Ep. 10, Jonathan Church, Cheaney, about leaving private label production

This episode was recorded at the Micam shoe fair in Milan, Italy, back in February. In this episode we’re meeting Jonathan Church, one of the owners of the British firm Cheaney & Sons. Jonathan has worked in the footwear industry for three decades, first in the firm bearing his family name, Church’s, later with Cheaney. Cheaney was one of the last Northampton based shoe factories to transcend from focusing on Private Label to sell shoes under their own name, which they did after Jonathan and his cousin William Church acquired the company in 2009. It has resulted in a massive increase in both turnover and profits. Our talk focus around this topic, but we also talk about his experience of the Prada takeover of Church’s, and about Brexit.