The ancient art and craft of footwear has evolved incredibly over time but continues to get elements and inspiration from the past.
Both the inspiration and love have joined three generations so far, accompanied by their differences and similarities. The love for quality shoes and customer service still remains the same. A three-generation tradition and a 90-year cobbler’s experience in making high quality handmade shoes is combined with today’s state of the art technology.
Love and passion has led us to establish this innovative, handmade shoe Center able to cope with nowadays on demand needs. Giorgio Meriano ! A ‘cobbler’s workshop’ that combines aesthetics and perfect design of a top quality pair of shoes being supported by the latest footwear technological advances
Istanbul 1922
The shoe manufacturing workshop of George Papadopoulos is burned and he was forced along with thousands of other Greeks to return back to Greece as a refugee. The craftsman Giorgis’s handmade shoes, known as Mastro-Giorgis, had been worn by the elite of the city.
The art of shoemaking is deeply rooted in the Greek tradition. The passion and love for creation were those that empowered the shoe craftsman during the construction time to "give life" to a piece of leather. The greatest satisfaction was the smile and the customer’s satisfaction once wearing his pair of shoes.
Athens 1933
This smile and satisfaction have pushed Mastro-Giorgis to start up somewhere in the area of "PSIRI" Athens, around mid-30s, manufacturing well- known handmade shoes again.
The journey into the art of footwear restarts...
Mastro-Giorgis on short time manages to become again the favourite shoemaker of Athens. His creations became famous.
Athens 1976
The shoe manufacturing workshop has been passed to his son Vaslilis Papadopoulos. This second generation cobbler, far-sighted and hard worker with innovative ideas for that period of time , has grown his family business very fast transforming it into a modern factory. The shoes are placed in the best stores in the country. The growth is constantly rising and in the mid-80s it starts the first exports mainly to countries of the Middle East.
1991
The crisis and the severe competition beats the Greek quality footwear industry. Various countries with cheap products forces almost all major Greek export enterprises to close down So the shoe business which started with the production of 10 shoe pairs a week and reached to produces 250, high quality leather shoe pairs per day, is not able to cope with competition and inevitably closes down.
2001
The third generation cobbler George V. Papadopoulos having learned the secrets of the shoe manufacturing art of handmade shoes from his grandfather and his father decides to restart the business as he believes that the cycle has not been completed. Having practiced next to both those excellent craftsmen has gained all the necessary technical skills. However, he decided to continue his training with studies in footwear design and manufacture, initially in Greece and then abroad. In the mean time, he is trained in Orthopedic shoes manufacturing at a special school in East Germany.
With hard work, patience and persistence as well as love for the creation of quality shoes, the shoe manufacturing workshop Giorgio Meriano as it is now called, manages again to be established and become a innovative, handmade shoe center.
Giorgio Meriano is the only handmade bespoke shoe manufacturing unit in Greece certified from the Hellenic National Organization for Medicines with. Certification Number EP 817 082017. It is also fully harmonized with EU Directive 93/42/14-06-1993 of the European Union Council regarding the proper construction and design of bespoke footwear.
The company started up 14 years ago in Peristeri-Athens and quickly established itself as one of the pioneering craft companies in tailored made footwear, orthopedic footwear and in small and large sizesfootwear. The continuous and intense effort over these years gave the opportunity to the company to develop a competitive advantage by introducing the state-of-art trend for bespoke handmade shoes
Having the production of handmade shoes as its main philosophy, the company continually targets at the customer satisfaction through both the comfort of its products and the satisfaction of aesthetic criteria. This Philoshopy is identified by creativity, professionalism, and respect to the client. It is a "must custom made philoshophy" for people who seek pure customisation.
At the same time, the company insisting on the high quality of its footwear both in terms of materials and the perfection of finishes and shoe fitting has managed to create a good clientele oriented in the "made to measure" philosophy.
Thus, the experience, the passion and the love for the creation of a quality shoe combined with latest technology creates a perfect result.
I would like to dedicate this perfect result to those people who are no longer alive as my grandfather George and my father Vasilis Papadopoulos first transferred me the love of true art shoemaking and then the knowledge of manufacturing excellent handmade footwear.
In conclusion, we would like to thank you because your continuous support makes the company looking toward the future with optimism, promising that we will continually offer best quality service.
