King Charles' shoemaker awarded royal warrant

A Northamptonshire-based shoemaker which made the shoes King Charles III wore at his Coronation has received a royal warrant.

Gaziano and Girling, based in Kettering, also provided a number of bespoke shoes to the King, who made an official visit to the firm's factory in 2019.

The warrants were granted as a mark of recognition to people or companies who have regularly supplied goods or services to the royal household.

Dean Girling, who founded the business with Tony Gaziano, said it was "an honour" to be able to display the royal crest on its products.

Shoemaking has been taking place in Northamptonshire for hundreds of years, but Gaziano and Girling was founded in a garage in 2006.

It specialised in bespoke shoes, which can range in price from £2,500 up to £20,000 a pair, with its products particularly popular with customers in the United States and Asia.

The company said each pair of shoes it made involved 96 hours of labour to create, with the King's shoes for his 2023 Coronation costing about £3,500.

According to the royal family, there were currently more than 800 royal warrant holders.

Mr Girling said the King had been "very interested" in how shoes were made during his 2019 visit and displayed a real interest in "keeping the craft alive".

He said: "You have to be seen to be offering a product for five years before you can apply for it [a royal warrant]. Now we're able to put the full crest up and put it on our product stationery.

"We're still relatively new kids on the block. People said we were crazy for setting up our business in 2006, but here we are, and we're still going strong."

Chelise Porter, an assistant supervisor who has been with the firm for 11 years, said: "We're all really proud about it [the royal warrant].

"Just to be recognised in this way is an honour really. We all work really hard to make the best shoes that we can."

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