Paraboot was founded in 1908 by Rémy-Alexis Richard, a shoemaker in the mountainous Isère region of France. While he originally was making more dainty leather-soled shoes for the Parisian elite, he got the idea to add rubber soles to traditional leather uppers after being inspired by the "rubber boots" worn by Americans, an innovation at the time. The year that this occurred was 1926, and by 1927 he had trademarked Paraboot as the conjunction between the Amazonian leather port "Para" and the name for that footwear he saw on the Americans'.

In 1945, amidst a devastated post-war France wrought with scarcity, the iconic Michael style was born out of a need for simplicity in design but also for solid construction. The Michael remains one of the most versatile designs that Paraboot has ever produced. It has the elegance of a beautiful leather upper, the quirkyness of its raised apron stitch, the durability of its Norwegian construction, and the comfort and casualness of a sneaker all at the same time.