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

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protective clothing, protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature. *Shoes and si ...

manufacturer that was founded in 1873 by Thomas Church in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

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

Family

Three brothers Alfred, (John) William, and (Thomas) Dudley formed the company; their father Thomas died on 23 March 1905. The granddaughter of Dudley was the Olympic swimmer Elizabeth Church. (Thomas) Dudley married Rhoda Wooding, daughter of Henry Wooding of Billing Road, at Victoria Road church on 3 January 1893. Alfred died on Saturday 29 September 1928 aged 77. He lived on Cheyne Walk, and attended Abington Avenue Congregational Church, where his funeral was held. Alfred had attended the church with Walter Drawbridge Crick, grandfather of

Francis Crick Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the Nucleic acid doub ...

. (John) William lived at Nine Springs Villa on Billing Road in Cliftonville, the former house of Walter Drawbridge Crick, until around 1928, when he moved to Leicester, where he died aged 76 on Thursday 10 January 1929.

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 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 A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by Consanguinity , blood, marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business a ...

was taken over by Prada 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 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 Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

stores in Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and UK.

Notable customers

British Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

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 was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

's tenure as

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

, various selections of dress shoes from the Church's range were used in production. Lindy Hemming, 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

*{{Official website, https://www.church-footwear.com/