Paul Green

What Paul Green does

Paul Green GmbH is an Austrian privately held manufacturer and retailer of premium women's footwear, headquartered in Mattsee, Austria, with company-owned production based in Prelog, Croatia since 2013. The brand traces its lineage to a Mattsee shoemaking workshop founded in 1921 and was officially established as Paul Green in 1988 to pursue international premium positioning. The portfolio spans sneakers, slippers/loafers, ballerinas, ankle boots, pumps, lace-ups, boots, sandals, and mules, organized around proprietary comfort features including an integrated steel spring insole, removable footbeds for orthopedic compatibility, a wider-volume RELAXED WIDTH line, and a SUPER SOFT construction. Approximately 90% of the collection is manufactured in Europe (in-house in Croatia plus partner facilities in Bosnia, Serbia, and Albania), with about 1,500 workers at partner producers and 397 staff at the Croatian facility.

The company operates a three-channel go-to-market model. Direct-to-consumer revenue flows through company-owned e-commerce storefronts, namely paulgreen-shop.de for the DACH market and paulgreenshoes.com internationally, supplemented by factory outlet stores in Obertrum and Parndorf (Austria). Wholesale revenue is generated through roughly 1,000 specialty retailers across Europe, USA, Japan, and Australia, supported by a dedicated B2B portal at b2b.paul-green.com. Fulfillment and customer service for the German-language online shop are handled by contractual partner Schuhe Lücke GmbH. Pricing is kept off the public site; consumers are directed to the online shop or retail partners for unit pricing.

Material supply chain practices include 98% leather sourced from LWG-certified tanneries, a majority of leather from Italy, 100% merino wool from certified Portuguese non-mulesing operations, and FSC-certified recyclable packaging. The company employed around 500 staff in Mattsee and Prelog as of available reporting, with high long-tenure retention (over 80% of the Austrian workforce has more than ten years of service) and a 14-nationality workforce that is approximately 75% female. A new management team (Aichinger, Posch, Tesche, Wastl) assumed leadership in 2022 after a 2003 management buyout, and in 2025 the company launched the tenhaag lifestyle sub-brand to capture the casualization trend with modern unisex sneakers.

Name

Paul Green

Legal name

Paul Green GmbH

Website

https://paul-green.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Paul Green GmbH is an Austrian premium women's footwear manufacturer and retailer, headquartered in Mattsee with own production in Prelog, Croatia. It sells through ~1,000 specialty retailers across Europe, USA, Japan, and Australia, plus its own e-commerce sites and Austrian factory outlets, with a 2025 lifestyle sub-brand called tenhaag.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Women's Footwear

NAICS

Footwear Manufacturing (3162), Shoe Retailers (45821), Footwear Merchant Wholesalers (42434)

SIC

Footwear, (No Rubber) (3140), Retail-Shoe Stores (5661)

akta.pro primary industry

Casual & Lifestyle Footwear (CRAAACAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Comfort, Orthopedic & Medical Footwear Retail (CRAAADAG), Sustainable & Eco-Friendly Footwear (CRAAACAH), Sandals, Flip-Flops & Open-Toe Footwear Manufacturing (IMAOAIAG)

Keywords

• Women's footwear
• Premium comfort shoes
• Handcrafted shoes
• European shoe manufacturing
• Orthopedic-friendly footwear

Headquarters

HQ city

Mattsee

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Direct E-commerce Sales: Revenue from direct consumer sales through owned online stores (paulgreen-shop.de for DACH region, paulgreenshoes.com for international markets). Consumer purchases shoes at full retail price.
2. Wholesale to Specialty Retailers: Revenue from selling shoes to approximately 1,000 specialty retailers who resell to end consumers.
3. Factory Outlet Retail: Revenue from company-owned outlet stores selling overstock and discontinued items at discounted prices.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Paul Green designs, manufactures, and sells premium women's comfort footwear across categories including sneakers, ballerinas, pumps, ankle boots, lace-ups, boots, sandals, mules, and slippers/loafers. Over 90% of the collection is manufactured in Europe, primarily at the company's own production facility in Prelog, Croatia, using LWG-certified leather and sustainable materials. The company sells direct-to-consumer through its own e-commerce shops and factory outlet stores, and through approximately 1,000 specialty retailers worldwide, and in 2025 launched the tenhoag lifestyle sneaker sub-brand.

Product overview

Paul Green is a women's footwear company offering a diverse portfolio of shoes including Sneakers, Slippers & Loafers, Ballerinas, Ankle Boots, Pumps, Lace-ups, Boots, Sandals, and Mules. The company also operates a sub-brand called tenhaag (launched 2025) targeting the modern sneaker market for both women and men. The product line is organized around key features: SUPER SOFT (ultra-comfortable soft materials), RELAXED WIDTH (wider fit options), and Exchangeable Footbed (removable insoles for orthopedics). Products are marketed as premium quality, Made in Europe, with handcrafted quality (up to 160 handcraft steps per shoe) and sustainable materials including LWG-certified leather and FSC-certified packaging.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• tenhaag: Lifestyle brand launched in 2025 offering modern sneakers for both women and men, responding to casualization trends in fashion

Products and services

• Sneakers
• Ballerinas
• Ankle Boots
• Pumps
• Lace-ups
• Boots
• Sandals
• Slippers & Loafers
• Mules
• tenhaag (Lifestyle Sneaker Sub-brand)
• Paul Green Factory Outlet Stores
• Paul Green B2B Wholesale Portal

Quantifiable outcome

• Shoes crafted in up to 160 handcrafting steps
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Schuhe Lüke GmbHcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerContractual partner handling order fulfillment and customer service for the Paul Green online shop. Contact for order inquiries and service requests.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Tamaris: European women's fashion footwear brand (Wortmann Group) with similar price band, broad specialty-retail distribution, and comparable mix of casual, dress, and seasonal styles.
• Högl: Austrian women's footwear brand with similar premium positioning, European production, and overlapping specialty-retail distribution. Geographic proximity makes it a particularly close benchmark.
• Gabor: German premium women's footwear manufacturer with comparable comfort positioning, broad specialty-retail distribution across Europe, and similar emphasis on fit technology. Closest like-for-like competitor to Paul Green in DACH.
• Rieker: European comfort footwear manufacturer with strong specialty-retail presence across DACH and international markets, focusing on lightweight, flexible, anti-stress comfort — overlapping value proposition with Paul Green.
• Ara Shoes: German premium women's comfort footwear brand focused on lightweight, flexible construction and orthopedic compatibility — directly comparable positioning to Paul Green's removable-footbed and SUPER SOFT lines.
• Naturalizer: US-based women's comfort footwear brand historically focused on orthopedic-friendly fits and removable footbeds — comparable feature set to Paul Green's exchangeable-footbed line and overlapping target demographic.
• Caprice: German women's comfort footwear brand with proprietary comfort technologies (e.g., CLAYS technology), similar European manufacturing footprint, and overlapping specialty-retail channels.

Broad incumbents

• Skechers: Global footwear incumbent with massive comfort/lifestyle sneaker portfolio. Represents the dominant competitive threat in the casualization trend that Paul Green's tenhoag sub-brand is targeting.
• Clarks: Long-established British heritage footwear brand with global retail footprint and broad comfort assortment. Overlaps with Paul Green on comfort technology but operates at significantly larger scale and brand recognition.
• ECCO: Danish vertically integrated footwear company with own tanneries and manufacturing, premium comfort positioning, and global retail presence. Comparable in vertical integration and comfort-led value proposition, but at materially larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCaP4PUg6QA1i6Vsk_r90hGQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/paulgreenofficial/?fref
• LinkedInat.linkedin.com/company/paul-green
• Instagraminstagram.com/paul_green
• Pinterestpinterest.com/paulgreenofficial
• TikToktiktok.com/@paulgreen_shoes?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Paul Green