I dropped in on Spitalfields stallholder and fellow boot fetishist Steve Sorrell this morning and indulged in a quick spot of mutual footwear appreciation. These Totector boots probably date from the 1950s and have the no-nonsense, sit-up-and-beg look of William Lennon; although the company seems to have used a Blake construction, these look a more conventional Goodyear style. Steve found them in Southampton and was told these were popular with dockers. When we still had dockers. And when we still had a wide variety of boot manufacturers. Totectors were steel toe-cap boots made by the Denton company, based in Rushden, home of many shoe and boot manufacturers; a website about the town has more information on them. Denton prospered throughout both world wars, but finally succumbed to cheap imports in 2004; the Totectors name was bought by a company which now produces safety footwear in India.
these looks cracking, can't be many of these knocking about nowawdays really. like the idea of nipping out and having a chat about footwear with your mate on the stall. we just don't have that up north.
ReplyDeletere:stone-dri, yeah that tweed jacket was by far the most exciting item, as soon as i saw it i though NC cameraman jacket. they have taken some inspiration from it surely but it does drawn heavily on one of their originals. i think maybe the update of fabric has been inspired by NC a lot. really into your blog btw, been reading it for a few weeks now
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DeleteThe boots are absolutely gorgeous. It's really difficult t;o find really original bespoke footwear these days but William Lennon do make awesome products. I'm a big fan because they come from Derbyshire too. The WW1 Boots that they make are one of my particular Faves. Heres a link, if you are interested? http://www.williamlennon.co.uk/categories/world-war-1-boot.html
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of buying a few pairs of workboots from them. Should last a lifetime.