Shoe Production For British Brand Joseph Cheaney & Sons

DESBOROUGH, ENGLAND - AUGUST 25: A member of staff works in the Joseph Cheaney and Sons factory cuts leather on August 25, 2015 in Desborough, United Kingdom. J. Cheaney, Boot & Shoemakers was established 1886 and moved to a site in Desborough in 1986. Northamptonshire has been the home for shoe and boot making since the 1600s; the surrounding countryside with its ample supplies of oak bark and water from the River Nene made the area ideal for tanning the leather available in the central trading county's thriving local cattle markets. By the middle of the 20th century Northamptonshire was centre of England's shoe industry, producing about 160 million pairs a year. The industry finally began to suffer when overseas trade declined in the 1960s; production moved overseas, jobs were lost and factories were converted into apartments. In many small towns the shoe trade was all but gone by the mid-1980s. In 2009 cousins Jonathan and William Church completed a management buy-out of Joseph Cheaney and Sons, seeing an opportunity to commit to high quality production and the heritage of Northamptonshire shoemaking. After decades of decline Cheaney is currently producing 1500 pairs of shoes per week, cut out and "closed"and the same Desborough site since 1886. (Rob Stothard)