One of our long standing partners at MA, C&J opened their doors to us recently on a little pilgrimage to Northampton England. A region known worldwide as a shoe making powerhouse.
Founded in 1879 in Northampton, at the heart of England's most famous shoemaking town, Crockett & Jones specialize in the manufacture of high quality Goodyear welted footwear. By the year 1642 the town had developed a strong reputation for shoemaking. Codwainers (medieval terms for shoemaker) had decided on the ares because of the strong tannery industry already in place. At its height in 1841 there were over 1800 shoemakers in town.
James Crockett & Charles Jones founded the company & to this day the Jones family is still directly hands on involved in the production. The first factory was small and around 20 workers. By the 1880s the company had grown & groundbreaking technology from Charles Goodyear of America was installed. This superior tech is today known as Goodyear Welting. By 1910 the expansion involved a 5 story factory buildout. By the time of WW1 the company was making army boots in the amount of approx 600,000 per year.
Today the building itself is a grade 2 historic site. Preserving the brand's storied history. Today C&J is known for making shoes for the British Royal family, the 007 films & so much more. Marc Allen became one of the brand's very few US based wholesale accounts in 2018. Each season we work with them to develop unique special make up designs found only in our shop. We also carry some stalwart models we find work best for what we offer & can typically fulfill some special order requests as well (depending on stock availability in England). We remain proud to offer such a high quality & storied shoemaker in shop.
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