3 a.m. starts usually mean one of two things to me; we're off on holiday and slept approx. zero hours or I'm traveling the length of the country for a worthy event. This time it was the latter, as a few weeks back I was invited for a tour around the Loake Shoemakers factory in Kettering, Northamptonshire. The British shoemaker has been producing handmade shoes on our isles for over 130 years, and are arguably one of the most recognised in their field.
My earliest memory of Loake involved my Grandad; a working-class cockney born in the 1930s. He wore Loake shoes all his life. Back then people saved for quality and something which could be repaired easily. I'd guess he had the same pair of smart shoes for 40 years. I remember sitting by his feet, playing with my toys cars (my Grandad was a footballer-turned car factory manager), he'd always wear black Oxford shoes on without fail. We called them his "Aladdin" shoes, as he'd worn them so much the toes had curled up.
Along with a couple of other menswear writers I headed off into the heart of the factory - a building which was alive with buzzing machinery, decades of stories and a passion for the art of shoemaking.
