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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.
Three years ago the Alfred Sargent brand went into liquidation, and from that the Paul Sargent brand emerged with the same factory, models, lasts and so on. Aim was to finally give a Sargent brand the attention it deserved, but sadly, things has not gone as planned. Now the factory in Rushden, Northamptonshire, is once again closed, and all workers have been laid off.
Stricter animal welfare regulations in the European Union have changed the conditions of the skins that the tanneries receive, which in turn means that we customers need to change our mindset on what is a good skin and what is not. In this article I explain this further.
With online shopping taking globalisation to a new level and everyone everywhere being able to buy everything everywhere, it’s increasingly important to offer something unique. This is particularly noticeable in the quality shoe sphere, where specific models exclusive to individual retailers are becoming more and more common.
There are many aspects favouring choosing traditionally constructed quality shoes – apart from the fact that they look nice and are of high quality. They are good for the animals, good for the environment, and produced in good working conditions. Shoegazing explains further.
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Shoes have gone from something that most ordered from a local cordwainer in versions of relatively standard styles, past a segment where styles were perhaps more limited but Ready to Wear shoes were kept in loads of different lasts and widths that customers could try on, up to today’s situation where there is a huge selection of styles but fit-wise more and more streamlined to fit the most common feet “ok”, instead of fitting some feet great. Here’s how it all evolved.
The Italian brand Stefano Bemer has just introduced a new innovation within the world of classic footwear, where an NFC tag embedded in the shoe makes it possible for customers to scan any shoe with a smartphone and apart from regular product info also find info on the specific materials used, where it’s sourced and so on.
The well-renowned French bespoke shoemaker Atelier du Tranchet – run by Christophe Corthay and Christophe Algans – closed its doors permanently yesterday. After a tough couple of years the highly creative footwear maker decided to shut down the business, which was met with sadness from many in the business.
The famous British shoe brand Church’s Footwear is going through tough times. After a disappointing 2020 they raised prices with around 40-50% last year to try a new approach, which resulted in a drop in sales with another 57%. This means that they’ve dropped a whopping 81% of their turnaround in just two years time, and losses are huge. Question is if they can turn things around.
In today’s day and age, people do their best to remove any type of hurdles and make ones existence as smooth and comfortable as possible. This goes for footwear as well, where the “soft and flexible” take over everything from classic RTW to bespoke shoes. Thoughts on this development in today’s article.
