We’ve been working on something new, and over the next two blog posts, we’ll share the story behind it. This first part is my personal take on how I came up with the name for The Ernest Wholecut and what it means to me. In the next part, Chris will walk us through the shoe itself, how it was designed, why it’s built the way it is, and what makes it such a defining piece for us.
"We want people to be happy with their footwear. That sounds obvious, but it really matters to us."
Naming the Ernest Wholecut Shoe
I’ve always noticed shoe names.
As a child, out shopping for new school shoes, I’d check what they were called usually on the box or the label inside. I was a little bit obsessed. I imagined people in the factory choosing them - maybe naming them after their kids, or their favourite colours. I was always on the lookout for a pair called Lucy. I never found one. I was even known to reject a pair simply because I didn’t like the name, much to my dad’s frustration; as if shopping for school shoes with a fussy 11-year-old wasn’t hard enough already.
Looking back, it probably makes perfect sense that I ended up doing what I do now.
Shoe shopping back in the '80s. That's not me, by the way!
I started in Customer Service at Crown. The principles were always simple: listen to the customer and be helpful. Whether someone was asking about sizing, trying to choose between leathers, or figuring out if a style was right for them, the aim was to understand where they were coming from and guide them properly.
I personally saw it as an opportunity to create the opposite of all the bad service I’d experienced elsewhere. No radio silence, no scripts, no indifference; listening. Actually listening, and making sure people felt supported not sold to.
We want people to be happy with their footwear. That sounds obvious, but it really matters to us.
We’d rather someone take their time, ask more questions, or even changed their mind than end up wearing the wrong size or investing in something that doesn’t suit their needs.
Because at Crown everything is made to order, there’s usually no pressure to rush; people can ask questions, take some time, and make sure they’re choosing something that suits them. The only real exceptions are when we’re working with limited leathers or rare hides (when they’re gone, they’re gone) but even then, we do our best to help people decide with confidence.
Those conversations with customers were part of the work, but also part of the story. They helped people understand what they were choosing — and why it was different.
Now I work on the marketing side, but in a way it’s the same job. Still listening, still talking to people, just on a different scale. Telling stories that matter, and this story about The Ernest Wholecut feels like one of the most personal I’ve had the chance to share.
"Ernest’s father narrowly avoided death in the First World War — if that had gone differently, we wouldn’t be here making shoes today."
What’s in a Shoe Name?
You might have seen The Ernest mentioned in our last newsletter: a brief introduction ahead of what’s to come. We are extremely excited about The Ernest, and for me this one’s personal.
Unlike me, most people probably don’t think twice about shoe names! But for Crown, and perhaps shoes generally, names have always mattered. Just look at the classics: The Jordan. Stan Smiths. Chucks. Cortez. The Samba. Names that didn’t just describe the shoe itself, they reflected the reason people wore them. Some honouring athletes, others designers or subcultures. All of them carry identity and become linked to the iconic nature of the shoe.
At Crown, we’ve always approached naming in a bit more of a grounded fashion. Every style until now has been named after places in and around Northampton: The Harlestone. The Everdon. The Adnitt. Local names. Road names and local landmarks: each one a small nod to where we’re from and the craft that’s always belonged to this town.
But this time, we did things differently. This shoe is named after a person.
Chris, my boss and our founder, is the great-grandson of Ernest who is the ‘son’ in the original family business, E.Woodford & Sons. Ernest was a skilled shoemaker, known in particular for his wholecut work — a shoe construction method that requires complete accuracy, because with no seams or panels to disguise mistakes, even the smallest error will show.
His legacy still runs deep in our workshop culture today.
Visitors to the Crown Northampton factory are talked through how that legacy continues. How the Woodford family’s history has shaped what we do and how we do it. Ernest’s father narrowly avoided death in the First World War — if that had gone differently, we wouldn’t be here making shoes today. And if Chris’s dad hadn’t been forced to close the business and start again in the 1980s, this version of the business may never have taken shape at all. That part of the story — full of detours, restarts and resilience is still very much alive within these walls. You can read more about it here.
As a result of both that long family line and those twists and turns, Chris revived E.Woodford, our sister company focused on traditional, hand-welted dress shoes. All of these connections matter. The Ernest Wholecut is the first shoe to bring together the worlds of Crown and E.Woodford — in both philosophy, construction, and spirit.
Still hand-welted. Still minimalist. Still unmistakably Crown but with a lineage you can experience and feel.
And what about that name? Ernest. It has a tone to it. Honest. Slightly old-fashioned in the best way. The kind of name that carries itself well. We noticed too that The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed just a few years before Ernest himself was born. A coincidence, maybe. But one that stayed with us.
We are, in more ways than one, Earnest.
A Place with Purpose
What I’ve always loved about working here is that every voice gets heard. There’s no real hierarchy and Chris is on the factory floor every day, sleeves rolled up, seeing everyone and everything that happens.
When it came to naming this shoe, I just knew it should be called Ernest. I couldn’t let it go — the name felt right. And the fact that I was listened to, and that my view carried weight, meant a lot.
Why The Shoe Matters
As a result of this story, The Ernest will always mean something more to me. Not just because I helped name it, but because it holds so much of what Crown is. Honest, understated, and made with intent. A tribute to where we’ve come from, and a considered move towards where we’re heading. I hope that it comes to mean something to you all.
In the next blog, Chris will take over to share the full story of The Ernest Wholecut. From the technical details to the business thinking behind it and how it represents the most refined expression of our approach to date.
And if any of you ever finds a pair called Lucy - let me know!
Ernest Wholecut: launch date Friday 13 June 2025.
