30
INTERVIEW THE BIG
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
by Ged Henderson
ON THE FRONT FOOT
Five years ago Marco Vaghetti was selling shoes from a tiny stall in a market held in a rainy car park in a south Manchester suburb.
He paid £25 for that pitch in Chorlton-cum- Hardy. This summer his LANX brand was welcoming customers to a 54 square metre marquee at the UK’s biggest country show – paying a five-figure sum for the opportunity to exhibit to its 100,000 visitors.
It is just one indication of how far the Whalley- based company, which started life in the front room of Marco’s grandmother’s house in Hurst Green, has come in such a short space of time.
It is a journey that began in the Far East, where Marco had set out on his quest to learn about traditional shoe making across the globe.
Sumo wrestling in Japan, conversing with monks in Cambodia and trekking the Great Wall of China – Marco, known to his friends as ‘Marv’, returned home with new skills, new contacts and great memories of his adventures.
He also arrived back in the Ribble Valley with even more motivation to develop his business idea, inspired by the skills of the shoemakers he witnessed at work in the Tokyo suburb of Asakusa, a traditional centre of the craft.
That was in 2017. Today the LANX shoe brand
that was born of that inspiration continues to make great strides across the UK.
Turnover has grown to £4m since its launch in 2018 and LANX has 12 full-time staff. At peak sales times, the Whalley warehouse houses 20,000 pairs of its 40-plus collections of women’s and men’s shoes, boots and sneakers.
The business has faced and overcome the challenges of Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, War in Europe and the cost-of-living crisis and despite those hurdles has continued its upward trajectory.
Lancashire runs deep in the DNA of the business and not just in the name of the high- end brand. Each shoe in the LANX collection is stamped with either the red rose or the British White Bull, a proud emblem of its hometown.
Much of the range of handmade, smart casual footwear is also named after local villages and towns, such as Newton, Mitton and Garstang.
As well as its Ribble Valley shop and headqurarters, LANX has a store in Manchester’s trendy Northern Quarter. Marco has an aspiration to open two more stores in Edinburgh and London.
A former Stonyhurst College student with a background in marketing and events, Marco
says: “We’ve only just started really. The business is still growing.
“We’ve got a long way to go yet. We’re not resting on our laurels and we are always striving to improve the brand, the business and the products.
“We are a young company and most people who work here are in their late twenties. We all share the same ambition to grow the business.”
The business grew initially on the back of sales from market stalls, pop-up stores and events. Today, attending events remains an important part of LANX’s brand building, as evidenced by its appearance at the Game Fair, held in August in Warwickshire.
By the end of this soggy summer, LANX shoes will have attended 45 county shows, fairs and festivals across the country. Those events traditionally account for some 10 per cent of sales, with the vast majority of purchases now made online.
Marco, 38, who admits that before his overseas adventure he didn’t know how to make a shoe, says: “Most of the shoemakers I visited were still making by hand. It was a traditional skill I found inspiring and it left a lasting impression.
“I’m very proud of the way we began. It
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