Swiss heritage brand Bally is having a renaissance. This month, the 164-year-old label — known mostly for driving loafers — is upping the luxury ante with a made-to-order program in its Madison Avenue boutique. It’s also elevating the accessories game in Hollywood by attracting A-list fans like Reese Witherspoon and Dakota Johnson.

Instrumental in the upswing are CEO Frédéric de Narp and design director Pablo Coppola. Since late 2013, the duo has set out to reawaken the brand’s innovative spirit.

“When I was approached to potentially become the CEO, . . . I asked to spend a day in the archives, based in Schönenwerd, Switzerland, because therein lies the soul of the brand,” says de Narp. Those archives, he says, are the best kept secret of the whole industry. “Everything you see in the windows today was invented by Bally 100 to 150 years ago.”

The label revolutionized fashion in 1890 when it invented the modern pump. Sir Edmund Hillary wore the brand’s high-performance reindeer-fur hiking shoes during the first successful trek up Mount Everest in 1953. And in 1969, Bally collaborated with NASA on soles that became the first to set foot on the moon.

Coppola (no relation to filmmaker Francis Ford) has used Bally’s boundary- pushing past to make it relevant in the present, incorporating key elements of functionality, modernity and luxury. For spring 2015, that means long shoulder handbags and sharp suits that can be paired with a recently launched sneaker collection.

“For me, I’ve always noticed that I was almost designing the gimmick, the show-off accessory for my past brands. It almost becomes that you are running away from true craftsmanship,” says Coppola. “Bally has been there before me and will be after me. It is a heritage brand, and it is long and strong enough.”

To build on that strength, Bally recently relocated its design offices to London, the most forwardthinking fashion capital. “Yes, we are a Swiss brand and our head administrative office is in Switzerland, but how can you be out there in terms of creativity, marketing and communication?” says de Narp. “London attracts talent because it is a city at the center of the world.” But London isn’t the only city getting a taste of Bally.

“We want at least 12 more flagships in the key cities of the world in the next five to six years,” de Narp adds. “You need flagships to express everything the brand has to offer. You want the experience of Bally to be memorable.”