Paraboot Buying Guide and History

Esquire

'Good Things' is Esquire's celebration of the very best stuff you can buy, via the personal endorsement of our editors. "Best" doesn't mean most expensive, and it won't just be clothes (although, that's kind of our vibe). Just know that when you see the Good Things logo, it has the Esquire seal of approval.

As 1,000 stocky Sunday league strikers prove every week, style can be found in even the sturdiest of places. Over recent years we have become obsessed with the fashionable potential of functional clothing. Just look the success of Dickies’ 574 trousers, or Carhartt chore jackets, or Blundstone boots. But there are some brands that would sit right in the middle of a Venn diagram of ‘beautiful’ and ‘useful’ clothes. Companies that don’t especially lean toward form or function but offer both… quietly. For example, Paraboot.

The Rue St Honoré in Paris’s glitzy 1^st Arrondissement is the French capital’s version of Bond Street or 5^th Avenue. It has all the big names, with each store somehow more gleaming than the last. Except Paraboot at number 304, which looks a little like it was there before even Paris itself. Like it stayed put, stoic as the polished steel and marble grew around it. That’s not to say it’s shabby; but it’s a small, unassuming shoe shop – a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it place. However, for those in the know, it is a mecca.

“Paraboot is a terrific French shoemaker, and to me it encapsulates the kind of relaxed Parisian style that has always been an inspiration for us at Drake’s,” says Michael Hill, owner of the men’s haberdasher, in London’s Mayfair. “Their shoes aren’t the prettiest, or the most elegant; instead, they favour chunky, rugged silhouettes that pair so well with our relaxed tailoring. I find that daintier shoes aren’t as good with cords, old chinos or denim, so Paraboot is my brand of choice for that kind of quietly stylish, solidly-made shoe.”

Paraboot Reims

£385 at stuartslondon.com

Before the pandemic, I was lucky enough to travel to Paris for work on a regular basis, and almost every time I’d sneak off to Paraboot to gawp at the old-school moccasins and the hardy derbies. I always wanted a pair of the Reims loafers, a slip-on version of the Micheal derby, which is perhaps the most reliably stylish shoe of all time. When I finally got them (in black, as opposed to brown, the only other colour available as standard) they didn’t disappoint.

Much has been made of the flexibility of the penny loafer, that it can be worn with any outfit, and I would agree, but not for me. The proportions of a Gucci Horsebit, for example - design classic that it may be - aren’t quite right for my shape. However, the Reims are heftier, with a cleated rubber sole, higher ‘neck’ and chunky Norwegian construction (an alternative to Goodyear welting), so they just look… right. I’d wear them every day if I could, with whatever I have on my legs, but a note in the box warns against back-to-back wears. Being a menswear wonk, I’m inclined to follow such a curious rule.

Paraboot Reims Loafer

£329 at End Clothing

Credit: Paraboot

Paraboot has been hand-making the Michael – the precursor to the Reims – in France since 1945, and the influence of the two shapes is perhaps more visible right now than ever before. I’m sure they weren’t the first to put a big rubber sole on an elegant man’s shoe, but you can currently buy similar styles at GH Bass, Grenson, Prada, John Lobb, Margiela and Thom Browne, and I wonder if they would exist if the Michael and Reims hadn’t come to prominence amongst Ivy-ish menswear dudes a few years ago.

I wrote about the Michael derby for the July 2019 edition of Esquire Magazine, and when I asked the brand if they would send a pair for us to photograph, they politely replied that, no, they wouldn’t be sending a pair, but thanks anyway. I was disappointed, like I had been rejected by my hero, but ultimately, their indifference to publicity only made me love them more.