The Wonderful World of K.Jacques
Nestled within a three-story workshop situated on the picturesque French Riviera, K. Jacques—a family-owned brand started by self-taught Armenian refugees Jacques and Elise Keklikian—has been designing their artisanal sandals since 1933.
Made with the highest quality materials and with the utmost attention to time-honored craftsmanship,, these sandals have been worn—and re-soled—by our co-founders Margaret and Katherine Kleveland for years. “It’s a heritage brand that creates true heirlooms,” explains our co-founders, who visited the team in St. Tropez to work alongside them on the collaboration styles—which reflects a capsule summer shoe wardrobe: a thong sandal, a T-strap sandal, a fisherman, and a lace-up—a style that was first designed by Jacques Keklikian in the 1950s—they brought back in two colors just for us.
By Hand
No less than 28 artisan hands touch each pair of K. Jacques as they make their way through the Saint-Tropez workshop. The leather is sourced from France, Spain, or Italy. The exacting, multi-step process involves hot stamping the logo onto the footbed cutting the upper pieces and linings, stitching, attaching rivets, assembly, and waxing and polishing each sandal before it makes its way to you.
From left: Elie Altounian, designer, Bernard Keklikian, CEO, and Eric Botella, director, at the K. Jacques factory
A Family Affair
The brand’s co-founders Jacques and Elise had three children: Liliane, Georges, and Bernard. Upon reaching adulthood, their children Georges, Bernard, Liliane joined the family business, embodying the enduring ethos of craftsmanship instilled by their parents. After Jacques's passing in 1989, followed by Elise's in 1997, the siblings stepped in, lovingly upholding their parents' commitment to the brand.
Presently, Bernard serves as the CEO, while other Keklikian children, grandchildren, and cousins all work across the company in some capacity—whether it’s in the stores (Veronique), in design (Elie), in marketing (Delphine), online retail (Stephanie), wholesale (Eric), and production (Jean Baptiste).
From left: Bernard works with leather trims; leather is placed on foot mold for fitting
The logo is applied to the footbed using a hot-stamping machine
From left: A machine applies the stitching to a shoe; Elie on the factory floor
Putting the finishing touches on the DÔEN & K. Jacques Peche Sandal (coming soon!)
Snaps from Margaret, Katherine and Prairie (Katherine’s little one!) visit to meet the K. Jacques team
From top: DÔEN & K. Jacques Peche Sandal (coming soon!), Alex wears the DÔEN & K. Jacques Côte Sandal, Pairs of metallic sandals sit on the shelves of the workshop
DÔEN & K. Jacques Baie Thong
