Show Notes
These are tough times for Britain’s celebrated shoemakers – sales to Europe have been squeezed since 2019, tax-free shopping for overseas tourists has been scrapped, and recent geopolitical events have dented consumer confidence.
To survive, it helps if your brand has a long history and a cult following. Thankfully for Tricker’s they have both.
On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we head to Northampton to visit Britain’s oldest shoemaker.
Number 32 on our list of the greatest products we make here is The Country Brogue.
Martin Mason, Managing Director at Tricker’s, chats to us about pushing forward a brand that’s 196 years old, competing with warehouses for staff, and the joy to be found in vocational work.
We also contemplate size 18 shoes, wonder what a gimping machine is, and marvel at glazed brick tiles.
Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor
The Factory Next Door is supported by AVEVA, a leader in industrial intelligence.
Sign up to their bi-weekly newsletter about manufacturing here:
www.aveva.com/factory Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Factory Next Door
It’s truly one of our greatest materials. We make shoes from it; clothes, books, bags and furniture. Leather is extraordinary.
For 500 years highland dress has been synonymous with Scotland, but these days there are more kilt-makers in India than within its home country.
You never quite know what you’re going to find when you visit one of our manufacturers.
When you need someone to escort the King’s crown to Parliament for the state opening, you call on his Majesty’s Gentleman at Arms – with their distinctive red and gold jackets. And when you need someone to make a new uniform for this historic corps, you call Jules Walker and her team at Gieves and Hawkes. Number 53 on our list of the greatest things we make here is The Ceremonial Uniform. Jules is head of the tailor’s military team, and on today’s show she gives us a tour of her workshop in the basement of 1 Savile Row. We learn what it takes to make uniforms for the King’s Guards, discover what an epaulette is, and consider the parallels between tailoring and plumbing. Also on the show, we mull the need for a Ministry of Made in Britain and question why buyers from overseas appear to value our crafts more than we do. Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/thefactorynextdoor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The epicentre of the global pen industry used to reside in Birmingham. Then the plastic biro arrived and everything changed. But in the city’s jewellery quarter, a team of skilled silversmiths are ensuring the history of Birmingham’s pen industry continues to be written. Number 52 on our list of the greatest things we make here is the propelling pencil by YARD-O-LED. Owner Giles English shows us around the company’s historic workshop as we celebrate a 100-year-old design, admire irreplaceable machines, and learn the meaning behind the company’s distinctive name. Also on the show, we explore the power of loss, Giles talks about the birth and sale of the Bremont Watch Company, and we discover the important distinction between chasing and engraving. Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.