Your father ran a shoe shop in Saarbrücken, your home town. Did you always dream of taking over the business from him?
“I don’t remember what I wanted to do as a child. It was the war. The Allies were bombing the factories in Saarbrücken. I wasn’t going to school any more; my father had been called up despite his age, and we were just living from day to day. We’d hidden several pairs of shoes under the roof tiles of our house. I was the only one small enough to fetch them. I’d go and swap them for fruit and food. My father, who was taken prisoner in Normandy, didn’t return until two years after the war. I hadn’t really had the chance to think about my future. Taking over the shop seemed the obvious choice. So I went off to learn the trade at the Institute of Footwear in Pirmasens.”

But you didn’t return to the Saar. At the age of 21, you set off for America.
“I set off for the United States with a small cardboard suitcase. Which, incidentally, I still have. Without a penny to my name and knowing just a few words of English. I hadn’t realised that over there, the majority of the textile and footwear industries were run by Jews. As a German, I wondered how I would be received. But in America, if you’re a hard worker and know your trade, you’re respected, whatever your background. I spent six incredible years there. I learnt English; I went from being a leather cutter to a pattern-maker, and I quickly climbed the ranks. I didn’t want to leave.”

So why did you return to Europe?
“My student visa was about to expire, and the immigration authorities thought it was odd that a student was earning such a good living. My boss and friend wrote a petition to the US government entitled ‘If we let Michaeli go, it will be a huge economic loss for the country’. He was exaggerating a bit.”

Not really. Because you immediately set up your own factory.
“Yes, thanks to the money I’d saved up during those years in the United States. I wanted to create my own brand of shoes. I was 25, but I looked 18. People thought I was mad and gave me three weeks before I’d go under. I’d chosen to set up in Dalhunden, in Alsace. Big mistake. The factory was far too close to the German border, and as wages were better across the Rhine, I struggled to retain my staff. I was working day and night, but I decided to take one day a week to visit Lorraine and find another location. I chose Sarrebourg because people there spoke both German and French equally well.”

So it was 1965. How was your project received in Sarrebourg?
“Very well. I’d spotted some old military barracks with their small, high-up windows. The mayor at the time had them cleared of all the clutter so that we could set up shop with about twenty workers. It was very basic, but we were producing between 80 and 100 pairs a day. Two years later, we had fifty workers, 40 home-based workers, and we were producing 420 pairs a day. We needed to build a factory to take things up a gear. It was built in 1969 and, once again, the new mayor, Pierre Messmer, supported us. He even organised the transport of our machinery back via a military convoy!”

The workshop grew into a factory, then into an empire with two manufacturing sites – in Sarrebourg and Portugal – 2,100 employees, three brands derived from the iconic Mephisto, 16,000 pairs of shoes produced every day, and 18,000 retail outlets worldwide…

Was that your aim from the outset?
“I never set out to build an empire, but I’ve always dreamed big. I just wanted to produce the best pair of shoes in the world. And I still hope to achieve that with the next collection. Because there’s always room for improvement.”

You have handed over the reins of the company to your children, Marc and Stéphanie. It is a heavy legacy.
“All the more so against the backdrop of a crisis in the textile and footwear industry. Since 1965, we have seen a great many factories close down. I believe that if Mephisto has stood the test of time, it is because it has never compromised on its quality standards. We haven’t outsourced production to low-cost countries. Our employees’ expertise is our greatest asset, and we’re proud to be able to display ‘Made in France’ or ‘Made in Portugal’ on our boxes. Our customers know that when you buy a pair of Mephistos, you’ll still have them 10 years later. We’re the antithesis of fast fashion.”

Interview by Stéphanie Paquet