When on the hunt for the best brands for our Concept Store Kleman and their authentic workwear style just fits our remit! Join Joseph as he introduces this French footwear brand that came to be out of the ashes of some extraordinary circumstances for its founder...

There’s something about France isn’t there?

Everything the French do just has that extra touch of class and elegance, whether it’s Thierry Henry barely breaking a sweat whilst convincing a full back to change career or that foreign exchange student who, no matter the weather, always pulled off a scarf...

Everything they do looks effortless and the newest addition to the FCL Concept Store, KLEMAN, is no exception. Going for 3 quarters of a century the French Shoemakers have developed the perfect moc-toe shoe that’s both made to last and easy to wear.

The founder of the brand, René Cléon was a shoemaker by trade but joined the French Army to fight in the Second World War. In 1940 he was taken prisoner and kept captive in Germany for 5 years. During this time, Cléon’s idea of building a shoe workshop and producing shoes to a wider scale started to take shape.
Once the war had ended and Cléon returned to France he took on apprentices and from there the brand began to take shape. A team of apprentices shortly became a factory, and the shoes could be produced on a much larger scale. In the 70s and 80s René passed the business on to his sons Jacques and Louis-Marie and in 1988 the company went by KLEMAN (A conjugation of Cléon and manufacturing) for the first time.

Part of Jacques and Louis-Marie’s shakeup of the brand was focusing on supplying shoes to various public services across France such as the railway workers and Police, which is a testament to the quality of the shoe itself. At the FCL Store we have the classic Padror shoe in two colours, Bordeaux and Oak, come in and try them out for size or get them online HERE!

Luke Miller