Patrick Grant's Community Clothing steps into trainers with Norman Walsh

Community Clothing, the British clothing brand and social enterprise founded by designer and judge on BBC One’s The Great British Sewing Bee Patrick Grant, has teamed up with cult British sports shoe maker Norman Walsh to launch its first range of trainers.

Grant worked with the team Bolton-based Norman Walsh to redesign at 1980s running shoe from its extensive archive. The new unisex style, named ‘Beacon’ after Beacon Fell, a popular hill near Community Clothing’s HQ in Blackburn, will launch in five colourways across a broad range of sizes.

The new trainers, who launch today and are priced at 9am, will be introduced in limited numbers but Grant is hopeful that this will become a longstanding collaboration.

“It’s hard to say exactly why I love Walsh so much. It might be their amazing colours, it might be that for years they were the only shoe worn by serious fell runners (and those folks are cool), or it might be that their factory, tucked away down a little back street on Bolton, is one of the most idiosyncratic still operating in Britain. I’m so happy that after years as a fan I’ve finally got to work with them,” he said.

Norman Walsh was born in Bolton in 1931. Walsh’s father was a cobbler and aged 14 Walsh followed him into the profession at the legendary local firm of Foster & Co, creator of the very first running shoe back in 1898. He became something of a legend in sports shoe manufacture and was asked to make the track spikes for the Great Britain team at the 1948 Olympics. Roger Bannister would go on to break the four-minute mile in a pair of Walsh running shoes.

Walsh went on to set up his own shoe-making business in Bolton in 1961.

Community Clothing, meanwhile, was established by Grant in 2016 with a mission to sell great quality clothes at prices people can afford and to make these clothes in the best British factories from the finest natural materials.By doing this, Community Clothing creates work and support skilled jobs in regions of the UK that need them most.

The Community Clothing X Walsh running shoes are available to buy at www.communityclothing.co.uk from today.