This year sees Crockett & Jones’ retail business hit a quarter of a century. In the grand scheme of our 143 year history, 25 years doesn’t seem that long, but absorb the journey Crockett & Jones and its directors embarked upon to reach September 1997, it quickly becomes nothing short of a remarkable feet (pun intended) of ‘commitment to the cause’.
In the mid-70s, a family meeting was called with a document entitled ‘The Closure of Crockett & Jones’. At a time where the company had simply run out of liquid cash, the outlook was bleak! Undeterred by hard work and among the most stubborn men known to… man… Jonathan Jones, 4th Generation Jones, had the bit between his teeth from that day on. As an energetic 25 year old, he turned his back on a career in Law and set to work in his family manufacturing firm. To this day, there is not a single person in the company who remembers the times where paying staff salaries and supplier invoices was genuinely touch and go. Still loyal to those who offered extended credit during those hard times. Remarkable.
Building wholesale, building respect, building a product collection worthy of the time and effort it takes to build the aforementioned, all seemed like an impossible challenge at the time. But get Mr Jones alone and ask him what his long-term goal was 40 years
ago, he’ll say to you: “To open a flagship retail store on London’s prestigious Jermyn Street”. A flagship retail store where we are able to showcase a collection of footwear under the Crockett & Jones name.”
Over two decades of dogged hard work, high quality manufacturing and wholesale success, not only had the company achieved a financially stable status, Mr Jones now had the expertise and knowledge to take the next major step forward for this Great British, family manufacturing firm. Direct to consumer retail.
4 окт 2024
