History
When Mark Jeffery and Guy West first started working together back in 1983, having met in the hotel Guy West's parents ran in Northamptonshire, they saw markets as their first opportunity to 'make a few quid' by selling rejects and samples from Mark Jeffery's family shoes factory, as well as leather ties and odds and sods of reworked and customised second-hand shoes they could pull together.Later in 1987, they decided to form Jeffery-West shoes, producing styles based on footwear companies they admired that were working in Northampton. They decided to work with classic Northamptonshire factories, but they wanted to create a look that was slicker, more elegant and sharper than anyone else was producing. They wanted to create a new branded style of traditional footwear that nodded to footwear heritage but brought it right up to date.
'Initially we didn't have much money so we had to do all the stages of the manufacturing process ourselves,' recalls West. 'A chap would come to our office in the evening to cut out the styles. We would then take them to a closing room in Northampton. We would then take them to a factory where they would be made. They would then be collected in their boxes and put into cartons. Every stage was overseen by us.'
The initial styles offered a new take on classic Victoriana men's styles as well as reworkings of patterns that were coming out of the traditional factories. At this point, with no real funding Jeffery-West's initial output were 'cemented' rather than offering their customers the superiority of Goodyear Welted shoes that they would soon become accustomed to.
To initiate the first orders, the industrious pair would take their first styles around to respected footwear retailers to show the buyers what they were about and could offer. The feedback was good.
'We got the orders before we even had any backing from the bank,' says West. 'We went to see a potential bank manager with our order book and a 12-piece sample range to try and get the £5,000 credit we needed. He sympathetically said that he would give us a try. It was quite a gamble because at the time there was absolutely nobody in the industry as young as us. It is amazing, we still know people who wear the original Chelsea boot we produced.'
Despite this youth, their determination, innovative take on tradition and the prevalent music styles of the time (New Wave, White Funk and Art School Rock), would soon begin to take give them a firm foothold in the market. The styling, that mixed up English gentlemen's club, Rock'n'Roll aristocracy Victorian knocking shops, the darker elements of religious sects and even contemporary art, was proving inspirational in a market flooded with repetitive styles, conspicuous branding and blatant fashionability.
'We brought something new and fresh to the market,' explains West. 'We brought new colours, styling and lasts as well as a multitude of references from film and fashion - I was really interested in all the old hell raisers such as Richard Burton, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole (many of the styles reference them by name) as well as the decadence of the 1890s and Bohemia, Savile Row and Jermyn Street. Even markets such as London's Kings Road Market and Kensington Market had such an influence on our initial direction.'
Today
"The innovative, quirky designs emerging from the Jeffery-West factory serve to remind us of its heritage. With a fresh take on trad footwear and accessories that at times verges on the shamelessly eccentric, its shoes can give even the most minimal of outfits a truly original lift. J-W is more than happy to entertain the most individual whims with enough leather options (ostrich, crocs and snakes have all donated their skins) and a huge choice of lasts (the technical name for shoe shapes) to sate the most demanding footwear fetishist."
Arena
Almost 20 years on, Jeffery-West remains a private and independent operation and is therefore able to respond swiftly and efficiently to the changing needs of its discerning customers. The company's aim today, as it was in the beginning, is to produce consistently passionate designs. The individual quality of its goods is a reflection not just of the company's entrepreneurial attitude and hard work but the calibre of the footwear it sells. Instantly aesthetic, vital and imaginative modern footwear.
Mark and Guy opened their first shop 16 years ago in Northampton. Several years later followed the opening of shop number two in the Piccadilly Arcade in London's St James, aptly a stone's throw from the statue of the original London dandy, Beau Brummel (see The Original London Dandy).
'It was great having the shop in Northampton but we always felt that London was the best place for us to showcase what we are doing,' explains Guy West. 'The whole area of St James and Savile Row is synonymous with dandyism, with people looking dapper and knowledge of cut, style and poise. It seemed the perfect place for us to start out, particularly with our modern take on Northampton-produced footwear.'
With two further shops - one in the City and one in the heart of Leeds - Jeffery-West has created a retail environment that is more akin to a gentlemen's club than a footwear retailer. The shops are typified by their almost Gothic atmosphere with deep and sumptuous colours, snakeskin sofas, challenging and often sensual contemporary artworks and a multitude of accessories (including hats, cufflinks, belts, bags, and scarves) to compliment Jeffery-West's eclectic and reassuringly eccentric take on classic Chelsea boots, monkstrap shoes, Gibsons, Moccasins (the only footwear that they made up in Italy), country brogues, loafers and Oxfords.
