Indian image Church's Shoe Factory St James

Church & Co Limited, branded Church's, is a luxury

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serves the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves th ...

manufacturer that was founded in 1873 by Thomas Church in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, England. In 1999 the company was bought by Italian luxury fashion house

Prada Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding t ...

History

Between the two world wars, Church's became actively involved in the development of the footwear industry in general. In 1919, the

British Boot, Shoe and Allied Trades Research Association Satra Corporation was a US trading and metal processing company. It is primarily known in the United Kingdom for its Satra Motors Limited subsidiary, which was the official importer and distributor of Soviet Union cars and motorcycles in that co ...

was created with Church's as a founder-member. As a result of this partnership, the Northampton Technical College was established in 1925. This went on to become the University of Northampton in 2005. The family business was taken over by

in 1999, in a US$170 million deal, and has since expanded its outlets overseas. In 2014 the company employed 650 people. The same year, Church's took over adjacent premises in St James Road, formerly a tram and later a bus depot, in anticipation of further expansion which was expected to create up to 140 more jobs. Some have criticised Prada's management of Church's, citing a shift towards a fashion company moving away from traditional designs and workmanship resulting in gradual decrease of quality. In 2016, the Company appointed a new CEO. Despite the openings of new luxury boutiques and the uplift of retail price, Church & Co reported losses and reduced the workforce in its plant in Northampton.

Locations

Its main installations are located in the

St James Saint James or St. James may refer to: People Saints *James, brother of Jesus (died 62 or 69), also known as James the Just *James the Great (died 44), Apostle, also known as James, son of Zebedee, or Saint James the Greater **Saint James Matamoro ...

area of

, with an estimated production capacity of 5,000 pairs per week, 70% of which are exported all over the world. Besides products sold to resellers and individual customers, the company has retail stores in Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and UK.

Notable customers

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had a "lucky pair" of Church's black 310 brogues, which he wore to every session of Prime Minister's Questions for ten years.

In popular culture

During

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 (''GoldenEye'', ''Tomorrow ...

's tenure as James Bond, various selections of dress shoes from the Church's range were used in production.

Lindy Hemming Lindy Hemming (born 21 August 1948) is a Welsh costume designer, who won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the 1999 film ''Topsy-Turvy''. Hemming's name is an example of an aptronym. Career After she studied at the Royal Academy of ...

, who was the costume designer, explained the choice of Church's shoes as having the appropriate weight to complement the silhouette of the tailored Brioni suits she had commissioned for Bond."James Bond's shoes auction"
''Northampton Chronicle'' 4 November 2007

References

External links