CHURCH'S

The story of Church's is a fantastic tale of British family genius and inventiveness. It all began in 1675, in Northampton, a city renowned for its thriving leather and footwear industry, the birth year of Mr. Stone Church, the great-grandfather of the more famous Thomas, who propelled production to be exported everywhere, initially identifying 6 standard fittings for each proposed model, thus becoming a world leader in the mass production of luxury men's footwear. In 1890, Thomas passed the management on to his son William, who soon became interested in the foreign market, starting to send representatives to the British colonies, Europe, and America. Expanding in 1921, Church's opened its first London boutique and introduced its first women's footwear; the "Archmoulded", modeled on the foot arch. A few years later, they launched the famous men's Shanghai model, which has recently been retrieved from the archives and reintroduced with great success. The company specializes in classic and elegant leather footwear, both for men and women, and related accessories (brushes, polishes, waxes, shoe trees). The shoes are handmade by about 400 specialized craftsmen, all employed in the sole factory in Northampton: each pair of shoes requires about 250 steps and eight weeks of work, with an average annual production of about 210,000 pairs, 68% of which are for the foreign market (mainly Italy and the Far East). The creation process is called "Good Year Welted Construction," a particular technique that simplifies resoling. The products are distributed in single-brand stores located in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United States, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Among the various users of the brand to mention are Tony Blair, James Bond, and the British army during World War II. In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II awarded the factory with the Queen's Awards for Enterprise and bestowed it with the royal seal of recognition. In the early 2000s, Church's was acquired by the Prada Group, continuing to increase the number of its boutiques in Italy.