“The hardest thing is explaining to customers how a sneaker at £800 is a bargain,” says Chris Woodford, owner, managing director, and master shoemaker at Crown Northampton. “But it genuinely is.” (That’s around $980.)
Originally established as a repair shop in 1908 by Woodford’s great-great-grandfather Ernest, Crown exists as one of the last holdouts of heritage manufacturing in Northampton, England, a town built around the shoemaking industry.
