Knize

Knize (pronounced "Knische") is a Viennese menswear house and fragrance maker founded in 1858 [1]. It began as a tailoring workshop in Vienna's first district whose clients included the Emperor and the archdukes of the House of Habsburg, and it remains in operation today, running two retail locations in central Vienna and an online shop alongside its bespoke tailoring.

Within the beauty market, Knize is known chiefly for Knize Ten, a leather men's fragrance first sold in the 1920s that is still produced and sold internationally nearly a century later. The wider house continues to present itself, in the company's words, as "Vienna's premier address for men's fashion."

The firm was established in 1858 by the tailor Josef Knize, described variously as Czech and Bohemian [5]. According to the company, the workshop served members of the Habsburg court from early in its history, and in 1888 it was granted the title of k.k. Hof-Schneider — Imperial-Royal Court Tailor [2]. Josef Knize died that same year, and Albert Wolff became sole owner. Early on the house specialised in sports and equestrian clothing before broadening into formal menswear.

After Josef Knize's death, his widow Gisela and their four children took over operations in 1902, and in 1904 the business adopted the name Kniže & Comp.

Knize's most architecturally notable chapter is its flagship at Graben 13 in Vienna, designed by the architect Adolf Loos and built between 1910 and 1913 [5]. Secret Vienna, a Vienna heritage publication, records that Loos furnished the premises with a curved cherrywood staircase, aiming to evoke "the atmosphere of an English gentlemen's club" [7]. Loos went on to design further Knize shops abroad, in Karlsbad, Berlin and Paris.

In 1922 the Wolff family engaged the graphic designer Ernst Dryden. Through his work the house came to be described — in its own telling — as "the world's first modern menswear label," a claim echoed by Wikipedia, which calls Knize "considered the first men's fashion brand in the world" [5].

The company was renamed Wolff-Knize in 1935 [5]. With Austria's Anschluss into Nazi Germany in 1938, the Wolff family, who were Jewish, were persecuted and emigrated, moving first to Paris. In 1941 a store was opened in New York on 56th Street, and the company name was shortened to Knize [5]. A branch in Prague reopened in 2012 and closed in 2020.

Across its history the firm passed from its founder to Albert Wolff, then to the Wolff family, who renamed it Wolff-Knize in 1935. No current ownership or parent company is documented in the available sources.

Knize positions itself at the top of the Viennese menswear market, summarised in its tagline "Wiens erste Adresse für Herrenmode" — Vienna's premier address for men's fashion. The company emphasises traditional craft, stating that the art of made-to-measure tailcoat tailoring is carried out by Knize as one of the last firms still doing such work by hand. The fragrance line is framed as an extension of the same heritage of elegance.

Knize's beauty-relevant output centres on a small range of men's fragrances and grooming products sold under the Knize name, among them Knize Ten, Knize Two, Knize Ten Golden Edition and Knize Forest, together with after-shave, soaps, shaving soap and other care items.

The signature product is Knize Ten, a leather fragrance. Sources disagree on exactly when it appeared: most fragrance editorial dates the launch to 1924 [6], while the brand's own history page places it only loosely in the early-1920s Ernst Dryden era without a precise year, and Secret Vienna gives 1925 [7]. Now Smell This reports that Knize Ten was developed by the perfumers François Coty and Vincent Roubert and describes it as "a debonair, spicy-floral leather fragrance" [6]. Its name is said to reference the highest handicap in polo [5]. The composition draws on notes including leather, birch tar, bergamot, petitgrain, oakmoss, orris, carnation and ambergris.

Knize Ten is frequently cited in perfume writing as one of the early-20th-century leather fragrances that has survived in production. Reviewing it in 2010, Now Smell This observed: "How many men's fragrances of the early 20th century are still around today (and still smell good)? Not many" [6]. Secret Vienna described the scent as "one of the best leather compositions in the history of perfume" and called Knize Vienna's arguably most renowned men's outfitter [7].

Wikipedia lists a number of historic patrons of the house, among them Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, James Dean and the painter Oskar Kokoschka, who reportedly paid for his suits with paintings [5].

Knize is active. The house operates two retail salons in Vienna's first district — the main made-to-measure and prêt-à-porter salon at Graben 13 and a branch at Bräunerstraße 1 — together with an online shop carrying its current fragrance and grooming range. Day-to-day operations and headquarters are based in Vienna, while the Knize Ten fragrance is distributed more widely through third-party perfumeries.