The saga of one of the classic British sole manufacturers seems to be all. The owners of Itshide, perhaps most famous for their Commando rubber soles, has gone into liquidation, and all things points to this being the end for the over 100 years old Northampton-based company.
With the industrialisation and development of rubber products in the late 1800’s, a lot of companies around the world started do produce rubber soles for shoes. For obvious reasons, rubber were better than leather for use in harsher conditions and in rougher terrain, and soon took over completely for certain types of footwear.
Itshide, at the time based in Petersfield in southern England, was a company who made mainly toys and brushes in the early 20th century. During WWII they switched to produce tank treads and pieces for torpedo systems. And, they made a copy of the Italian company Vibram’s sole Carrarmato, a rugged lug sole that the Italians developed for mountaineering. Itshide named it Commando, and the British army used it for some of their army boots. After the war ended shoe manufacturers put it on mountaineer boots, they started using it for country footwear, and it became really popular. Itshide moved over to focus solely on sole manufacturing, and in 1989 relocated to the UK shoemaking centre Northampton. They made various sole patterns, and were used by several UK shoe brands and others around the world, as well as by many cobblers for resoles.
Vintage ad for Itshide Commando rubber sole. Picture: Itshide
While Itshide and the biggest UK rubber sole manufacturer Dainite (the sole type that is often called Dainite actually has the name “studded”, just that Dainite is the most famous manufacturer of the pattern), have struggled a bit with transitioning to a world with a huge amount of specialised shoe types with loads of different types of rubber soles used, their Italian counterparts Vibram and Margom have been more progressive, even if they both still produce all the classics. Today, the two latter are both huge companies that have managed to retain their positions despite tough competition from a lot of rubber sole manufacturers in Asia, as well as Spain, Portugal etc.
Itshide’s version of the studded sole. They branded all their soles Commando in more recent years, probably since it was more famous than the Itshide brand. Picture: Bradshaw and Lloyd
On the British islands, Dainite and Itshide have both been quite similar in what they have offered, and it seems there only was place for one. Itshide was the smaller one, and from what I understand they’ve had challenging years for quite some time. A bit back they were taken over by Vale Brothers, a company with business in the equestrian industry. Unfortunately, things went south for them, and in turn Vale Brothers were bought by JDS59. In autumn, JDS59 went into liquidation, and with that followed Vale Brothers and in turn Itshide.
From all I’ve managed to gather, there hasn’t come anyone to save Itshide, at least of yet. They have ceased trading, cobblers who’ve tried to purchase their products haven’t been able to, and no one at Itshide / Vale Brothers that I’ve reached out to have responded to me. Sadly it looks like we’ve lost one of the classic manufacturers of rubber soles for quality shoes.
Another of Itshide’s soles, which it looks like we won’t see made anymore. Picture: Wyatt & Dad (top picture and banner picture: Crockett & Jones
Darn, I liked their soles better than Dainite, a shame.
TL: Yeah a shame indeed.
Yeah! I like it
Loved the Britgrip sole, had it in brown black red and blue over the years. True shame.
John Joyce: Yes there’s some offerings that will be missed.
I’ve literally just found out about the demise of Itside. My maternal great aunt and her husband both worked at the factory in Petersfield. I can remember helping to trim off excess rubber around the kitchen table at my grandparent’s house in Horndean. It was hard work, especially as I was only about six at the time!