Ancient Greek Sandals has kicked it up a notch. The emerging Greece-based brand announced the launch of their first men’s collection for Spring/Simmer 2013. The 14-piece collection, inspired by Greek scuptures and frescos, closely mimics styles worn by mythological Greek gods, albeit with a contemporary twist, and is available in three earthy hues: mahogany, slate, and chocolate.
Ancient Greek Sandals was founded by Nikolas Minoglou and designer Christine Martini for Resort 2012. Martini, who studied at the Cordwainers College of Fashion in London, previously worked at Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton before launching the label. Each AGS style is cobbled by skilled craftsmen in Crete, the hometown island for both Minoglou and Martini, using traditional techniques on the finest natural vegetable tanned cow-hides. In addition, each pair of haute steppers is embellished with bronze wing buckles as an homage to the myth that ancient gods and goddesses had their sandals crafted by Crete sandal-makers who would enrich each pair with magical powers and finish them off with a gold wing as a signature.
“The launch of the men’s line wasn’t really something we had planned,” said Martini. “But we kept getting emails from men asking to buy the women’s styles in bigger sizes! So we thought it was the perfect time to release a small collection for men. As a female designer, it was always going to be a challenge designing for the opposite sex, so I hassled my male friends for their opinions, and decided to create classic shapes in equally classic colours, with two, more experimental styles.”
The men’s collection retails for $170 to $590 and is currently available at AncientGreekSandals.com.
