The second part of my Grenson factory visit, I interviewed creative director Tim Little, a advertising man by trade who came into the shoe business after failing to find his perfect pair of dress shoes. He is the man responsible for reviving Grenson and breathing life and humour into the brand.
How did you get into fashion, was it something from childhood?
No, my Dad was a lacemaker in Nottingham but not really fashion. I think of myself as a shoe maker and designer and the fashion thing just comes as part of the territory – I’m not hanging out with Anna Wintour on the weekend.
How exciting is it to have a kind of living museum to Grenson in the factory? Everything is there, the history is right in front of you.
Its great but the real history comes through the people. The skills have been handed down from father to son and mother to daughter. The history is a living thing, its how we stitch an upper or how we polish the leather, it hasn’t changed for 140 years
You really have a thorough knowledge of the nitty gritty and a love for the beauty in technical aspects of shoe design. What are the technical or craftsmanship aspects you’re most proud of at Grenson?
You are asking the impossible! We make the shoe from skin to box, from the cutting of the skin to the final polish and lacing. Every element of the process has its own place and every bit is technical and skilled. One stitch out of place and the shoe goes in the bin, on mark on the upper and its no good. I love the combination of the processes best of all.
What do you think of the popularisation of ‘Heritage’ in menswear and the inevitable backlash?
Heritage for heritage’s sake is irrelevant. I could buy a name of a company that shut down twenty years ago and do a brochure about the history but it wouldn’t mean that their heritage was impacting on what I was doing now. With Grenson, our heritage is real and its skills that have been handed down so there is a tangible benefit from our heritage.
Are you proud of being one of the few handmade shoe manufacturers who offers footwear at a more affordable price? Has this always been the case?
I’m very proud of what we do. I like to think that we have taken and old business and made it relevant again. I think over the years many shoe companies like us lost the plot a little bit and forgot to ask what their customers wanted.
Tell us a bit about the new leather bag range…
Our bags are made from similar materials to the shoes and we have used shoe details such as broguing and a wing tip design on the corners. We like to think of them as bag versions of the shoes, they are beautifully made and will last a long time like the shoes.
John Lee Hooker famously wore your Whiskey & Women loafer which was named after him, who else would you like to see?
I’d like to see Raphael Saadiq in them, I love his style. On the womens side, Anne Hathaway would be great, I think Alexa Chung has a pair but maybe Anna Wintour would be at the top of my list.
You described as a ‘twinkle in its eye’ what do you think it is that gives Grenson its attitude?
Grenson’s attitude comes from its people. We are a down to earth group but we love a bit of a laugh. We love beautiful things and we see the detail in everything, above all we like simplicity, this is what makes us tick. Simple things that work and look nice, substance and style in harmony. We’re known as “The Good Shoe”, classic British understatement, not “the all-amazing” shoe or “the Fantabulous shoe”, just “The Good Shoe”. This maybe sums us up.
What is your favourite kind of Grenson shoe?
That’s like asking which of your children do you like best. Sorry, I can’t answer that!
Read part one of my Grenson factory visit here
