First published by John Lobb (Paris) in four parts, with consulting from Rebecca Shawcross from the Northampton Shoe Museum.

Products from Pukimo Raivio

Kiton, grey sports jacket, size 50EU
Ralph Lauren, Black Label suit, size 52EU

Northamptonshire has a long history of shoemaking in the town and county. In the Middle Ages Northampton was a busy market town. It had a street of cordwainers (shoemakers) making footwear for the locals as other towns, but it had the advantage of being a stopping place on the road to London, and many people, including the King, stayed in the town. In 1213 King John purchased a pair of boots in the town for 9d (4p). His son Henry III ordered one hundred and fifty pairs of shoes for distribution among the poor while he visited the town. In 1401 The Shoemakers Guild was set up which laid down rules for shoemakers and had the powers to punish those whose work was unsatisfactory. Northampton was slowly becoming a town where shoes were made and sent for sale in other places.

Northampton developed in this way as the town had the advantage of possessing three raw materials: cattle for the leather, oak bark and water to use in tanning. Northampton was also within easy reach of London and other large towns where many people needed shoes. In 1642 Thomas Pendleton, a Northampton shoemaker, was given an order for 4,000 pairs of shoes and 600 pairs of boots for the army in Ireland. He had to get twelve other shoemakers to help him but they delivered the boots on time.

By 1660 Thomas Fuller wrote that “The town of Northampton may be said to stand chiefly on other men’s legs…the most cheapest, if not the best, boots…in England are to be bought in Northampton.”

From this 17^thcentury period shoemaking was carried out in workshops at home and due to the different skills required for women’s shoes; the town specialised in men’s footwear. The turning point for the industry was the introduction of machinery. The Singer sewing machine had been introduced from America, modified to stitch leather rather than cloth. It was used to close uppers. The American Lyman Blake perfected his machine, the Blake Sewer, for stitching on soles in 1864. This machine was too large, heavy and expensive to have at home and needed power to drive it. It drove the shoemakers into factories over the next thirty years.

Northampton boomed in the 19th century, with the boot and shoe industry dominating the town and county. By 1841 there were 1,821 shoemakers in Northampton.

Northampton continued to prosper particularly during World War One producing millions of boots for the Forces of Britain and its allies. From the 1940s cheaper synthetic materials and quicker manufacturing processes became available and the traditional industry, based on high quality leather footwear, found it hard to adapt to the new market.

From the 1950s and into the 1970s many of the well-known footwear manufacturers were bought out. They often kept their high street shops, but gradually closed their factories, buying cheaper supplies from developing countries.

All these changes led the industry to shrink to a fraction of its former size.

Despite this shift there are still a number of manufacturers in the town and county who have remained successful, particularly producing high quality classic men’s footwear. One of these manufacturers is John Lobb.