The Luxury Shoemaking Craft Behind Church’s
Happy shoes are the ones that live on beautiful cedarwood shoe trees. Wessex, Norfolk, Suffolk — the aristocracy of cedar. Slip a pair into your amber Mayfair Oxfords or ebony Chelsea Amberleys, and you’ll hear them sigh in contentment. Your Hampsteads stay healthy, your monkstraps keep their patina, and your Alexandra boots stay glossy enough to catch a candle flame.
If humans crave chocolate at Christmas, shoes crave beeswax, carnauba wax, and a spa-quality pedicare ritual, which is why every gentleman’s Christmas stocking should contain the essentials: Church’s shoe cream, a tin of proper polish, a horsehair buffing brush, and a polishing duster worthy of St. James.
The Soul of British Shoemaking — Northampton, the Cobblers’ Capital
Sixty miles northwest of London and 50 miles southeast of Birmingham lies Northampton, the beating heart of British shoemaking for more than eight centuries. Its football team is affectionately known as The Cobblers — and with good reason.
Since the twelfth century, the region’s hyperlocal supply of oak bark and clean water from the River Nene has made it ideal for tanning leather. Add cattle markets supplying the hides, plus perfect trade routes, and Northamptonshire became the cradle of cordwaining.
Its royal pedigree dates back to King John, who purchased boots there in 1213. The Shoemakers’ Guild was founded in 1401. By the time Thomas Pendleton was supplying Cromwell’s New Model Army — and later officers fighting in the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars — Northampton had already become synonymous with durability, discipline, and craftsmanship.
By 1841, the town was home to 1,821 shoemakers. Today, Northamptonshire produces nearly six million pairs annually — half destined for export.
Church’s: The Icon Among Icons
In 1873, Thomas Church, his wife Eliza, and their sons Alfred and William opened their first factory on Maple Street. Production soon moved to Duke Street. William Church revolutionized footwear with the introduction of left-and-right shoes in their “Adaptable” model — available in widths, materials, and unheard-of half sizes. The “Adapted” boot won gold at the 1881 Great Exhibition.
The Roaring Twenties brought the first London boutique, the Shanghai style, and an overseas store in New York. In 1957, Church’s opened its St. James Road headquarters. In 1999, Prada acquired the heritage brand, securing its place in the international pantheon.
Northamptonshire’s shoemaking elite also includes Crockett & Jones (1879), Tricker’s (1829), Loake, Sanders & Sanders (1873), Grenson, and newer icons like Dr. Martens’ Northampton operations, Solovair, and Crown Northampton, operated by the fifth-generation Woodford family.
Here, the craft is lived, breathed, and passed down like a secret art.
The English Shoeshine — A Ritual Worth Traveling For
If you want the world’s best shoes — and the artistry that maintains them — go to Northampton. Not Milan. Here, shoeshine is a craft taught by hand, not by algorithm.
The Ritual:
1. Remove the laces
Unlace fully, then insert a properly sized shoe tree to restore the silhouette and smooth the upper.
2. Brush away reality
Use a lightly dampened small upper brush to whisk away dust and dirt.
3. Nourish the leather
Apply leather cream with slow, circular movements. Use black cream for black shoes, grey or tonal creams for colored leathers.
Let it rest for two hours — like a mask at a luxury spa.
4. Buff to life
Brush away residue, then use a large buffer brush in long, confident strokes.
5. The final gleam
Spread wax polish evenly, add a whisper of water, then use a dry cloth in circular motions until the leather glows.
Allow to dry. Dustbag. Done.
And finally — the finishing touch:
Slide them into their £90–£140 Church’s cedar shoe trees.
A fitting throne for a well-kept sole.
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