Grenson: 160 Years of British Shoemaking, Done Properly
Grenson made a flying boot in WWII with a leg that zipped right off. The idea was simple and rather grim: if a pilot was shot down in enemy territory he could just shed the heavy upper in seconds and run. That's a rather odd way to start the story of a footwear company now best known for its brogues and loafers really, but it tells you everything you need to know about Grenson. They've spent 160 years making footwear for whatever the situation required and they've done it properly.
A Loft in Rushden
It starts in 1866 above the Corn Merchants in Rushden, Northamptonshire with William Green starting to make shoes. Shoemaking at that time was a very scattered business, it was done by hand in the homes of the outworkers and William would spend his day going from house to house to hand out the work.
It didn't last. As the orders came in and the machinery arrived he was in his first real factory at Green Yard in 1874 (according to the company themselves one of the very first factories in the world to use the Goodyear welted method of construction). By 1895 business was good enough to warrant the construction of a much bigger and more modern factory on the corner of Queen Street and Cromwell Road which would be the company's home for well over a century.
What's in a Name?
When William died in 1901 the business passed to his son CAK Green. In 1913 the family decided it was time to go modern. Brand names were just beginning to be in vogue so William Green and Sons was shortened to Grenson. It became one of the first trade names ever to be registered in the UK (a very modern move for a firm still making its way by hand and by hammer).
Two Wars and a Moccasin
Grenson did their bit in both world wars, making thousands of boots and shoes for the troops in the Great War and then going on to supply boots to the Allied forces as well as the British in the second world war. By that stage the factory was employing nearly 500 people and the zip-off flying boot was just one of a number of styles that came out of it.
Peacetime had its own problems. In 1950 Heyden Green (the last of the family to actually run the business) went to America and observed that pretty much all the men there were wearing soft, comfortable moccasins. He then went to India where he discovered some of the very best hand stitching in the world and combined the two to produce a range which gave the company a real boost through the post war slump. Comfort was a commodity that could be exported.
The Long Quiet
Not every chapter is a triumph. Throughout the 1960s and 70s Grenson was still experimenting (they did make shoes in some very odd skins) but the cheaper imports from the Far East were gradually eating into the British market and the brand was simply disappearing. The decline continued for a very long time and by the mid 2000s the name that had once been worn by armies was effectively a name most people had half forgotten.
A Second Wind
The turnaround was very quiet to start with. 2008 saw the opening of Grenson's very first store on Liverpool Street in London. 2010 saw Tim Little take over the owners, open a second store in East London and launch an e-commerce site. The following year Harrods, Selfridges and Liberty all agreed to carry the brand and for the first time in 30 years a women's range was launched.
It was more a case of a brand rediscovering what it was good at than a revival. There was an apprenticeship scheme in 2012. In 2013 the factory moved for the first time since 1895 into a much more modern, much warmer and much more efficient building and the Grenson:LAB programme was launched which allowed customers to design their own shoes. The shoe that would go on to become the defining shoe of the modern brand was the Triple Welt, launched in 2014. It celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024 and is still a key shoe in the range.
Still Moving
The past few years have seen the brand become very confident in itself. The 150th anniversary in 2016 saw the launch of an Archive Collection of shoes, painstakingly recreated from the original examples across the breadth of Grenson's history. The brand has had its share of collaborations too, from Craig Green to a chef's shoe with Isaac McHale of The Clove Club. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 Grenson produced 100 pairs of its Sneaker 66 in the colours of the Ukrainian flag and donated 100% of the profit to UNHCR (raising £25k in the process). In more recent times its boots and sneakers have also featured on screen in Doctor Who.
It's a long way from a loft in Rushden and yet the through-line is exactly the same: solidly built shoes, made in the UK, made by people who care about the end result.
Shoes Worth Keeping
There's a reason a Grenson will outlast the fashion it was bought in. Welted construction (the method William Green was using in 1874) is what allows a good pair of shoes to be repaired and worn for years rather than simply thrown away when the sole goes. It's a fairly unglamorous kind of quality and that's the whole point. The very best pairs are bought once, broken in over time and then worn for a long time.
At Merchant Menswear, we're proud to stock a brand with this much genuine history behind it. If you're after shoes built on 160 years of craft rather than a passing trend, take a look at our full Grenson collection and find your next pair.
