Gardian Story
Bootmaker since 1954
It all began on July 14, 1902 with Agustin Soler who was born in Alzira, province of Valencia, Spain.
In 1917 at the age of 14 Agustin Soler and his parents, his sister and two brothers arrived in France by boat at the port of Sète.
The brothers began together to practice the trade of shoemaking and then in 1930 they created their family business "Soler Frères" in Nîmes in the Gard region, a workshop for making work shoes and sandals.
At the birth of his children, Gilbert and Ivan on April 24th 1933, Agustin Soler decided to create his own brand of shoes which would be called "les jumeaux".
The production develops and the twins also, 17 years later, in 1950 Gilbert and Ivan Soler enter the shoe school of Roman and after their training integrate the family business.
In 1954 they create the Gardian boot, which will be an enormous commercial success for several decades until our time where it still continues to seduce.
It was in Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, capital of the Camargue, that Gilbert and Marie-France Soler decided to open their first boutique Gardian at the end of the 1970s.
It is in the family boutique that Yann, the youngest of the children, will develop professionally, until he becomes the manager in 2001, to perpetuate its heritage and values.
After the closure of the family factory in Nîmes, he decided to entrust the manufacture of our boots to independent craftsmen in order to devote himself fully to the development of the brand.
In this way we have managed to perpetuate our know-how while adapting it to our times.
GUARDIAN ELEGANCE THROUGH CHARACTERFUL AND DURABLE SHOES
Our Heritage is our strength. Since the middle of the 20th century, we have been applying the manufacturing techniques handed down from generation to generation and passing on the spirit of the Camargue through our creations.
We select the best tanners in order to offer full grain leather shoes.
In order to limit our ecological and social impact, we favour environmentally friendly techniques such as vegetable tanning, chrome-free and "goodyear" sewing for a product that can be repaired and resealed. All our products are designed in France and handmade in France and Spain.