Joseph Cheaney established the company in 1886, and 10 years later, along with his son Arthur, they opened the factory which they still use to this day.
The factory was kept very busy in the First World War, producing about 2500 pairs per week of stitched and screwed boots and shoes. The company continued to flourish, even through the lean post-war years and the global depression of the 1930s. Production was modernised, whilst retaining the same handcrafting methods and the distribution base was broadened, although very few shoes were exported at this time.
During the first 80 years of business, they made shoes for some of the finest retailers around the world, branded to their individual requirements.
The younger Joseph Cheaney, the founder’s grandson, realised that the company’s future lay in building up its own brand. In 1966 Cheaney won the Queen's Award for Industry and in 2016, the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
In 2009 Jonathan and William Church bought the company, under Church & Co, who are incidentally owned themselves by Prada. Their family has been making fine shoes for five generations, now continuing the production of high quality shoes entirely made in Northamptonshire, from the cutting of the leather to the final polishing, just as it was in 1886.
