Knize

Quick answers

History of the house

In 1858, master tailor Josef Kniže, from Bohemia, took over Josef Einsle’s workshop in Vienna (Austria), on the site of today’s Tuchlauben 7. He first made sportswear, riding clothes and liveries. In 1873 the firm won the progress medal at the Vienna World’s Fair. A year later it was allowed to style itself Ottoman and Persian court tailor.

In 1875 the business moved to Am Hof 3. In 1888 Knize became imperial and royal court tailor, and Albert Wolff, a partner since 1885, became sole owner. In 1895 he moved the house to Graben 13, where it still trades. In 1904 the firm was renamed Knize & Comp.

In 1910 architect Adolf Loos redesigned the shop and its front. The narrow portal, in polished black granite, carries three court-supplier coats of arms. Loos also designed every fitting, display case and lamp. The house says the Graben shop remains almost unchanged.

Loos also designed the branches in Karlsbad, now Karlovy Vary (Czechia), in 1921, in Berlin (Germany) in 1924 and at 149 Champs-Élysées in Paris (France) in 1927 and 1928. The Prague (Czechia) branch was the work of his associate Heinrich Kulka.

Knize added linen and underwear in 1915 and men’s retail in 1922. That year the Wolff family hired graphic artist Ernst Dryden, who turned Knize into a modern menswear label. Knize Ten dates from this period, a range of men’s toiletries built around a leather eau de toilette.

The name comes from polo, in which ten goals is the highest handicap, a figure meant to stand for the highest elegance. The original polo-player logo was later acquired by Ralph Lauren.

The house lists its artist clients. Oskar Kokoschka paid for his suits with paintings. Knize made blouses for Marilyn Monroe, shirts for Kurt Tucholsky and ski trousers for Josephine Baker. Marlene Dietrich had her stage tailcoats cut there.

In 1935 the Wolff family renamed the firm Wolff-Knize, and in 1937 opened a branch in Bad Gastein (Austria). Persecuted for their Jewish origins, the family had to leave Austria in 1938, first for Paris, then for New York (United States). The Vienna business was “aryanised” in October 1938 and returned in 1946.

In New York the family opened a shop on 56th Street in 1941, where exiled clients followed it. The war destroyed the Berlin shop. After the war, the Iron Curtain cost Knize its Karlsbad and Prague branches. Paris closed in 1972, New York in 1974.

In 1976 Rudolf Niedersüß, a former trainee, became a partner. In 1978 he merged his own firm C. M. Frank, another former court supplier, into Knize & Comp. A menswear shop opened on Bräunerstraße in 1984, and the Graben premises grew in 1989.

In 1992 and 1993 architect Paolo Piva designed new first-floor salons in the former Krey bookshop next door. The Loos salons were left intact. A Prague branch reopened in 2012 and closed in 2020.

The Graben workshop still makes bespoke suits and accessories by hand. In 2020 the house applied to have bespoke tailcoat making listed as intangible heritage, and it entered Austria’s national inventory in 2021. In June 2025 Rudolf Niedersüß was described as owner and head cutter, with Claudia Niedersüß as head of communications.

Boutiques and points of sale

As of 6 November 2026, the house lists two addresses in Vienna (Austria), both in the first district: the bespoke and ready-to-wear salon at Graben 13 and the shop at Bräunerstraße 1. Knize fragrances and grooming products are also sold through the house’s online shop. Osmetheca is an editorial site and does not sell perfume.

The collections

Knize is not a perfume house in the strict sense. Its eaux de toilette were born in a menswear house, as an extension of the wardrobe. The online shop splits the range into men’s fragrances and grooming, and women’s fragrances. As of 6 November 2026, Parfumo lists fifteen Knize entries, aftershaves included.

The Knize Ten line

Around the eau de toilette, Knize Ten comes as aftershave, deodorant, bath soap, shaving soap in a wooden bowl, bath foam and face and body care. Knize Ten Golden Edition is a second leather eau de toilette, opening on juniper, galbanum and ylang-ylang. The house describes it as longer-lasting and more intense than the classic Knize Ten.

Knize Two, Knize Forest and Knize Sec

Knize Two is a green men’s fragrance: lemon, green leaves, galbanum and neroli, then violet, jasmine, lily of the valley and rose, over cedar, patchouli, oakmoss, musk and amber. Knize Forest is fresh, spicy and balsamic, from rosemary and sage to vetiver and labdanum. Knize Sec is listed as sold out on 6 November 2026.

Lady Knize

Lady Knize, the women’s line, comes as eau de parfum and eau de toilette. The house calls it a classic floral: rose on top, coriander and clove at the heart, sandalwood and musk in the base. The eau de toilette dates from 1938.

Notable perfumes

The house names no perfumer on its product pages and gives no release years. Knize Ten belongs to the 1920s, 1924 or 1925. It is attributed to Vincent Roubert, who worked with Coty on L’Or and L’Aimant, and François Coty is sometimes credited too.

Olfactory signature

Knize perfumery is a tailor’s perfumery: dry, clean men’s eaux de toilette designed to go with a suit. Leather sits at the centre, with Knize Ten and its Golden Edition. The green Knize Two and the aromatic Knize Forest stay within classic men’s perfumery.

The house sums up Knize Ten through its “tart character” and its “rare leather note”. Citrus and rosemary open it; carnation and iris form the heart; amber, musk and castoreum close it. The result is a polished leather rather than a tarry one. Osmetheca files it among the 1920s landmarks of the leather family, with Caron’s Tabac Blond and Chanel’s Cuir de Russie.

A fragrance born at a tailor’s: a dry, polished leather cut for the suit, sold in a shop Adolf Loos designed and time has barely touched.

Key characteristics

Frequently asked questions

See also