Saint Crispin´s™ - the business
The beginnings of Saint Crispin’s go back to approximately 1985 when Michael Rollig, purely out of interest, began to produce hand-made shoes alongside his activities as a shoe designer. His first clients were friends and often shoe manufacturers for whom he worked as a designer. These first steps onto the international stage still influence the appearance of the shoes and the stylistic orientation even today. Saint Crispin’s does not follow the Viennese shoemaker tradition exclusively but propagates a style which is understood in Anglo-Saxon regions as well as the Mediterranean and German-speaking areas.
In the year 1992 the name Saint Crispin's was registered and distribution through exclusive outlets was pursued.
In the year 1996 Michael Rollig founded the company Bespoke Shoemakers & Company which made bulk-production, handmade shoes, mainly for Italian manufacturers in Siebenbürgen, Romania. Within this company (with 100 employees) highly qualified workers in a separate workshop produced bespoke shoes for St. Crispin’s.
In the year 2000 Michael Rollig sold “Bespoke Shoemakers & Company,” the bespoke shoe workshop was hived off and the company SC Saint Crispin´s S.R.L. was founded with a branch in Vienna.
Today all Saint Crispin shoes are produced in Kronstadt, Siebenbürgen. There are twelve people employed and they have been trained in the company. The Vienna company concerns itself with distribution, procurement, last making and product development.
In 2004 Phillip Car, Michael Rollig’s cousin, joined the company as partner and took over managerial functions. One result of this family merger was the founding of Rollig & Co. OEG,
a company registered in the Vienna commercial court.
