Our story

It started at a market

Michael Phelan made his first pairs of shoes in 1981 and sold them on Saturdays at Lemm's Corner market in Hermanus, from a table and later from the back of a Kombi. The same women came back year after year, for the same reason. The shoes were comfortable, they lasted, and they had met the man who made them.

In 1992 the shoes moved to an old Victorian house at the end of Lourens Street in Somerset West, with a garden that runs down to the river. Michael built the factory onto the back of it without touching the face of it. The office is still in the house. The shoes are still made behind it.

Then there was a belt

By the nineties Michael was making belts as well as shoes. Tina came in for a belt, and later married the man who made it. Thirty years on, it's still the two of them. Michael is the quiet one: he designed every shoe, and the buildings and the gardens too. Tina is the one you'll meet, in the shop, on the phone and at the fittings.

Made for you

Most of our pairs are made after you order them, in your size, by a small team who have been with us for years. Every pair is real leather, cut, stitched and lasted by hand in our factory in Somerset West. It takes about three weeks. We repair what we make.

Come and see us

Our factory shop is at 51 Lourens Street, Somerset West, across the courtyard from the factory, with the Wild Peach coffee shop inside it. Call 021 852 4516 or email shop@phelan.co.za.