Loake

Loake Shoemakers was founded in 1880 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England by Thomas Loake and his brothers John and William Loake as a small English-shoemaker workshop specifically focused on producing technically-engineered Goodyear-welted leather dress shoes and boots for the British luxury-gentleman community. The brand has been continuously operating from the same Kettering factory for over 145 years and is one of the longest-continuously-operating English bootmakers, and one of only a handful of Northampton-tradition shoemakers that have remained continuously committed to family-controlled single-location operation. The Loake vocabulary settled around several specific products: the iconic Loake 1880 Royal collection (the brand's defining luxury-tier product line — hand-built Goodyear-welted dress shoes in classic Northampton-tradition construction), the Loake Lifestyle collection (a contemporary casual-aesthetic variant), the Loake Design collection (a younger-contemporary variant), various heavyweight Northampton-Goodyear-welted bootmaking variants, and a colour palette anchored to natural-tan English bridle-leather, oxblood, espresso, washed-charcoal, plus the brand's recurring use of natural-undyed and aged-leather patinas. Production is split between the Kettering factory (luxury-tier) and selected European production partners. The brand is independent and family-controlled by the Loake family through five generations (Andrew Loake is the current managing director). Loake Shoemakers operates flagship retail in London (Cheapside, Marylebone, Cheaprail Court) plus the Kettering factory shop and museum, plus international wholesale through MR PORTER, MATCHES, the major US-and-European luxury menswear specialty retailers, Beams Plus, the broader Japanese department-store distribution network, and the broader heritage-British-menswear specialty retailers. The brand has been one of the most rigorously committed continuously-family-controlled English bootmakers.