If you think of St Tropez as pompous, take a peek into master shoe craftsman Alain Rondini's shop on rue Clémenceau. The little shop is full of pumps (sandals actually), but it's anything but pompous.
The front of its 60 square meters serves as a friendly and unassuming sales center, with traditional Tropézienne sandals arranged in the small window display, set on a wooden shelf to the side and hung on the all. The back of the shop serves as a crafting room, with seven shoemakers working the leather into some thirty colorful models.
"We make our leather sandals by hand here in St Tropez, with lots of attention to quality," says Alain, grand on of Dominique Rondini who first opened the shop in 1927. When Alain's father, Serge Rondini later took over the shop from Dominique, he introduced new designs, but remained faithful to the credo of hand-made quality and care. Alain follows in the family's heart-felt tradition.
"We don't have any distributors", explains Alain. "Our clients purchase their sandals here in our shop. We do ship them around the world, but to customers. We want to stay this way: a local St Tropez producer in touch with our customers."
Despite its unpretentious ways, the Atelier Rondini has fitted a good number of famous feet: those of author Colette, an early-adopter of the Tropézienne sandals, Marlene Dietrich, and more recently Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and Kate Moss who enjoys a pair of brown-strapped spartan-styled Tropéziennes.
Another St Tropez success story that's non-pompous and inscribed in tradition...
