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Shoemaking
制鞋業
Asian brogue
亞洲花皮鞋
Exports help to revive the high end of Britain's decimated shoe industry
進口幫助拯救英國衰落的高端制鞋業
FROM the attic of his cramped old factory in the middle of Northampton, Stephen Etheridge, the head of Church's, a shoemaker, gazes down on the deserted bus station next door. He explains how his company will soon be expanding to fill the four-acre (1.5-hectare) site, creating 100 or so jobs in the process. The move has caused a stir in Northampton, about 70 miles north of London, as it is the first time in living memory that a shoe company is growing rather than closing. The recent success of a venerable old firm like Church's, founded in 1873, reflects a wider revival of Northampton's luxury shoemakers, buoyed by the insatiable Asian appetite for a bit of old English craft and class.
北安普頓中部，在他狹窄又老舊的工廠閣樓里， Church's鞋業公司的老板Stephen Etheridge凝視著隔壁廢棄的汽車站。他解釋說他的公司將很快進行擴建，重新利用這四英畝（1.5公頃）的土地，這個過程會創造約100個工作機會。這一行為在位于倫敦北部約70英里的北安普頓引起了轟動，因為這是人們記憶中第一次有鞋廠要擴張而不是倒閉。成立于1873年的Church's公司令人尊敬而又歷史悠久，它最近的成功反映了北安普頓高端鞋業的廣泛復興，這是由亞洲源源不斷地追求經典英格蘭工藝和品位的欲望而提振的。
There was a time when the city of Northampton and its surrounding towns did little else but produce shoes. The industry there employed tens of thousands of people in hundreds of factories, small and large; fortunes were made making millions of boots for the army during the first world war. But that era of mass manufacturing came to a calamitous end in the 1980s as production moved overseas to take advantage of cheaper labour. Now Britain imports almost all its shoes. There were fears that the whole industry might become extinct. But posh bootmakers like Church's, Joseph Cheaney and Loake clung on. They employ hundreds of people each, rather than the thousands of old Northampton, but they have now found a very profitable niche in the global market and are prospering as never before.
曾幾何時，北安普頓和周邊城鎮專致于制鞋。在這個行業里，大大小小幾百個工廠雇傭了好幾萬工人；一戰期間因給軍隊制作幾百萬雙靴子而大賺了一筆。但大規模制造的時代在20世紀80年代慘淡收尾，原因是為利用廉價勞動力，生產都挪到了海外。如今英國所有的鞋幾乎都是進口的。有人擔憂這整個產業也許會就此消失。但像Church's, Joseph Cheaney和 Loake這樣的奢侈鞋業公司堅持下來了。它們各雇傭幾百人，而不是像以前的北安普頓一樣雇傭幾千人，但他們在國際市場發現了盈利之處，正在史無前例地繁榮發展著。
Loake is still a family-run firm, making shoes in the same factory in nearby Kettering that the founding brothers built in 1894. Like all the area's luxury cobblers Loake only makes “goodyear welted” shoes, a 300-year-old process whereby the shoe is stitched together. This time-consuming and expensive technique gives the footwear strength and durability. As Andrew Loake, the current head of the company, explains, all shoes used to be made like this until the advent of cheaper injection-moulding. “So,” he explains, “our shoes have moved from being mass-commodity items to being specialist and different.”
Loake還是一個家族企業，其制鞋廠為Loake家族三個兄弟于1894年在凱特靈附近建立，如今他們依然在這里制鞋。就像所有地方的奢侈鞋業一樣，Loake只制造“固特異工藝”的鞋，這是一種將鞋子縫合在一起、擁有300年歷史的工藝。這種耗時又昂貴的技術使鞋子有了強度和耐久性。現任董事長Andrew Loake解釋說在更廉價的注射成型技術出現之前，所有的鞋子都是這樣做的。
In that sort of market, argues Mr Loake, the only way to go is to make shoes better rather than cheaper. His company now uses higher-quality leather than it did in the 1980s. Each shoe takes eight weeks to make, involving about 200 processes. Some of these haven't changed for a long time. But that is exactly what new consumers, particularly in Asia, want to pay for. Exports now account for over one-third of its sales, and have been increasing steadily over the past decade. Loake's biggest export market is Sweden. Its second-biggest is South Korea, reflecting, says Mr Loake, “a hunger for high-quality goods” in Asia.
Loake先生表示，在那樣的市場中，唯一的方式就是讓鞋子更好而不是更便宜。他的公司如今用的高質量皮革比20世紀80年代用的還好。每一只鞋都要花八周來完成，包括約200道工序。有些工藝在很長一段時間內都沒有變過。但這正是新的顧客群，尤其是亞洲顧客所想花錢購買的。現在出口已經占了銷售量的三分之一以上，自從過去十年來就一直在穩步增長。Loake最大的出口市場是瑞士。第二大出口國是韓國，Loake先生說這反映了亞洲對“高品質商品的渴求。”
Church's is also doing well in the East. Although it is now owned by Prada, an Italian luxury-goods company, it sells itself as the quintessential English manufacturer. To control the Church's brand, it sells almost half of its products through its own bespoke shops—four in Hong Kong, two in Shanghai, and one in Singapore. It is trying to open one in Beijing, too. Prices are steep, rising to ￡1,000 ($1,500) a pair. But, even producing 5,000 pairs a week, the company cannot meet demand—hence the expansion of their factory in Northampton. If the 21st century does belong to Asia, at least its masters will be well-shod.
Church's公司在東方的表現也不錯。盡管它現在在意大利奢侈品公司Prada的旗下，它仍以經典英國制造商為賣點。為了維護Church's的品牌，它約半數的產品都通過店鋪訂做——香港有四家店，上海兩家，新加坡一家。它也正規劃在北京開一家店。鞋子價格不菲，漲到了約1000英鎊（1500美元）每雙。但是盡管每周都生產5000雙鞋，該公司依然供不應求-所以才需要位于北安普頓的工廠擴建。如果21世紀確實屬于亞洲，起碼這個世紀的主人穿的鞋還不錯。譯者：王穎 校對：石海霞
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