Handcrafting the Best Boots & Shoes for Outdoor Explorers Around the World. For over 300 years, the Meindl name has been synonymous with fine footwear designed and crafted in the traditions Bavaria. Petrus Meindl began making shoes and boots in 1683 for the residents of the small village of Kirchanschöring, Germany. Over the years, generations of the Meindl family took up the cobbler’s tools, until Meindl & Co., the company we know today, was formally founded by Lukas Meindl in 1928. Meindl USA is your exclusive source for Meindl footwear in the US.