Walsh

side. For a few years we had to focus more on that side, because that was where we were growing at over 100 per cent a year, for around five or six years. So to cope with that, we bracketed the performance side, and continued to make fell running shoes, and decided when the time was right, we would expand the performance side of the Walsh brand, into trail running which is a natural progression for us.

with the right quality, and we’ve done a lot of testing on them in the UK with trail and fell runners we sponsor. We’ve tested them in Scandinavia as well.

You can put innovations and ideas into products but sometimes, if you have any biomechanical problems, they can exacerbate them; sometimes the more basic the shoe, the better it can be for the job it’s doing.

high quality, so the top end athletes really appreciated his work.

In 1996, when Norman was retiring, he offered the company to myself and the Crompton family, and we liked the products so much we bought the company!

SGB: Are you a fell running enthusiast?

JC: No, I’m not. Norman made all kinds of athletic footwear including rugby boots, football boots… My background in sporting terms was local amateur football, which was how I knew the products.

Walsh started making fell running shoes in the early 1970s with a rubber moulded sole, like a moulded football boot studded sole. Then they evolved into a sole with a v-ripple, a very rippled sole, then on to the pyramid grip sole, which is the one that’s stood the test of time and we still use to this day. The shoe has virtually not changed for a long time. People sometimes ask why, and we tell them simply that we use the best materials we can get, and always have done; we can’t improve the shoe, we can’t make it any better for pure fell running. That’s what it’s made for. I think Norman, at one time, had about 90 per cent of the fell running market. What happens sometimes is we might get a dip in sales, where for example Nike or

adidas might bring out a fell running shoe. People will try them out, and we might get a dip in sales, but we find

everyone comes back to us eventually. Walsh through and through, so to speak!

SGB: Why expand in to trail running now?

JC: When we first took over the company, we were quite lucky as we had a casual leisure wear product placed in one or two exclusive independent retailers. It was basically the fell running product with a sole on it that was not quite as ‘vigorous’, so you could wear them with jeans. Those retailers sold to fashionable people who wanted something new and different – then the business boomed overnight on the casual

SGB: Trail running is becoming a competitive area; what differentiates you from some strong competition?

JC: Partially we’re going to draw on our brand loyalty. We want to make a quality product at the right price, putting all of our know-how into that product as shoe makers and manufacturers. We are the only people that actually are shoe makers – most other companies are designers. That’s a real difference that we can bring. We

Now the time is right for us to do that, so we are!

SGB: What are the highlights of the new trail running shoes?

JC: In the trail range we’re launching two shoes for SS10 – the Spirit Lite and the Spirit Peak. Spirit Lite is a lightweight trail running shoe, with an outsole based on the Walsh fell running pyramid sole. We’ve made the studs slightly squarer and slightly smaller, so they’re better for trails as opposed to real off- road. We’ve used a blown EVA midsole and we’ve gone for a basic mesh upper. We’ve kept them simple. When we first sat down we thought about innovative designs and ideas, and then thought we would produce a simple shoe that does what we say it will do. First, we want to put a simple product that’s ideal for trail running, and we will build on that as a base.

The Spirit Peak is a

bit more robust, it’s heavier and there is extra protection around the toe area and the sides of the shoe. It’s got a dual density midsole to give a little motion control for pronators and give stability.

In the Autumn Winter we have a waterproof boot coming out in August, the Enforcer. Again it uses the same sole unit at the Spirit Lite and Spirit Peak. It has a waterproof upper and is made on the same last. There’s also a shoe version, also waterproof, which is the Spirit React, which again is for running, walking, approach. They’re quite basic shoes, at the right price,

APRIL 2010 SGB OUTDOOR

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understand footwear. We have our own designers and our own pattern cutting facility and the ability to make our own samples, and to produce and develop our own lasts, all in-house and done before we go to China for manufacture. We’ve tried to come at these from a shoe maker’s angle.

SGB: What are the RRPs for the new trail shoes?

JC: Spirit Lite is £65, Peak is £70. React will be around £75 and the Enforcer will be £85.

SGB: Why isn’t the Walsh brand better known in the High Street?

JC: Norman sold the company to us in a blaze of secrecy. Many people knew Walsh and were avid users in particular sports. He wouldn’t produce more than 150 pairs of footwear in a week; even the volumes we are currently producing are a drop in the ocean compared to what is sold in the UK every week. We’re not a mainstream name right now, but time will tell if we become more mainstream in the future… Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44