Tim Little was a former PR man with an interest in shoes. This led him to design his own range of shoes, (initially) produced by Alfred Sargent, and to open his own shop in London’s King’s Road. I remember very well this “shabby chic” shop I saw a few years ago. A place with a fully handmade bespoke service, which was very rare but also the best possible form of shoemaking in the world. They measure your feet, make your unique wooden lasts and then create the shoes perfectly following your indications.
IN WILKES STREET, LONDON
In 1997 Tim left his advertising career to follow his dream of designing his own “English shoes without cobwebs” shoe collection. His King’s Road shop was defined by a journalist “the arse-end of the Kings Road”.
FAMOUS ENGLISH COMEDIAN.
His first two wholesale customers were Selfridges and Barneys New York, but he designed for several other brands such as Joseph, Tod’s, Gieves & Hawkes, and Dunhill and even created a shoe with Sir Terence Conran.
In 2005 he was approached by the owner of an old Northampton shoemaker, Grenson, a company with great history and heritage. After five years of trying to persuade people that English brogues were cool, he had the opportunity to buy the company outright. Now the business has grown and is respected across the world. They produce for and collaborate with brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Edwin, Rags McGregor and Foot the Coacher. Grenson is proving that you can have an old company with a young hearth. Following the last season huge success of Triple Welt collection, his forte, Grenson has added several new styles and materials for the Autumn/Winter collection.
Highlights include a traditional monkey boot based on an old Grenson style, a 10 eyelet highleg plain fronted boot and a double buckle monk shoe. The first new leather is Chromexcel from the famous Horween Tannery. This is a leather that undergoes 89 separate processes and it takes 28 working days to be realised. It has a high oil and wax content and as you wear it the wax comes to the surface giving a hazy look that you can wipe off with a brush without any need for polish.
The second leather is what Grenson’s artisans call Hand Painted, because they use a light base colour skin and then literally hand paint the colour onto the finished shoe. One coat for a light finish, two for a darker finish. On close inspection you can see the handmade job of every Grenson’s artisans! From start to finish it will take around 3 weeks to make top quality Goodyear welted shoes. Tim still proudly declares: “We make all our Goodyear welted shoes here in England”.
But what’s the story of such a prestigious brand? Grenson is a modern heritage brand, est. 1866 in Northamptonshire, England. It was registered in 1913 and was one of the first brand names ever to be registered in the UK. It was started by just one man, William Green, who used to help his mother in producing shoes and boots in their house. When he moved out, in 1866, he set up a company (Green & Son) and in 1874 he organised the opening of the first factory, The Greens Yard factory, the first one in the world to use the Goodyear welt construction method for manufacturing gentlemen’s shoes. “Green & Son” soon became Grenson, a powerful brand which still today dominates the shoe industry. After William Green’s death in 1901, Grenson continued to be run by three generations of the Green family up until 1990.
The rest of the story belongs to Tim Little, who has always been in love with English shoes and a Blues music enthusiast (Tim Little’s brogues are all inspired by Blues music and John Lee Hooker adored his Grenson’s Penny Loafer), the owner of the Grenson factory in Northampton and of the namesake shoe brand. Tim has not only been a modernising influence in Northampton ever since he took over Grenson, but the range of shoes he now offers covers pretty much every potential customer, from hand-made bespoke to factory bespoke.
Grenson is by far the bigger of the two brands. It has four stores in London and around 400 wholesale accounts around the world. Tim Little has just one shop, in Chelsea. At Tim Little the customers tend to be a little older and more formal. The standard last is chiselled and the great majority of the production is made by black shoes. Grenson is known for tan brogues with chunky soles. Tim Little offers full bespoke shoes. Grenson offers great “factory bespoke” products. The difference is mostly about the price and final product, but when you buy a pair of them you must be sure that under the sole is beating… a real Black British soul.
