History of the Angelus Brand

The Angelus Brand was started in Chicago, where Paul T. Angelus arrived almost a century ago. Being a Greek immigrant, the way his business developed could best be described as the ultimate American Dream. Shining shoes, he made a living for himself until he had saved up enough to make the trip to Los Angeles. After a while, he had secured enough savings to open up his own shine stand. The one shoe-shining stand quickly made way for two more, and he shortly brought his brothers over from Greece to help the business take off. He was crowned “King of the Bootblacks” and shortly after, developed his own shoe shine. The demand for their shoe shine exploded, thus the shine stands were sold and focus was put on the development of the product we still know today. After a period of time, the business was sold. Shortly after, the demand faded in reaction to changes in the manufacturing process. The Angelus brand was bought back, and restored to its former glory! As a result of the changes, Angelus is now once again the top manufacturer of shoe polish, leather paint, leather dye and other accessories.