1968

Shoe atelier "ELEGANTS" was founded in 1968. The best craftsmen in Riga – shoemakers, clickers, closers and shoe designers  - were assembled to realize the idea of creating modern shoes of high quality. On March 1968 shoe atelier "ELEGANTS" was established from the union Rīgas apavi (Riga footwear). This is how the era of ELEGANTS began and still goes on nowadays. While creating a new team under the name ELEGANTS the goal was set to produce modern and comfortable footwear to meet our customer’s most demanding needs.  To make it happen all work had to be done with professionalism, high sense of responsibility and great passion. Since the goals were achieved the demand for footwear of ELEGANTS grew not by days, but by hours. The first workshop was located on the corner of Gagarina Street (currently Ropazu street) and Palmu Street, but soon enough those premises became too small for the manufacturing needs, because demand for shoes exceeded the possible supply by almost 10 times.

1973

The new workshop was set up at Lenina (currently Brivibas) Street 356A, however those premises were still not enough and thanks to The Ministry of Communal and Urban Services new premises were allocated for the shoe salon and workshop at Kr.Barona Street 8 and 10 with a total area of almost 400 square meters. It took place in 1973. Therefore seeking for new skilled shoemakers, clickers, and closers began. At the time, there was a huge number of professional shoemakers, so it was a great opportunity to choose the best.

1980

Around 1980 the number of employees had reached 50 and they made around 800 pairs of shoes a month. Part of which were made based on individual clients’ orders, but the other part was made for selling in the shop.

Twice a year there were shoe collections made – "Spring-summer collection" and "Autumn-winter collection". The shoe collections had to be approved by an artistic counsil that consisted of members from Riga Fashion House, The Ministry of Communal and Urban Services, and the laboratory of Riga Shoes manufactory. The samples were evaluated according to a 10 point scale. If the sample got less than 8 points, it was not approved for production. This is how high quality requirements in shoe production were accepted as a standard and it has remained like that till nowadays.

1985

Where to get new employees that are skilled and responsible was the main question when increasing production capacity. For ELEGANTS the answer to the question was Vocational School No. 34 which was preparing students for a career in shoemaking and repair. For three years future craftsmen of the company went through training at ELEGANTS, among them – the current continuator of the company traditions – Raimonds Burakevics.

The Information about fashion trends abroad was picked up from fashion magazines delivered from western countries by sailors. The materials were acquired from the laboratory of Kosmos leather factory. Since the factory cooperated with German leather producers the materials were modern and high in quality. Lasts and heels were created ourselves and given to the manufacturor of lasts and heels Centība for reproduction.

1990

Early 1990s were the time when the footwear market in Latvia was overwhelmed by imported shoes. In order to maintain production significant rearrangements were needed. But on the other hand the opening of borders brought new opportunities. There were no more obsticles when obtaining information and ordering materials from abroad. We started purchasing leather from Italy, Poland and Lithuania, although, we had to cut down the production volumes. From then on we mostly concentrated on individual orders. Fashion designers, who needed appropriate footwear for their costumes, theaters, dancers, newlyweds, television hosts and other individual customers were and still are our loyal clients because we work with great responsibility and pay special attention to each client just like it was intended from the very beginning of company ELEGANTS in 1968.

1992

On 16th March 1992 ELEGANTS Ltd. was founded which continued the work of the previous company ELEGANTS. ELEGANTS’ trade mark is included in the national register of trade marks under No. M46319.

Manufacturing of shoes continued, but the increasing import of shoes from China made us cut the production of shoes several times. At the time our clients were people who wanted their footwear to be extraordinary and exclusive, and those with unusual foot size or form.

2007

In 2007 the production of shoes was stopped. There was a lack of skilled craftsmen and the state of the market in Latvia did not allow us to pay appropriate salaries to the ones that remained. So the difficult decision to stop the shoe manufacturing was made.

2011

In 2011 a shop of self-made shoes was opened.

2012

We are at the stage of development and looking forward to new challenges. There is a lot of work to do, but our strength is in people who really know how shoes have to be made so that they are comfortable and long-lasting.

2013

New step in our development – we started making men’s shoes.

2014

We are growing, mainly focusing on improving the quality of the footwear we make, paying extra attention to materials on the inside of footwear that has direct contact with the leg or is placed between the lining and the upper of the shoe. We especially strive to avoid using any synthetic materials so that comfortable wear of the shoes is ensured and sweating is reduced as much as possible.

2015

We are making new contacts. We have started making footwear for our partners in Germany, Estonia and France.