More Info
The company was founded in 1893 by the great grandfather of the current managment team. Until the late eighties, the company had its own production plant inHerentals.Currently Arwy still develops its own designs and collection but the production is largely done in Italy, Portugal and the Far East. It’s therefore well know for bringing original developments with a superb price-quality ratio.
Over the years, a second business unit developed out of the delivery of shoes and boots to the Belgian army. This business unit of Arwy currently delivers a wide range of shoe and textile products to goverment agencies like the Belgian and Dutch army, the Belgian Post and others.
Arwy nv Langepad 1 Herentals 2200 Belgium
Dries Van Noten
Dries Van NotenMore Info
Biography
Born in Antwerp in 1958, Dries Van Noten is the third generation in a family of tailors. At the age of 18, Dries entered the fashion design course of Antwerp’s Royal Academy. On graduating, he began to freelance as a consultant designer before starting his own collection of menswear in 1986. Since its beginnings Dries Van Noten has presented collections for women and men for Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter each year. He
celebrated his 50th fashion show in 2004 and 100th fashion show in 2017.
In June 2008, the Council of Fashion Designers of America honoured Dries Van Noten with its International
Designer of the Year Award. 2014 began with the grand opening of Dries Van Noten, “Inspirations”, a first
ever exhibition featuring his designs and influences at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Another
configuration of the exhibit moved to Antwerp in 2015. In July France decorated Dries Van Noten with the
honour of ‘Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.’ In October 2016, Dries Van Noten wins the Culture
Award from The Province of Antwerp for his contribution to Culture.
In June 2018 Puig entered the capital structure of Dries Van Noten as majority owner. The designer remains, over the long term, a significant minority shareholder and continues his role as chief creative officer and chairman of the board.
2019 saw Mr Van Noten collaborate with world renowned fashion designer Mr Christian Lacroix on his
collection for Women, Spring/Summer 2020. In June 2020, and September 2021, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has again nominated Dries Van Noten for its International Designer of the Year Award.
Q&A with dries van noten
When did you know that designing clothes was your path & passion?
There was a certain logic to my choice as my family had been involved in fashion and the garment business for generations. My father created one of Belgium’s most innovative retailers of ‘Pret-a-Porter’ and my grandfather was a tailor. I inherited my love of garment making, its traditions and rituals, from these men and my mother. Family immersed me in the craft and skill of fabrics, impassioned me with the power of flair and style for women and men that fired my quest to explore and question the subjectivity of “beauty” and the role it would play in my life. My family was very supportive and encouraged me to continue its fashion tradition. I regularly accompanied my parents to Paris and Milan on their many buying trips for collections. Though they had imagined I might take over the retail business, that I was passionate to become a fashion designer came as a great surprise to them.
What is your design signature?
I see a garment as a singular item of excellence that is part of a larger story told, firstly, within a designer’s vision for a collection and ultimately as part of the final wearer’s expression of their style through their wardrobe. My joy is to create a garment that fuses and balances beauty, craft and function, a garment that can perform well and continue in time to become part of life’s story. I enjoy juggling with colours, textures and light in a way that evokes rather than provokes.
Where do you come up with your best ideas?
The spark of inspiration for the narrative a collection rarely ever comes in the same way. The initial idea can sometimes come quickly and remain constant throughout the design process… occur on a walk in my garden, encountering a painting or the life and work of an artist. It can be something rarefied or ordinary, for example, suddenly looking at something that has surrounded me every day and seeing it in a different way that inspires. It can be a photograph in a book or a magazine, a re-read passage in a loved book, a conversation with friends or my design team or a piece of music. For other collections the story is more of a journey, deliberate, considered, and evolves through time and the design process. Anything can be that spark that ignites the creative process. What I have learned is that one recognises the spark when it happens, it may not be too planned, be ‘of its time’ and is more emotional than cerebral.
Is there a difference between style and fashion?
Of course, style comes from within..
What colour or fabric would you never use?
None actually! Often, challenging myself to work with colours, fabrics, or forms that I have disliked and bringing them into a collection can be an important aspect of the creative process.
What is beauty?
The idea of beauty is supremely subjective and very personal. Time also plays a role when our view on what is beautiful to us evolves. A flower, a building or a garment can be a thing of wonder for one while leaving another completely indifferent. What was beautiful to us even recently may be ugly today. Luckily, all designers have their own eye on and language of beauty.
What is ugliness?
It resonates in the same way as beauty for me. It is exciting when the formerly ugly becomes beautiful.
Timeline
- 1981 Dries Van Noten graduates from Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp
- 1986 Dries Van Noten started his first own collection of menswear after working as a freelance consultant designer
- 1989 Flagship store opens in Antwerp, Belgium
- 2004 50th Show
- 2007 Paris store opens at Quai Malaquais, Paris France
- 2008 Dries Van Noten wins Internation Designer of the year at CFDA awards./ Dries Van Noten Sacred “Royal Designer for Industry” from the RSA Trustee Board in London
- 2009 Flagship store opens in Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan/ Stores opens for the men at Quai Malaquais, Paris, France
Dries Van Noten Induction to The “Galerie Des Eminents” By The Flemish Chamber Of Commerce (Voka)
Dries van Noten is gifted a gold medal by The Flemish Royal Academy of Belgium
Dries Van Noten Is Honored With the “Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion” By the Couture Council of the Museum at Fit In New York - 2010 Dries Van Noten Is Invited To Preside Over the 25th Edition of the “Festival International De Mode et De Photographie” of Hyres, France
- 2013 Olfactory portrait by Frederic Malle with The Nose Bruno Jonanovic
- 2014 xhibition at The Musée Des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France
A book that accompanied his exhibition at Musée des arts Décoratifs in Paris, France - 2015 Dries Van Noten is decorated by Jack Lang of the medal
Opening of Dries Van Noten Osaka - 2016 Wins Culture Award from The Province of Antwerp
- 2017 An intimate portrait into the life, mind and creative heart the designer
A book in two volumes that depicts and documents his first 100 collection and Fashion shows
In recognition of his career as fashion designer and his contribution to the Cultural life of his native land - 2018 DVN enters in partnership with Puig as Major Stakeholders
- 2019 Collaboration with Mr Christian Lacroix
- 2020 Nominated by The CFDA for International Designer of The Year Award
Stores opens in Shanghai, China
Flagship stores opens in Los Angeles, USA the first Dries Van Noten store in the Unites States of America
Godefriduskaai 36 Antwerpen 2000 Belgium
Ellen Verbeek
Ellen VerbeekMore Info
Story:
ellen verbeek started her brand in 2000, passionated about shoes she went to Italy to the shoe area and got in touch with an artisanal factory, managed by older but very experienced craftsmen who could realise her architectural ideas on shoes.
Shoes are our connection with the earth, the foundation of a human body ! To combine these vulnerable elements with beauty gives a lot of happyness to people. Being stable in your shoes gives already a more secure feeling to people !
Her designs have a strong and recognisable image.
Using architecture and furniture shapes as a base of inspiration was a very interesting horizon to transform this on shoes.
She maintained her line underground, as not willing to transform the collection into a mass product.
The combination of natural materials, original heels in wood and elegant details melts into a strong image. She tries to combine rough and natural elements with feminine details and likes to play with this contrast.
Some heels are sculpted out of wood by hand, thus resulting in beautiful arc shapes which run down to the sole.
Playful and feminine are the keywords characterizing the collection.
With the collection ‘ellen verbeek’ we deliver exclusive quality shoes, advanced design in durable materials and quality workmanship.
Blokstraat 73 Schiplaken 3191 Belgium
More Info
Our story
Founder and designer
Hi,
I am Evelyne, founder and designer of KUNOKA shoes.
I want to tell you my story from the start and it will get a little personal. I have been in shoe business for many years and I initially worked for Italian houses whose quality products I honored.
However, year after year I saw things change; the business became less lucrative because of overseas competition. Step by step, I noticed that I saw less people in the factories that I visited every year, although sold volumes did not fall back at the same pace. I felt something was not right. I could tell… I know shoes, I know craftsmanship, I know what it should feel like, I know how they should smell…
I had to realize that bit by bit production was outsourced oversees and no one wanted to admit. I started thinking is this what I want to stand for? It kept me out of my sleep and I thought about this for weeks ….
The idea behind the brand
This is the point where I started to play with the idea of creating my own brand that should be fully honest and should have the best possible sustainable approach.
I wanted the environmental impact of my project to be as low as possible and I wanted to be 100% sure that there will be no human cost at my project.
Every KUNOKA shoe is touched by real humans with families and their own set of dreams and I could not bare the idea that someone, somewhere in my project would have to struggle to survive or to feed their children or work in a toxic environment.
This I why I choose to work with a family-owned Portuguese atelier, where I can see what happens, where I know the people and where I can feel and touch every step in the birth of a KUNOKA shoe.
The second advantage of producing nearby is that we exclude the extreme environmental impact of overseas transport. Which brings me to my second concern, environmental impact which is a hard knot to untie in shoe business.
Challenges
I started by developing different prototypes and I wanted to know everything: what are they made of? Can we not change this into that? What is the effect of this? Where does this sole comes from? What is in the sole? Who makes them? How much water does it cost? How comfortable are they? Can they be modern and beautiful enough? – Hey yes, fashion remains my natural habitat and I don’t want to bring another sustainable brand which’ appearance or comfort aspect makes it obvious that the brand is sustainable.
I went on and on and made everybody – including myself – crazy. I was making progress but there were so many uncertainties and more than once doubt just hit me in the face … Would I ever find the courage to finally jump and officially go for this project?
The last of many signs…
I kept on doubting until the memorisable meeting in New York central park, this was the last of many signs I needed. Gabriella KUNOKA, who I did not know until that day, making a remark about the prototype I was wearing at that moment, convincing me that I should go for this beautiful project! Ever since, I realize every day, what I do might not be perfect, but it is not by finger pointing or complaining and sitting still that we will make progress. It is what I actually do what counts. And this is the whole story, this is how KUNOKA was born.
Always striving for the best
We are not perfect; we – and the entire industry – have a long way to go, but every initiative, how small it might look, makes a difference!
And I am proud of how far we have come and of any difference we can make, I guarantee that I will always strive for the best possible sustainable approach and I promise that this is just the beginning!
Let’s be kind to people and be kind to our world.
Love, Evelyne.
Kortrijksesteenweg 1092/G Gent 9051 Belgium
Gigue
GigueMore Info
Gigue is a Belgian fashion brand with a decidedly feminine signature. The collections, known for colour, print and sophisticated details, include ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories. The looks exude spontaneous elegance, are superbly tailored and feel fabulous due to the high-quality fabrics. When designing the ever contemporary-chic collections, Gigue designer Audrey Wyckmans is inspired by her respect for a form of casual style, interior design, travel and art.
The looks exude spontaneous elegance and feel fabulous.
Each season is centered around 4 or 5 themes which can be easily combined. Gigue will not give in to radical style overhauls. The collections flow seamlessly into one another, nonetheless they are perfectly in tune with contemporary fashion trends.
Headquartered in Antwerp, Gigue now boasts a distribution network of brand stores, shop-in-shops and more than one hundred fifty multi brand stores, both in Belgium and abroad.
Gigue’s history dates to the beginning of the 1980s when founder Jo Wyckmans introduced the preppy look in Belgium with his ‘A Different Dialogue’ collection. In 1991 he founded Gigue and instantly put the label on the map, by earning the title ‘Designer of the Year’.
Around the year 2000 Gigue evolved with the arrival of designer Audrey, daughter of the founder, and her ultra-feminine collections. For about 25 years now, Gigue has remained true to its identity.
Gigue has always devoted considerable attention to its image. Since the label was founded, top photographers and up and coming international models have worked for Gigue, giving brand images and catalogues that extra special touch. The Gigue clothes and models are always portrayed in a very natural way without excessive make-up or glitter.
Head office Boomsesteenweg 12/1 Aartselaar 2630 Belgium
Bannershop.be
Bannershop.beMore Info
BANNERSHOP.be is a Leuven based web design and development company. Our philosophy centers on client service, high-end design and the latest technologies. Over the past five years we have worked with hundreds of satisfied clients, understanding their needs and providing custom solutions in the form of corporate (small to enterprise) websites and online applications.
What sets us apart is our complete focus on RESULTS. Each of our employees dedicate themselves to finding what makes your potential clients want to interact with your website. Whether your goal is to get a phone call, online quote request, or sell your product online we are going to work tirelessly to producing the results you are looking for. Our average client usually sees a 200% increase in the amount of leads/transactions after working with us.
Hertogstraat Leuven vlaams brabant 3001 België
More Info
Foempies.com is an online webshop in management of Drie Koningen Shoe.
We are a Belgian family company since 1962 with a passion for shoes.
We are the official seller and trademark owner of the sneaker brand Foempies®
Driekoningenstraat 19 Berchem 2600 Belgium
Nico Uytterhaegen
Nico UytterhaegenRetro Verso
Retro VersoMore Info
About
Welcome to Retro Verso! My name is Charlien and I would love to tell you how this store full of cheerful and colourful clothing was created.
Immediately after I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Fashion Technology, it was itching to start my own clothing line. I could make the rugs myself, but unfortunately there was no budget for a physical store. This online store was created in 2013.
The starting points would certainly be quality and exclusivity – after all, nothing beats seeing people walking around in your self-designed, handmade dresses. In addition, a maximum of 10 pieces were made per model.
There was not much budget for advertising, but I could no longer keep up with the number of requests – especially customization. Unfortunately, manual work does not scale at all and soon I was faced with a real dilemma; outsource production or change tack. For example, I decided to look for colourful brands that I was going to sell through my webshop.
Fortunately, at that time I was able to use a fitting room and some display space in my parents’ shoe store so that my customers could try on clothes. Retro Verso, the shop-in-shop was born. Some time later, it seemed a good choice to leave the building entirely to Retro Verso.
In August 2017, the physical store opened, completely in the vintage style, on top of the web store.
Retro Verso now sells brands that you all know: 4 Funky Flavors, Froy & Dind, King Louie, Le Pep, Mademoiselle YéYé, Sugarhill Brighton, Blutsgeschwister, …
To this day I do everything myself: running the physical store, the webshop, purchasing, accounting, and most importantly for me: putting a smile on people’s faces 😉
Happy shopping!
Greetings,
Charlien
Vrijheidsstraat 1A bus 12 Denderleeuw 9470 Belgium
Nathan – Baume
Nathan – BaumeMore Info
A COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE.
Building on the past to express a form of modernity…
A reinterpretation that sublimates the lessons of the past in a burst of creative joy.
Such has been the approach followed since its creation when Nathan-Baume first presented its exclusive small luxury leather goods created from the finest leathers – notably exotic skins.
The range gradually expanded and includes travel bags, briefcases, computer cases, …yet the craftsmanship never lost his particular inclination for small leather goods, which require considerable skill and know-how in addition to an eye for detail and great dexterity.
Nathan-Baume took a new dimension with the launch of the jewels collection in silver and gold, accessories like silk scarves, gloves, hats, umbrellas…
Welcome to style and glamour, functionality and magic, senses and feelings. Welcome to you.
100 Avenue Louise Brussels 1050 Belgium
Head Office Grand Route 329 Lillois 1428 Belgium