In 2025, French footwear family Paraboot celebrates 80 years of the Michael — one of the rare silhouettes that’s managed to outlive trend cycles due to French craftsmanship made with true familial care.
But how did the Michael get to where it is today? Paraboot invited us out to their home in Saint-Jean-de-Moirans, Isère, to explore their family-run factory and find out how the model made from start to finish.
When we slipped into a pair of Michaels at the Paraboot factory, it became instantly clear what they were made for: work. Crafted in the French Alps, the Michael’s spacious fit and rigorous design were crafted with the local terrain in mind.
The brand’s handsewn Norwegian stitch (sometimes also comprised of a Goodyear welt) ensures resilience from factory floors to forest trails. In an age of fast fashion and easy shortcuts, the Paraboot Michael stands out as a shoe built to last.
Paraboot take sustainability serious without shouting from the hilltops about it, with the team committed to reducing waste and offering in-house repairs for old customers. Put simply, they want their shoes to last a lifetime by creating quality product that does the talking.
Over the decades, the Michael has moved through countless style tribes and subcultures. Reworked by everyone from Mugler and Hermès to Engineered Garments and YMC, the Michael has gone through several different iterations in its rich history.
Yet through all this, the Michael hasn’t gone out of style. The Lyst Index’s 2025 Q1 report ranking as one of their top ten hottest product, with year on year searches for the shoe increasing by 226%. It might have used different materials and motifs — ponyhair, mesh, suede hybrids — but its core stayed intact. Today, the Michael stands out as an antidote to fast fashion: it’s very much built with the intention to last a lifetime. With no skimping on quality and timeless design, the Michael remains a truly classic silhouette that has retained an enduring appeal for 80 years.
To mark the mode’s 80th anniversary, Paraboot has launched Somethings Never Change: an eight-piece capsule celebrating the Michael’s eight decades. Each pair draws inspiration from decades gone by, with models infused with the colours, details, and materials of its era, with Paraboot’s peerless craftmanship tie it all together.
In a world of cheap imitation and fast fashion, The Michael symbolises more than a shoe. It’s a model that embodies the power of tradition and a commitment to craft. Some things really never need to change.
