Loake

My family has been making traditional English shoes for longer than anyone can remember. My great-great Grandfather William opened the first Loake factory with his brothers John & Thomas, back in 1880. Today, five generations and more than 140 years later, the Loake association with fine, handmade footwear lives on. As the current custodians of Loake, we are immensely proud of the commitment of our forefathers and the tradition they worked so hard to establish. For this reason, we are honoured to continue making Goodyear Welted shoes in the same factory built in 1894. The Loake business is established by three brothers, John, William, and Thomas. It was first set-up in an outbuilding at Thomas Loake's house at 62 King Street in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Loake moves to Wood Street, Kettering, where it can still be found today. In the early days, the factory was called the Unique Boot Factory. It has a floor area of approximately 20,000 sq. ft, accommodates over 300 workers and is considered one of the finest and most advanced shoe factories in the country. [...] On the 5th November, the Wood Street factory caught fire. The results were devastating. All of the clicking (cutting) room, most of the closing (stitching) room and the leather room were destroyed. The morning after the fire, the local community immediately came together with many of the clickers (leather cutters) working from bedrooms in neighbouring houses and other shoe manufacturers in the town offering their help.

Quoted from loake.com, in Loake's own words. We have not edited it and we do not vouch for it.