating and print development - applied to loose, artisan-feeling womenswear rather than fitted tailoring. In 2004 Cotelac launched a second, more casual line called acote and began expanding internationally, adding boutiques in France and abroad, with a Paris store among its several French locations.
Started in 2000 by sisters Katia and Vanessa Sanchez, who opened a workshop-boutique at 5 rue Keller in Paris selling soft printed knitwear; Vanessa now leads the label after Katia's 2019 retirement, with 2025 environmental impact scores per garment.
Best for Soft knitwear with golden-thread details from the sisters behind this Parisian label
Des Petits Hauts was founded in 2000 by sisters Katia and Vanessa Sanchez, who set out to make soft, easy-to-wear tops carrying original prints -- the literal "little tops" the brand takes its name from. From the start, the sisters opened a combined workshop and boutique at 5 rue Keller in Paris, in the 11th arrondissement, where the earliest pieces were designed and sold. What began as a small line of knitwear grew over two decades into a wider fashion house recognized for pastel-toned knitwear, delicate prints and playful accessories, built around a distinctly Parisian, feminine aesthetic. Katia Sanchez stepped back from the company in 2019, leaving Vanessa Sanchez to continue as the label's creative lead and to preserve its founding identity of poetic prints, soft textures and joyful color palettes. The brand has more recently moved toward publishing sustainability data alongside its collections: in 2025, Des Petits Hauts became one of the first French fashion brands to publish environmental impact scores for individual garments, working with the impact-measurement company Fairly Made, alongside its continued emphasis on natural fibers.
Paris tie house founded by Francois-Regis Laporte, trained in pattern cutting at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. Ties, bow ties, ascots and pocket squares are hand-cut and sewn from Lyon silk in its own Paris workshop, sold from its boutique at 42 rue de Verneuil.
Best for Ties, scarves, and collars — polished French finishing accessories.
Maison F was founded by Francois-Regis Laporte, who trained in pattern cutting at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and worked earlier as an assistant at Jacques Fath and press manager at Bruuns Bazaar. Laporte describes Maison F as the only remaining dedicated tie-maker operating in Paris. The house's ties, bow ties and accessories are cut and hand-sewn from silk sourced in Lyon, with roughly 20 minutes of handwork per tie; the workshop employs around fifty seamstresses. Maison F's Paris boutique is located at 42 rue de Verneuil, in the Carre Rive Gauche district.
Paris womenswear label by designer Valentine Gauthier, launched after she won the 2006 Dinard prize; opened her first Marais boutique in 2009 and an expanded flagship-plus-workshop there in 2018; sustainable since founding.
Best for Responsible Paris tailoring, printed dresses and knitwear
Valentine Gauthier is a Paris-based womenswear designer who studied geo-ethnology before training in fashion design and modeling at the Chardon Savard workshop, and who worked with designer Martin Margiela early in her career. She launched her eponymous label after winning the Dinard International Fashion Festival prize in 2006, and opened her first standalone boutique in the Marais district of Paris in 2009. In 2018 she expanded that address into a larger flagship with design workshops upstairs. Gauthier has described her commitment to sustainable and ethical production as dating to the label's founding in 2009. In 2019 she won the Grand Prix de la Creation de la Ville de Paris. Her collections use eco-sourced materials and are designed around comfort, modularity and longevity rather than seasonal trend cycles.
Hast is a menswear brand offering formal and casual shirts alongside tailoring and more relaxed everyday clothing. Established in 2012, it describes a wardrobe built from natural or recycled materials, with production divided among specialist workshops. Its shirts are made in Lithuania, while other garments come from different locations rather than one shared manufacturing origin.
Best for Formal and casual shirts with clearly described workshop origins
Hast's collection places formal and casual shirts alongside a broader wardrobe that extends from trousers to knitwear and outerwear. The brand dates its beginnings to 2012 and describes using natural or recycled materials across its clothing. Its craftsmanship page identifies workshops by product type, making manufacturing origin more specific than the brand's Paris identity.
Shirts are made by a Lithuanian workshop specialising in woven fabrics, while a Portuguese partner produces chinos and jeans. Other Portuguese workshops handle knitwear or jersey garments, including polo shirts and T-shirts. Ties come from an Italian workshop, and formal belts are made by hand in Spain. These are separate production relationships rather than a claim that everything is made in France.
Work jackets provide another distinction: their manufacturer is a French family business with a workshop in Tunisia. Shoppers comparing pieces can therefore use the product category to understand which workshop account applies. The collection spans tailored clothing and less formal styles, so a shirt purchase need not mean choosing a complete suit. Hast's boutique directory provides the relevant shop locations separately from this account of how its clothes are made.
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.
Le Laboureur makes traditional workwear at its workshop in Digoin, in France's Saône-et-Loire department. Its range includes work jackets and largeot trousers, with garments intended for tradespeople as well as customers drawn to workwear. The manufacturer lists stockists on its website and offers booked visits that explain the workshop's cutting and assembly processes.
Best for French-made work jackets and largeot trousers
Le Laboureur ('The Ploughman') began in the early 1950s when Primo Zélanti started selling agricultural work clothing at fairs and markets across the Burgundy region of France. The business formalized around 1956 and grew into a manufacturing workshop, moving to larger premises on the Rue des Chantiers in Digoin, Burgundy, in 1973 as demand increased. The original product line was built around clothing for farm work — the veste de travail, or work jacket, in particular — before expanding to cover garments for building-trade workers as well, while keeping the same basic approach: simple, durable, functional clothing rather than fashion-led design.
Primo's son Jean-Charles Zélanti took over as head of the company in 1988 and ran it for three decades. In 2019, ownership passed outside the founding family for the first time, acquired by Jean Copleutre — a carpenter trained through the Compagnons du Devoir, France's traditional craft guild system — together with his brother Vianney.
Le Laboureur still manufactures in Digoin and continues to make the moleskin and cotton-twill work jackets, trousers and overalls that defined its original agricultural customer base.
French knitwear brand founded in 2016 by Thibault Negra, based in Bordeaux, producing t-shirts, henleys and sweats entirely in France at a Dordogne workshop dating to 1949, using GOTS-certified organic cotton on vintage 1950s looms.
Best for French-made tees, henleys, and sweats — everyday knit basics.
Maison Cornichon is a French menswear-basics brand founded by Thibault Negra, based in Bordeaux, producing t-shirts since 2016. Its manufacturing is anchored at a production workshop in southwestern France, in the Dordogne, that the brand traces back to 1949. Garments are made using traditional looms dating from the 1950s, a slower, more labor-intensive process the brand says produces a thicker, sturdier knit than typical mass-market t-shirt production. All fabric is GOTS-certified organic cotton, and production stays entirely within France. It has drawn attention from French menswear press and stockists including Beams' mail-order arm in Japan.
Founded in 1978 in the Limousin region, Smuggler is a French tailoring house selling from boutiques in Paris and Limoges; after its longtime manufacturing partner, France Confection, went into liquidation in 2020, the brand's suits are now produced across workshops throughout Europe.
Best for French-made suiting crafted in Limoges
Smuggler was founded in 1978 as a menswear ready-to-wear chain in France's Limousin region and was taken over by the company Orphée Longchamp in 1985. Its modern identity as a Made in France specialist dates to around 2000, when Gilles Attaf and Serge Bonnefont partnered the brand with the France Confection workshops in Limoges to produce tailored suits at accessible prices; in December 2011 Smuggler earned the Origine France Garantie label for its suits, jackets, trousers and waistcoats, and it went on to dress the organizing committee of Euro 2016. The brand hit financial trouble in the mid-2010s: its parent company entered receivership in January 2017 and liquidation in March 2018, when the Paris-based Molitor group acquired Smuggler. Its Limoges manufacturing partner, France Confection, then entered its own receivership in January 2020 and liquidation that March, before being taken over by Ludovic and Corinne Gaudic, who kept its roughly 85 employees on. Today Smuggler operates as an active tailoring house selling custom and ready-to-wear suits, jackets and accessories from boutiques in Paris (rue de Courcelles) and Limoges, sourcing materials and workshops across Europe rather than exclusively in France, a shift from its earlier all-France manufacturing model.
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.
Leather-goods workshop launched 2009 by designer Alexandre Rousseau and Thierry Batteux (from ready-to-wear), based in the Aveyron department of southern France, making vegetable-tanned leather bags inspired by workwear and outdoor gear.
Best for Vegetable-tanned work satchels signed by their Aveyron maker
Bleu de Chauffe was founded in 2009 by Alexandre Rousseau, a designer with a background in established leather-goods houses, and Thierry Batteux, who came from the ready-to-wear clothing sector. The pair built the brand around a workwear- and outdoor-inspired aesthetic, taking its name from 'bleu de chauffe' — the blue work overalls historically worn by French laborers and mechanics. The company chose to base manufacturing in the rural Aveyron department, in southern France's Occitanie region, rather than a fashion capital, prioritizing natural materials: vegetable-tanned leather, natural felt, and organic cotton. Having occupied several temporary premises as the business grew, Bleu de Chauffe eventually built its own dedicated workshop, laid out to run production from the reception of raw hides through cutting, stitching and shipping under one roof. The brand's bags — satchels, totes and travel pieces built along rugged, functional lines — are produced by artisans on-site rather than outsourced, and finished pieces are signed by the maker who assembled them, tying the object back to an individual craftsperson.
Watch-strap and leather-goods house founded 1945 by Camille Fournet in Saint-Quentin, Picardy; became a supplier to major watchmakers in 1965 and still crafts alligator, ostrich and calfskin straps at its Picardy workshops.
Best for Alligator watch straps from Picardy's Tremblay leather workshop
Camille Fournet founded his workshop in 1945 on rue Vauban in Saint-Quentin, in France's Picardy region, initially training seven craftsmen to make watch straps, belts and small leather goods. In the 1960s he expanded into exotic leathers - alligator, ostrich, python, shagreen - and in 1965 the most prestigious watchmakers began naming his house their accredited watch-strap partner. The company's leather-goods and bag production is centered in Tergnier, also in Picardy. Straps are still handcrafted through dozens of individual steps by artisans working in exotic and classic skins, and the house has since broadened from straps alone into a wider range of fine leather goods while keeping its Picardy manufacturing base.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 leather house founded 1903 by Auguste Gindre for his wife's reticule workshop; became a full handbag manufacturer under his daughter Marcelle in 1920, and has traded from its arcaded boutique at 13 Place des Vosges since 2011.
Best for Structured handbags in Right Bank leather tradition since 1903
Pourchet's origins date to 1903, when Auguste Gindre set up a small workshop for his wife to make reticules -- the hand-worn micro-bags carried by elegant women of the period. His daughter Marcelle turned this into a proper leather handbag manufacturer in 1920, and her son Robert Pourchet took over the business 27 years later. Under Robert in the 1950s the house pioneered mechanized leather-goods production, including what is described as the first punches made specifically for the trade, and introduced sales catalogues to the leather-goods industry. Workshops moved to Rue du Faubourg du Temple in the 1960s, when the house adopted its three-ring Belfort lion logo; 1970 brought the signature 'Madison' canvas in navy, red and green. The best-selling '509' bag followed in 1990, drawing it-bag coverage from the international press. The company changed ownership and relaunched in 2004, and opened its current flagship boutique under the arcades of Place des Vosges in Paris in 2011, adding a second location on Avenue de l'Opéra in 2018. Bags are made from cow leather sourced from European tanneries.
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.
Paris jewelry line founded in 2004 by former lawyer Sophie Pfeffer, handcrafted entirely in the brand's own French workshop using cut and raw gemstones, gold, turquoise, labradorite and Swarovski crystal.
Best for Delicate jewelry and charms with a poetic Parisian feel
5 Octobre is a Paris jewelry house founded by Sophie Pfeffer, who spent nearly a decade practicing law before turning to a lifelong interest in stones, antique jewelry and tribal adornment. She launched her first collection in 2004, quickly drawing attention from fashion editors. Pfeffer works in small series with French artisans, and every piece is made by hand in the brand's own atelier, using fine gemstones in both cut and raw form alongside precious metals finished in fine gold, turquoise, labradorite and cotton thread. The brand's Paris showroom is on rue de Seine in Saint-Germain-des-Pres.
Paris workshop, founded in 2014, that hand-sculpts gold and silver wire into personalized jewelry — names, dates and messages formed directly in wire without molds, casting or engraving — from its boutique near the Bourse and a workshop in the 10th.
Best for Wire-word jewelry with personalized, scripted-name bracelets and rings
Atelier Paulin makes personalized jewelry using a technique the workshop describes as wire lettering: precious-metal wire — 18-karat gold in yellow, rose or white, 925 sterling silver, or 14-karat gold-filled wire — is hand-sculpted into names, dates, symbols and short messages without engraving, stamping or duplicate molds, so each piece is individually formed rather than cast from a template. The business dates its handcrafted jewelry-making to 2014 and produces everything in its own French workshops, describing its output as 100% made in Paris. Its main boutique is at 60 rue de Richelieu, near the Bourse, and it also runs a workshop space at 12 rue Philippe de Girard in the 10th arrondissement, where craftspeople work on personalized pieces in view of customers on weekdays. The range covers bracelets, necklaces, rings and earrings, generally sold as customizable pieces built around a client's own choice of wording or symbol rather than as a fixed ready-to-wear collection.
Paris watchmaker founded in 2014 by childhood friends Ambroise Parlos and Adrien Sanglé-Ferrière as a crowdfunded startup; assembly moved in-house in 2019, now built at its Saint-André-des-Arts workshop-boutique in the 6th arrondissement.
Best for Automatic watches under four figures.
Charlie Paris was founded in 2014 by two childhood friends, Ambroise Parlos and Adrien Sanglé-Ferrière, while both were still students. The brand launched with a crowdfunding campaign, reportedly the first French watch label to do so, built on a simple brief: timeless designs with singular lines, made in France, sold without the markup of established maisons. Early collections leaned on quartz movements before the founders moved into automatics and tool watches aimed at travelers and divers, including the Concordia dive-watch line. In 2019 Charlie brought watch assembly in-house rather than outsourcing it, a deliberate step to keep more of the production chain inside France. The following year, the label opened a flagship at 53 rue Saint-André-des-Arts in the 6th arrondissement, a space that combines boutique, assembly workshop and offices under one roof, later followed by a second address on rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie in the 4th. The founders describe the project as an attempt to keep alive France's watchmaking heritage while staying accessible on price, positioning Charlie between mass-market quartz brands and the country's legacy maisons. The name plays on French familiarity — a first name rather than a surname — signaling a more approachable register than the industry's usual eponymous grandeur.
Napoleon’s jeweler on Place Vendôme — Joséphine tiaras, Bee My Love honeycombs and imperial heritage. after making Napoleon's coronation sword and Pius VII's tiara, Nitot became jeweller to the imperial court and appointed supplier to Empress Joséphine (block dated 1804–1815). Son François-Regnault moved workshops to Place Vendôme no. 15 in 1812 (now the Ritz).
Best for Joséphine tiaras and Bee My Love honeycomb jewelry from Napoleon's Place Vendôme
Chaumet's founding client list needs only one name: Napoleon. Marie-Étienne Nitot, who established the house in 1780, became the Emperor's official jeweler — the coronation crown, the consular sword bearing the Regent diamond, and tiaras for both empresses, Joséphine and Marie-Louise. The maison has traded on that imperial intimacy ever since; Joséphine is not a muse here but a product line.
The tiara remains the house signature — Chaumet has made more than 3,500 of them, and its Place Vendôme salons keep a museum of nickel-silver tiara maquettes that reads like a crown registry of Europe. The Bee My Love collection turns Napoleon's imperial bee into honeycomb pavé; Liens ties its knots through wedding registers.
The maison has occupied 12 Place Vendôme since 1812 — Chopin died upstairs — and its grand salon still looks onto the column cast from Austerlitz cannon. Two centuries after the coronation, Chaumet remains what it was hired to be: the jeweler of French sovereignty, now sold by the carat.
Paris hand-embroidered brooch and badge house founded in 2009 by designers Marie Macon and Anne-Laure Lesquoy, whose military-insignia-inspired pieces are produced by needleworkers in Pakistan and embroidery workshops in Portugal. First boutique opened near Canal Saint-Martin in 2017.
Best for Embroidered brooches and patches with playful French wit.
Macon & Lesquoy was founded in 2009 by Marie Macon and Anne-Laure Lesquoy, who met studying at Paris's Ecole Nationale Superieure de Creation Industrielle. Their hand-embroidered brooches and badges draw their visual language from military and royal decorations - precise, dense stitching rendered as wearable pins rather than insignia. Marie designs the motifs and Anne-Laure develops them into finished pieces, working with needleworkers in Pakistan and mechanical embroidery workshops in Portugal to produce the collections. The pair have also built collections around places they've traveled together, including Russia, Japan, Rwanda and India. After several years as a wholesale and online-only label, Macon & Lesquoy opened its first physical boutique in 2017, in the Canal Saint-Martin neighborhood of Paris - an area the brand's own material describes as having kept its village character despite gentrification.
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".
Founded in 2000 by Marie Montaud, who runs a boutique-workshop on rue de Marseille by the Canal Saint-Martin; pieces set shells, bone, wood and semi-precious stones in 24-carat-gold-plated brass.
Best for Poetic costume jewelry in color and texture with soft bohemian styling
Médecine Douce was founded in 2000 by Marie Montaud, who runs the label from a boutique-workshop on rue de Marseille near the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, after earlier collaborations designing jewelry for larger fashion houses. Montaud's pieces are built from a mix of natural and found materials — shells, bone, wood, and colored, tumbled stones — combined with pieces of ceramic she treats to resemble granite, each element set or wrapped in gold wire rather than cast or stamped in a single mold. The base metal is brass plated in 24-carat gold, keeping pieces priced below fine jewelry while retaining a semi-precious, artisanal character; production stays local to the Paris workshop rather than being outsourced. The label's aesthetic draws on a mix of natural forms and slightly irregular, handmade finishing, which distinguishes it from more uniform costume-jewelry manufacturing. Montaud has continued to run the brand as a single-designer operation over two decades, maintaining the same workshop-based model rather than scaling into mass production.
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.
Titlee has drawn jewellery and small objects in Paris for over twenty years. Pieces are made in brass, finished in twenty-four carat gold plating or fine gilding, and produced in small series. Cutting, gilding, enamelling, soldering go to partner workshops in Paris, with final assembly in the house atelier. Necklaces, pins, stationery, a licensed Peanuts collection fill the catalogue.
Best for Gold-plated brass jewellery and pins made in small Paris series.
Titlee has designed jewellery and objects in Paris for over twenty years, and the house says each piece starts from a drawing or a detail noticed on a walk, in a book or in a film. Production runs in small series. The stated reason is quality and the avoidance of overproduction, and it lets collections keep changing rather than arriving whole each season. The metal is brass. Pieces are finished either in twenty-four carat gold plating or in fine gilding, depending on the model, and where natural stones are set each one carries its own shade. Making is split across partner workshops in Paris. Cutting, gilding, enamelling, soldering, assembly each go to artisans the house has used for years, and the final assembly happens in its own atelier. The same workshops have been used since the beginning wherever that is possible. The catalogue covers necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, pins, with children's sizes for several of those, and a stationery line of postcards, notebooks, pens, stickers. A licensed Peanuts collection runs across jewellery, stationery, patches. The house is direct about the limits of its own position and says it prefers to move step by step rather than promise what it cannot deliver. Titlee SASU is registered at 28 rue Henri Kleynhoff in Gentilly.
Certified-organic skincare line founded in Paris in 2009 by creative director Isabelle Caron, with a Maison near Canal Saint-Martin housing a boutique, spa treatment room and product workshop.
Best for Modular, mix-and-match organic clean skincare with an apothecary feel
Absolution was founded in 2009 by Isabelle Caron, a creative director with a background in botany who had previously worked across cosmetics and fragrance brands. Her stated motivation was dissatisfaction with existing skincare brands, which she felt lacked sincerity; Absolution's products are formulated from certified-organic or wild plant extracts, minerals and vitamins. The brand operates a physical Maison in central Paris near Canal Saint-Martin that combines a retail boutique, a spa treatment room, a product workshop, and offices. Reporting on the brand notes it became profitable roughly seven years after launch, with around 30% annual growth and distribution reaching about 27 countries.
Nose is a concept store for niche perfumery and beauty at 20 rue Bachaumont in the Montorgueil district of Paris, near Sentier metro. Its signature is the olfactive diagnosis, a guided session that recommends fragrances from the shelves, and 30-minute appointments with an advisor can be booked. Houses stocked include Frédéric Malle, Juliette Has a Gun, Maison Francis Kurkdjian and Penhaligon's. Companies can book olfactory workshops for their teams through the boutique.
Best for Algorithm-plus-expert fragrance matching on rue Bachaumont
Nose occupies a corner shop at 20 rue Bachaumont in the Montorgueil district of Paris, a short walk from Sentier metro. It calls itself a concept store dedicated to niche perfumery and beauty, and the organising idea is the olfactive diagnosis. Online, the diagnosis returns five recommended perfumes in under two minutes. In the boutique it becomes a 30-minute session with an advisor, booked through Calendly, that can also cover a launch or a new brand as well as product advice. The shelves carry houses such as Frédéric Malle, Juliette Has a Gun, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Acqua di Parma, Penhaligon's, Miller Harris, Iunx and Mark Buxton, as Visit Paris Region lists them. Perfumes are sorted by gender and by season, then by olfactory family from chypre to woody. Skincare and haircare are arranged by concern, including signs of ageing and dehydration. Companies can book olfactory workshops for their teams. Visit Paris Region describes the boutique as refined in design and intimate in atmosphere, positioned as a beauty creator rather than a sales outlet. Orders ship internationally with tracking, and the site runs in French and English.
Adeline Klam sells Japanese paper, origami supplies, stationery and decorative craft materials from Paris. Workshops and kits help beginners understand folding and paper choice before investing in larger quantities.
Best for Japanese papers, origami, and stationery workshops
Founded in 2011 by Alix Depondt-Reynis, a former lawyer who began hand-shaping porcelain at age 35; her tableware and lighting are still hand-modeled in her rue Jacob workshop, then produced by a family manufacture in Limoges.
Best for Porcelain, lighting, and jewelry with a soft romantic French feel
Alix D. Reynis did not train as a designer. She studied law, worked for several years in a notary's office, then spent a year as a construction site manager before changing direction entirely. At 35, after the birth of her fourth child, she began working with clay in her home basement, first with earthenware and stoneware before discovering porcelain, drawn to what she describes as its lightness, fineness and quiet density. She launched her eponymous brand in 2011 with a first tableware collection, followed by scented candles, lighting, and more recently jewelry. Her working method has stayed consistent since: she hand-shapes and models each piece herself in her workshop on the rue Jacob in Paris, and those hand-built models and molds are then sent to a family-run porcelain manufacture in Limoges for production, rather than the pieces being produced from the outset in Limoges. The visual signature that runs through the collections, matte white glazes, clean lines, softened classical forms reduced to essentials, comes directly from that hand-modeling process, and from her stated preference for restraint over ornament in reworking traditional porcelain shapes.
A Paris ceramics studio founded in 2015 by self-taught ceramicist Sara Théron, working from a workshop-boutique at 69 rue de Meaux. Hand-built animal figures and charms are finished with pigmented clay engobes and fired twice above 1,000°C.
Best for Small-batch ceramic animal figures and charms
Dodo Toucan began in 2015 with Sara Théron, a self-taught ceramicist who started out taking evening pottery classes for pleasure before deciding, almost on a whim, to sell her first pieces at a creators' market. That informal beginning grew, over roughly a decade, into a structured Paris ceramics business with its own workshop-boutique at 69 rue de Meaux in the 19th arrondissement, a small team of ceramicists, an e-shop, and close to 150 stockists carrying the brand elsewhere. The studio's identifiable style favors naive, narrative-driven forms, toucans and other animals, along with small charms and 'grigris' meant to carry personal meaning, built up by hand rather than cast from molds. Color is the technical signature: pieces are coated in engobes, a slip made from dry clay blended with pigment, which the bisque-fired ceramic absorbs; color only becomes fully vivid after a second firing above 1,000 degrees Celsius. Beyond animal figures and charms, the studio makes homeware, vases, bowls, decorative globes and fans, along with limited editions and one-off pieces. Théron and her team also run ceramics workshops on-site, from single introductory sessions to multi-week courses, extending the business from retail into hands-on teaching.
Made in Montrouge, France since 1885, Papier d'Arménie's paper strips are soaked in alcohol-dissolved benzoin resin and burned rather than lit, a format created after founder Auguste Ponsot saw Armenians burn benzoin to freshen their homes.
Best for Original benzoin-soaked incense papers, made in the same Montrouge workshop since 1885
Papier d'Arménie has burned the same way since 1885: a strip of paper soaked in benzoin resin dissolved in alcohol, torn off, folded into a fan, and lit to smoulder rather than flame. The company traces its start to the chemist Auguste Ponsot, who saw Armenians burning benzoin to freshen their homes and, working with the pharmacist Henri Rivier, adapted the practice into a paper carnet a French household could use without a censer or coal. Production has stayed in Montrouge, just outside Paris, for more than a century, and the business has stayed in family hands — Mireille Schvartz, great-granddaughter of a co-founder, has run it since 1991. The line has grown past the original Tradition formula to include Rose and an Arménie blend, but the format hasn't changed: booklets of perforated paper strips, no burner or reed required. By 2023 the workshop was turning out some 3.5 million booklets a year, with about 15 percent exported, still recognizable as the same product generations of French households have kept in a kitchen drawer for the smell alone. It reads less as a fragrance house than a single fixed ritual, unchanged since a nineteenth-century encounter with an Armenian household custom.
Paris interior architecture and decorative arts house founded in 1841 by a cabinetmaker; still operates its own boiserie/millwork, furniture and bronze workshops across three sites in France.
Best for High-end French interiors, furniture, and decorative-arts craftsmanship
Maison Rinck is a Paris interior architecture and decorative arts firm founded in 1841 by a cabinetmaker, shaped across generations by members of the Rinck family including Eugene Rinck, active in the 1930s Art Deco movement. Under Maurice Rinck's leadership the house began working with Parisian luxury hotels in the 1930s. Rinck still runs its own onsite production: boiserie and millwork workshops, furniture and bronze workshops, and design offices spread across three sites in France, delivering full turn-key interiors for private residential clients as well as institutional and hospitality commissions.
Paris spirits house trading since 1956, with its historic whisky boutique at 20 rue d'Anjou dedicated to the category since 1968. More than 2,000 references include single casks, an Islay Room of peated malts and a Collectors corner of rare bottles. Le Lab hosts masterclasses, and sister shops stand at Odéon and rue Tiquetonne.
Best for Rare whiskies, rums, and collector bottlings.
La Maison du Whisky has sold spirits since 1956. It describes itself as sourcer, official importer and exclusive distributor of many brands found around the world. Its historic boutique at 20 rue d'Anjou in the 8th arrondissement has been dedicated to whisky since 1968. The shop gathers more than 2,000 references, among them many single casks. Scottish single malts and Japanese whiskies stand beside Irish single pot stills and American bourbons, with whiskies from other countries and exclusivities of the house. An Islay Room is given over entirely to the peated malts of that island. A Collectors corner holds old and rare bottles. Le Lab is a tasting space built for masterclasses and meetings where the house shows its expertise. Two other Paris addresses complete the picture. The Odéon shop at 6 carrefour de l'Odéon is devoted to fine spirits, and Le 11 rue Tiquetonne specialises in spirits and saké with Japanese gastronomy. The company also runs the Golden Promise Whisky Bar and the restaurant ERH in the same city.
Alain Ducasse's bean-to-bar chocolate workshop, opened February 2013 in a former garage off Rue de la Roquette in Bastille. One of few Paris chocolatiers making 100% of its own chocolate in-house, on vintage European machinery, rather than buying in couverture.
Best for Bean-roasted chocolate from Ducasse's Bastille manufacture
Alain Ducasse opened La Manufacture de Chocolat in February 2013, at the end of a cobbled courtyard on Rue de la Roquette in Paris's Bastille neighborhood, converting a former garage into a working chocolate factory. Ducasse's interest in chocolate dates to the 1970s, when he worked for chocolatier Maurice Bernachon in Lyon during his culinary apprenticeship. The Bastille workshop was described at its opening as the first bean-to-bar chocolate factory of its kind in Paris, combining vintage machinery sourced from across Europe with a modern production space. The brand has since expanded to multiple Paris addresses.
Lenôtre’s boutiques go beyond pastry boxes into savoury dishes, catering collections and click-and-collect orders. Its separate culinary school offers amateur workshops as well as professional courses in pastry, baking and cooking.
Best for French pastry from the empire of Gaston Lenôtre
Paris coffee company founded in 2010 in the 18th arrondissement by Aleaume Paturle and Australian barista Paul Arnephy; runs a Rue Marcadet cafe and boutique, a barista school, and a roastery now based in the Drome.
Best for Coffee, École Lomi barista classes and brewing gear
Lomi operates three connected businesses under one name, all detailed on its own site: a coffee shop and boutique at 3 ter Rue Marcadet in Paris's 18th arrondissement, a training facility next door at 3 bis Rue Marcadet called École Lomi, and a roastery — described as 'torréfacteurs certifiés,' certified roasters — located outside Paris in Le Poët Laval, in the Drôme region. The company frames this structure as a deliberate three-part model: 'café, formation et équipement, le triptyque Lomi' (coffee, training, and equipment, the Lomi triptych), positioning itself as a working coffee-education hub rather than a café that happens to also roast. Sourcing is described as long-term relationships with selected producers, with the site stating that 'each harvest expresses a terroir,' language that ties the shop's retail coffee back to the school's technical training rather than treating the two as separate operations. For a visitor, that combination is the distinguishing detail: the 18th-arrondissement address functions simultaneously as a retail shop and the public face of a barista-training operation whose actual coursework and roasting happen at two separate, named locations rather than behind a single counter.
Archive 18-20 is a concept store in Paris's Marais district, opened by designer Séverine Lahyani in 2015 inside a former workshop. It mixes menswear labels like Comme des Garçons with design objects, vintage pieces, and an on-site restaurant.
Best for It mixes menswear labels like Comme des Garçons with design objects
Archive 18-20 takes its name from its address — 18-20 rue des Archives, in the heart of Paris's Marais district — and its scope from the ambitions of its founder. Séverine Lahyani, the designer behind the menswear label Ly Adams, opened the concept store in 2015 inside a former workshop, keeping the space's industrial glass-and-brick shell rather than dressing it up.
Walk the corridor into the shop and the mix is deliberate: Comme des Garçons shirts sit alongside more accessible labels like YMC, Aimé Leon Doré sweatshirts, Veja and Converse sneakers, and a Raf Simons x Adidas collaboration. The store folds in vintage pop-ups (Brut Clothing), design objects such as Daniel Gallo lamps, international magazines like Dazed and i-D, candles, perfumes, and spirits — a single-address version of the multi-category concept-store model. On-site restaurant Le Comptoir adds thirty covers serving bowls, smoothie bowls, and fresh-pressed vegetable juices alongside the shopping.
It's a format built around contrast rather than a single aesthetic: new labels next to archival pieces, fashion next to furniture, retail next to a lunch counter — which is what keeps it grouped with the Marais's other genre-blurring addresses rather than filed as a straightforward clothing shop.
The Socialite Family began in 2013 as Constance Gennari's media title photographing Parisian families at home. In 2017 it launched a furniture and lighting line, designed in Paris and made by workshops in Europe, mainly in Italy and France. Gennari remains founder and artistic director. The house sells online and through its own boutiques.
Best for Constance Gennari's furniture, inspired by photographing real Parisian family homes
The Socialite Family started in 2013 as a media title. Constance Gennari began photographing friends at home with their families, drawn to a door detail or a line of furniture that told a story about how they lived. Those portraits of interiors grew a readership. In 2017 the company launched its own furniture line, run from an in-house creative studio in Paris. The collections of furniture and lighting are designed in Paris and made by workshops in Europe, mainly in Italy and France. The house describes its signature as a homage to Italy, the country closest to Gennari's heart. Materials and proportion are the stated priorities, along with the handwork of the artisans who build the pieces. The site continues to publish family portraits alongside the shop, and a linen range sits beside the furniture. Large pieces are delivered by white-glove service to the floor of the customer's choice. The brand runs a programme for architects and decorators as well as a network of resellers. Gennari remains founder and artistic director. She now works with a team rather than alone, as the site puts it. The company operates physical boutiques as well as the online store, and a professional programme serves the trade.
Founded in Paris by Mathilde and Clémentine, who conceived the idea during an Erasmus year in Berlin and an ESCP Europe entrepreneurship course, Olly makes GOTS-certified organic cotton and recycled-lace lingerie manufactured across Europe, including at the Ott workshop in Hungary.
Best for Responsibly made French lingerie in colorful, comfortable basics
Olly was founded by two friends, Mathilde and Clémentine, who met during a year abroad in Berlin as part of their studies and later developed the brand through an entrepreneurship program at the Paris business school ESCP Europe. The pair started the company after noticing how limited the market for genuinely ethical lingerie was, choosing a name meant to stand for "Organic & Lovely Lingerie Yours." Olly's underwear and bras are made from GOTS-certified organic cotton and recycled lace, dyed with what the brand describes as environmentally low-impact processes rather than conventional dyes. Rather than manufacturing everything from a single site, Olly spreads production across specialist European workshops by category: lingerie is made at the Ott workshop in Hungary, swimwear in Barcelona, yoga wear in Portugal, and bodysuits in Marseille. The founders have said they visit each workshop personally and document the process, treating supply-chain transparency as part of the brand's identity. The company is based in Paris, where it operates primarily as an online-first retailer, with the city's ethical-fashion boutiques and pop-up events, such as We Are Paris, serving as some of its physical retail touchpoints.
Athens jewelry label founded in 2011 by Konstantina Pantelous, handcrafting Greek-mythology-inspired pieces - coin pendants, zodiac charms, Hercules-knot motifs - in recycled silver from workshops in Athens.
Best for Gold-plated Hercules knots and Greek-goddess charms, Athenian mythology in jewelry.
Hermina Athens was founded in 2011 by Konstantina Pantelous, who began making jewelry from home as a creative outlet while working as a translator and raising two children. She named the brand after her daughter Hermina, a name that also doubles as the female form of Hermes, the Greek messenger god. Collections include Greek Mythology, Healing Crystals, Zodiac Signs, and a 14K gold range, alongside coin pendants and Hercules-knot bracelets; pieces are designed and produced in the brand's own Athens workshops, primarily in recycled silver. Pantelous and the brand have been featured in Forbes (2019) and Liberty London (2021).
French textile atelier in Baie de Somme — hand silk-screened illustrated scarves and accessories on cashmere, wool, silk, and cotton, printed by artisans using historic workshop techniques.
Best for Illustrated wool stoles and printed scarves full of narrative whimsy
Inoui Editions is a French printed scarves and textile accessories brand created by two women in a studio in Baie de Somme, France, and has been reinventing its collections each season for over fifteen years. The design studio is located in the Baie de Somme region, where each Inoui Éditions scarf begins with an original drawing imagined and created by hand. The illustrations are conceived to fit their frame perfectly, featuring dramatic animal imagery and witty collages. The scarves are imagined in their French studio, then carefully made in a historic workshop in India using time-honored techniques and hand silk-screened by artisans, bringing uniqueness to each piece. The house creates illustrated square scarves that explore the art of drawing applied to textiles, in constant dialogue between material, color, and visual storytelling. Inoui Edition's inspirations are eclectic, drawn from nature, street culture, and history, playing on mixing styles, influences, and eras.
Trudon traces its story to 1643, when Claude Trudon took over a shop on rue Saint Honore in Paris selling spices and candles. In 1737 Jerome Trudon bought the Royal Wax Manufacture at Antony, which supplied the Imperial court by 1811. The scented candles were born in 2007 and the first five perfumes followed in 2017. Candles are made in the house's Normandy workshop, and the Paris shop stands at 78 rue de Seine.
Best for The world’s oldest candles
Cire Trudon traces its origins to 1643, when Claude Trudon opened a shop on Paris's rue Saint-Honoré selling wax and candles for domestic and ecclesiastical use. His son Jacques joined the royal court at Versailles in 1687 as apothecary and distiller to Queen Marie-Thérèse, and the family's wax business grew alongside its court connections; Louis XIV later elevated Charles Trudon to the French nobility. In 1737 Jérôme Trudon purchased a large wax factory in Antony, in what is now Hauts-de-Seine, where more than a hundred workers once labored — the building survives today, listed on France's inventory of historical monuments. The house supplied candles for the royal chapel at Versailles and continued serving the court through the Ancien Régime and the Revolution; even during his imprisonment, Louis XVI is recorded as having used Trudon candles. The engineer Duhamel du Monceau praised the family's craftsmanship in his 1762 encyclopedia. Cire Trudon still supplies the Paris church of Saint-Roch, lit by its candles continuously since 1643. Its headquarters and flagship boutique now sit at 78 rue de Seine in Paris's sixth arrondissement, a few streets from the house's original rue Saint-Honoré premises, and the maison markets itself today as the oldest surviving candlemaker in France.
A touch of Ireland in the heart of the Marais. Carroll's offers authentic Irish woolens, Celtic jewelry, and handicrafts. Their Aran sweaters and tweed caps are genuine imports from the Emerald Isle.
Best for Authentic Aran sweaters, Celtic jewelry, and Irish woolens in the Marais.
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
The most exclusive luggage maker in Paris — hand-painted Goyardine canvas since 1853. More discreet than Louis Vuitton and arguably more prestigious. Each piece is hand-painted by artisans in their Beaupréau workshop.
Best for The most exclusive luggage maker in Paris — hand-painted Goyardine canvas since 1853
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit Instagram ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗