PALM BEACH SANDALS

Summer is here.....90 degree days, bathing suits, frozen custards and your favorite Palm Beach Sandals.

We have lots of colors in our shop and a whole ring of leather colors to choose from so you can design your own !

These sandals have been a Palm Beach staple for over 50 years. Originally these were designed and made by Eva and Benny Bonanno, cobblers who worked for Luigi Pucillo the owner of a shoe repair shop on the Island, for none other than Jackie Kennedy !  Jackie had purchased a similar pair on a trip to Capri and wanted a few new pairs made while here in Palm Beach.  A few well-published photographs later and everyone wanted the "Luigi" sandals that Jackie was wearing.

In 1963 Eva and Benny Bonanno opened their own shoe repair on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach. They continued to make the "Luigi's" which eventually became known as "Bonanno's" after their son, Stephen, took over the business in 1980 and had his name stamped on the footbed of the sandals.

Currently the company , now under the name "Palm Beach Sandal Company", is owned by Stephen Bonanno's ex-wife who, as part of her divorce settlement, was given the original Bonanno factory, machines and original patterns and dyes.

Here at the Boutique, we have stock of some Bonanno sandals, Palm Beach Sandals (which is the company we currently order from) and, just to further confuse you, Jack Rogers Sandals.

Jack Rogers is a Miami-based company that capitalized on the "Luigi" frenzy by producing their own version of the classic Palm Beach sandal. Jack really helped to spread the popularity of the style throughout the country and was a whiz at marketing. Today, many people refer to these sandals as "Jack Rogers" despite the fact that he is not the original creator of the style. We carry stock of Jack's for these (uninformed) customers, but once we educate them, we usually have an immediate convert because Jack Rogers are not all leather, are painted rather than dyed and , despite the USA stamped on the footbed, are NOT made in the United States.

Palm Beachers so love their Palm Beach Sandals that the Boutique painted a picture of one and had our inimitable embroidery house stitch them in various colors onto simple white linen hemstitch towels. They were a big hit !!!!

So check out your closet and decide what is the best color for you and give us a ring, an
e-mail or a snail-mail and let us help you "get your sandal on" !!  Your tootsies will thank you.

XOXOXOX
LETA