"In the past we’ve talked about moving our manufacturing away from Northampton, but if I was to move the factory to London, not a single person who makes our shoes would come, too. It’s the people who make the factory what it is; they are true craftsmen with years of experience. You can’t afford to lose them and you can’t recreate them, so we’re in Northamptonshire for good."
Tim Little of Grenson
"British people don’t appreciate how great their manufacturing is, unlike people in Japan or Korea, or even Italy and France. We overlook it because we’ve been fed this story that Italian manufacturing is amazing for so long that it’s deeply ingrained in our psyche. The difference is that while the Italians are very good at telling you how good things are, we’re very good at making things but terribly British about not saying how great they are."
Patrick Grant of E. Tautz
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Taken from a recent article in the Evening Standard
Photo of Grenson factory from Tenue de Nimes British Issue
