By Steve Price
Well-Sewn prides itself on bringing analysis and reviews of a plethora of fashion brands, from suit and tie makers to wristwatches and accessories. One of our true passions however lies in the manufacture of footwear; for years, the editorial staff have discussed different brands that we approve of and like, ranging from boots to dress shoes and almost everything in between. We seek to now bring that expertise and passion to Well-Sewn in the form of catch-all reviews and retrospectives on some of our favorite brands. And one brand in particular was near the top of our list when compiling shoe manufacturers we wanted to chronicle.
The city of Northampton in the East Midlands region of England has a long history of cordwainers plying their craft making some of the finest shoes in Britain. As far back as the 12th century, entire districts of shoemakers were producing their wares in the town, establishing it as one of the major epicenters for shoe manufacturing. By the turn of the industrial age, over a hundred individual factories were in operation producing all manner of footwear. Into this crowded marketplace came a pair of individuals who had apprenticed in the business, and in one instance married into it. Their family story would ebb and flow throughout the years in the creation of a brand so prestigious, its very name is a symbol of quality in men’s footwear.
Join us now as we take a retrospective look at one of the world’s preeminent high-end shoe manufacturers, Crockett & Jones of Northampton in the United Kingdom.
The Genesis of the Brand
In 1879, a man by the name of James Crockett – the grandson of a prominent boot and shoe manufacturer in Northampton, England – teamed up with his brother-in-law and third-generation cordwainer, shoe clicker Charles Jones to open a new factory. Initially needing assistance from a local trust fund to secure the necessary capital to establish their new enterprise, the two men drew on the support of their family to help the twenty-employee factory a success from the start, rapidly expanding by the early 1880s. Initially, workers would have to fashion the individual components for shoes at home, then return the finished parts to the factory for assembly, demonstrating how crafty construction was in the early years. In an interesting bit of trivia, the brothers-in-law would receive machinery custom made by none other than Charles Goodyear of Goodyear fame, helping to expedite the uppers and insoles to a welt, a process now known as Goodyear-welting.
The second generation of family members from the Crockett and Jones families came into the business beginning in the 1890s with the arrival of Harry and Fred Crockett and Frank Jones. Business continued to swell, necessitating a move to a larger factory in Northampton where the company continues to manufacture its shoes at present. Of historical note, the new Crockett & Jones factory on Magee Street would be remodeled into a five-story steel factory in 1910, the first building constructed of steel in Northampton. The company would begin to receive significant accolades in 1911 when it received the Diploma of Honour at the International Manufacturing Exhibition in Turin. Over the next two years, Clifden Crockett and Percy Jones, the youngest children of James and Charles would enter the ever-expanding business, which by now had become recognized as one of the preeminent brands in all of Britain.
The reputation of Crockett & Jones afforded them some unique opportunities during the first decades of the 20th century. As many an amateur historian would note, this period of history was known as a golden age of exploration with famed expeditions to Antarctica and the Himalayas capturing the public interest. The shoe factory was charged with the creation of specially-constructed boots that could withstand the punishing conditions on the Antarctic continent for research expeditioners, a task they excelled at so well that when Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 Endurance Expedition required special footwear for the journey, they turned once again to Crockett & Jones to construct them. Their service to Britain continued into the First World War, where the factory ramped up production to unprecedented levels, producing over 600,000 boots for soldiers a year from their Northampton factory. This exceptional output would make Crockett & Jones nationally famous, punctuated several years later by a visit from the future King George VI. For his part, James Crockett would receive a knighthood.
The Family Business Keeps Expanding
By 1927, Frank Jones’s son Gilbert had joined the company, establishing three generations of family members working at Crockett & Jones. Their primary factory would receive another upgrade in the 1930s with the addition of a new wing for office space, a showroom for customers, and an in-stock department. The interwar years were characterized by the evolution of the marketplace, with women’s footwear becoming a bigger and bigger share of the proverbial pie. By the start of World War II, more than 60% of Crockett & Jones’s inventory was devoted to women’s footwear, marking a steady increase over the lifetime of the company.
The company would once again shift to wartime production of boots and shoes for military usage at the outset of World War II, manufacturing over one million pairs during the course of the conflict. The immediate postwar years would be monumental for the company, as the grandson of Sir James Crockett, Clifton Crockett would enter the business in 1946. When he left in 1952, it marked the final member of the Crockett family to work in the business they had helped create. The Jones family would continue on however, as Charles Jones’s grandson Richard would join in 1947 after leaving the Royal Navy. The postwar years would prove to be difficult to navigate, as shortages of material and the changing economic landscape in Britain would see hard times befall many shoemaking enterprises in Northampton. Crockett & Jones, who by the 1950s had returned to primarily making men’s footwear was partially insulated from the increased global competition through its brand recognition internationally – almost twenty percent of its business was through exports to foreign markets.
The increasing competition from cheaper manufacturers abroad meant that difficult decisions would have to be made beginning in the 1970s. With exports now accounting for thirty percent of their business and nearly eighty percent of their inventory devoted to men’s footwear, a new paradigm would be introduced upon the arrival of fourth-generation shoemaker Jonathan Jones in 1977. Crockett & Jones would begin to refocus away from Commonwealth marketplaces in favor of export sales to Europe, Japan and the United States. They also began focusing on the highest-quality models in their inventory, establishing the company as a high-end manufacturer at a time when most of their contemporary English factories were struggling. The focus of the brand would move forward through men’s Goodyear-welted footwear exclusively.
Crockett & Jones in the Modern Marketplace
The decision to focus on an export-heavy model paid off for the company, as its rising stock afforded it the ability to expand into retail in the 1990s with its first outlet location on Jermyn Street in London (subsequent locations would also open elsewhere in London as well as Birmingham, Brussels, New York and Paris. The export market now accounted for seventy percent of Crockett & Jones’s business, a model so effective that it earned them the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement in 1990. Nicholas Jones, the son of Richard would become a production director for the company in 2005, marking the final fourth generation member of the Jones family to enter the business. By 2016, the fifth generation had become well entrenched in the family business with export sales manager Philippa Jones, British sales manager William Jones and operations manager Oliver Jones.
The company’s global image would reach a new zenith in 2012 when it established a partnership with EON Productions, the company responsible for helping to make the James Bond film franchise. Crockett & Jones would become the footwear provider for 007 in the films Skyfall, Spectre and No Time to Die. As an official partner to the brand, the company would release a limited edition run called ‘James’ as a tie-in to the successful film franchise. Around the same time, the company’s factory in Northampton would receive a tour by the then-Prince of Wales Charles, occurring some 89 years after his grandfather had toured the same location. The business would receive the Royal Warrant by HRH The Prince of Wales as a Manufacturer and Supplier of Footwear in 2017.
Crockett & Jones celebrated its 140th anniversary in 2019 with more than seventy percent of its business exported to foreign markets, making it a true global leader in high-end quality men’s footwear. The advent of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 would take its toll on the business, forcing intermittent closures of its retail locations, yet the company’s tried-and-true factory home in Northampton remains open today, producing Goodyear-welted footwear in the same vein as its company founders almost a century and a half prior, James Crockett and Charles Jones. Their exquisite quality and attention to detail establish them as one of Well-Sewn’s preferred brands for men’s footwear, and we most certainly recommend a visit to their showroom in Northampton or one of their retail locations around the world should the opportunity ever avail itself to you.
