The founder of Paraboot, Rémy Richard, was born in 1878 in the shadow of the Alps in the town of Izeaux. Shoe and boot-making was the main industry in his hometown and by the late 1800s, Rémy was a skilled cutter for one such brand. Despite the rural nature of his hometown and its proximity to some of the greatest skiing and hiking in the world, most of the shoes Rémy worked on were for city slickers in some remote (to him) region of France. “Para” for the port in Amazonia from whence their rubber was supplied and “boot” to memorialize the discovery Richard made in America. Richard continued to manufacture elegant, leather-soled shoes under the “Extra” line, but all Paraboots would have their signature chunky, grippy leather soles going forward.