It has been over 115 years since the company was founded, and today ANGULUS remains a proud family-owned business. Today father and son, Christian (son of Roland Dawe) and Sebastian Dawe, work together on the development of ANGULUS.
Natural shoes for natural feet
ANGULUS was founded in 1904 by Willy Madsen’s father, who ran a shoemaker’s shop on Nørrebrogade in Copenhagen. Willy was a schoolteacher and did not care for the pointed shoes kids wore at the time.
The pointed shoes were both unhealthy for the feet and hindered natural movement. Willy quit his job as a schoolteacher to become a shoemaker, and in 1928 Willy turned the shoe industry upside down with his foot-shaped shoes, which he developed in collaboration with doctors and physiotherapists.
At first the shoes received a cool reception, but little by little interest and publicity grew. Before long ANGULUS was on everyone’s lips. Especially after Willy married the era’s biggest ballet star, Else Højgaard. The couple appeared in public, Else wearing ANGULUS women’s shoes, and this opened many doors for the brand.
Time passed, and in 1949 Willy hired a leather buyer named Roland Dawe. In the following years he traveled all over Europe in search of quality leathers. Roland had a good eye for quality—and for the many beautiful foreign shoes he saw. The visionary purchasing manager therefore ensured that ANGULUS secured the agency for well-known handcrafted German shoes and fine Italian brands. As one of the few Danish shoe manufacturers, ANGULUS was thus prepared for the competition when the government around 1960 opened the market to imports of foreign shoes. The Italian agencies in particular were a great inspiration in the development of ANGULUS’s collections.
ANGULUS today
Today ANGULUS shoes are designed in Herlev just outside Copenhagen by our talented designers. Since March 2020 all ANGULUS shoes have been produced at our own factory in northern Portugal. Read more about the factory in Portugal here.
Each season the beautiful shoes are dispatched around the world and find their place on the shelves of the best stores. From there they delight the discerning, quality-conscious customers who demand to take on the world in shoes that are both a joy to look at and a pure pleasure to walk and stand in.
ANGULUS is today a visionary brand with a flagship store in the heart of Copenhagen. Read more about the store here. In the store you can find an exclusive selection of women’s shoes. At angulus.dk you will find a broader selection for women, men and kids, but a rapidly changing assortment. It is not always the same online as on the shelves in our store, so both are worth a visit.
The fine fit, quality and design have secured ANGULUS several prestigious awards. Among them the "Børn i Byen" award for best Danish kids’s shoe brand. The pride in Herlev is palpable. The love of the craft and the principle of free toe movement carry the work forward.
New collections await. The story of ANGULUS continues.