The origins of family-launched Castañer date back to 1776 with the birth of Rafael Castañer, the first espadrilles maker of the brood. Having evolved from a once-small workshop, today’s company was founded in 1927 by Luis Castañer and his cousin Tomás Serra. The next generation had the fortuity of meeting the great Yves Saint Laurent in Paris who commissioned the first ever wedge espadrilles. Together they had turned a peasant’s shoe into a symbol of luxury, and the rest, as they say, is history.
