| ALTBERG FACTORY WALKING BOOTS |
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We also manufacture 3 classic English walking boots in width fittings for sale exclusively through our network of independent retailers and boot fitting centres.
Click here to view boots and stockists.
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"The first Thatcher recession was really tough. None of us had ever experienced a recession before...but we survived...and then there was a second recession at the end of the 80's and almost nobody survived - bootmakers became an endangered species.
"The shoe factory was the largest employer in Richmond, 320 of us worked there...it was a sad day when it closed it's doors for the last time.
"I had always enjoyed hill walking. When you spend all week in the factory you really appreciate the wide open spaces at the weekend. At that time most of the hiking boots were made in Italy or Germany and I thought 'well, at least they pay themselves the same wages as we do...so you never know...against them we might have a chance'. And that's how we started to make walking boots.
"When people heard what i was doing they said 'you must be mad, you need counselling or therapy... accept reality... retrain for the skills we'll need in the "new economy"...financial services, leisure, service industries...'.
"The truth is they were right. if I'd had any idea how difficult it was going to be I would never had done it. Even today I have no idea how we survived the first five years. I think it was during that time that bootmaking for me changed, from being a job into a passion or an obsession. Always trying to make the boots better and I still have that passion today."
Altberg
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