{"id":181596,"date":"2021-10-08T17:00:19","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T16:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/?p=181596"},"modified":"2021-10-08T17:10:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T16:10:57","slug":"in-my-view-by-eric-musgrave-innovating-and-making-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/in-my-view-by-eric-musgrave-innovating-and-making-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"In My View by Eric Musgrave: Innovating and making in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
British clothing and footwear manufacturers are rightly praised for their commitment to keeping old traditions alive, but I<\/strong> do not think enough credit is given for the innovation and contemporary creativity UK-based makers display.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A couple of recent visits left me musing that forward-thinking British makers deserve more exposure \u2013 and sales.<\/p>\n In Sheffield, Goral & Sons has a busy footwear factory employing almost 40 people.<\/strong> In a city best known for steel making and cutlery, it\u2019s a surprise to find a facility turning out high-quality boots and shoes.<\/p>\n Even more surprising is that the company does not produce the familiar Goodyear-welted shoes that still make Northampton a world-renowned centre for the noble art of the cordwainer. Goral\u2019s specialty is producing trainers \u2013 and sustainable ones at that.<\/strong><\/p>\n Somehow in the past 60 or so years the world has become obsessed with a throwaway culture. It was not always like this. For centuries, things that wore out, like shoes, were often repaired. Goral has had the timely idea of reviving the concept of a repairable footwear.<\/p>\n The firm makes its shoes using a construction called a Blake stitch, which allows a damaged or worn sole to be easily unpicked and replaced<\/strong> without any damage to the upper. It is a long-established construction but Dominik Goral felt it was time for a revival.<\/p>\n Dominik is a fourth-generation shoe man. His father Bogdan runs the business, which has its roots in Poland in 1936 when Dominik\u2019s great-grandfather opened a factory. In 2005, having had production in the UK for a number of years, the family closed down the Polish factory and committed themselves fully to Sheffield.<\/p>\n Like many British factories, Goral is best-known as a contract manufacturer, making entire shoes or parts of a shoe for well-known footwear brands (including some based in Northamptonshire), small designers and retailers. For most of its existence, it made formal \u201ccity\u201d or business shoes.<\/p>\n While they are kept busy and have an excellent reputation, the understandable desire to earn more money and to have more control over their own destiny prompted Dominik in 2015 to create a tight collection of own-brand products \u2013 the Goral trainers.<\/strong><\/p>\n