INFORMATIONAL UPDATES FROM THE FACTORY

• FRAUDULENT WEBSITE WARNING! - It's been brought our attention that there's an imposter website, that we do not stock and have no affiliation with selling Crown Northampton products. Please do not place any orders through vibramshoesuk . com as this is a fraudulent scam website. We are doing what we can to have the website taken down - Posted 06/03/23

• Following on from our initial communication below posted - 23/09/22: 

  We wanted to send an update to let you know that unfortunately there have been some local and countrywide issues that have been out of our control. Staff illnesses and strikes have had a knock-on effect to our couriers (DHL) and material / supply chain have been delayed due to airport backlogs. This has meant that we haven’t been able to ship all of the orders planned and received before the Christmas cut off point. 

  In total there are roughly 40 orders that we were not able to fulfil and will likely not be received before Christmas. Most of these remaining 40 orders will be shipping today (21st) and tomorrow (22nd) so they will be en route very soon. 

  Even though though these issues were out of our control and couldn’t be averted, we understand that this could cause frustration so we would like to offer you a 10% discount on your current order by way of apology or a 10% discount on a future order if preferred. 

  Please reply to this email as to how you would like proceed and we will action accordingly. 

  Our factory and offices will be closed from midday 22nd December and reopening 3rd January. There will be skeleton cover on customer service over this down time with full factory hours restored on 2nd January.

  Thank you to our customers for all your support over such a challenging 2022! 

  We wish you all a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Posted 21/12/22

• STITCHDOWN PRODUCTION - The Stitchdown Collection now has a slightly longer delivery time than all of our other footwear collections due to the specialised production processes involved. We aim to deliver well within the quoted timeframe but delivery on this particular collection can take up to the full 12 weeks. Posted 11/11/22

• SHIPPING AND DELIVERY - We have made some slight updates to our delivery times. Please see our Shipping page for more information. Posted 11/11/22

• VAT & TAXES - We have recently made changes to our website so customers can now pay in their own country currency. All prices shown for customers outside of Europe automatically exclude VAT and for customers within Europe, prices include VAT. This makes it much easier for you the customer - as previously you would have had to wait to be manually refunded on any VAT taken at checkout. 

Orders within Europe: Prices shown are inclusive of VAT. All final purchase prices include delivery duty paid (DDP).

Orders Outside of Europe: Prices shown are exclusive of VAT. Customers are liable for any local duties incurred at the shipping destination. If unsure please check with your local customs office before placing an order. Posted 08/11/22

• CHRISTMAS DELIVERY DATE INFORMATION - As most of you will already know, Crown Northampton is a fully made to order business so we have to plan ahead a little more than other brands. With this in mind, we're now setting our final order date that guarantees you pre-Christmas delivery. And that date is...SUNDAY 16th OCTOBER! All orders placed before this date will be prioritised for a delivery before Friday 23rd December - Barring any catastrophes, pandemics, acts of god, or unforeseen delays that are completely out of our control. So if you're after some of our footwear for Christmas then get your orders in asap! *We will of course do our very best to deliver any orders received after Sunday 16th October in time for Christmas but we can't promise. Posted 23/09/22

• HAND STITCH SHOE TREES - Please be aware that due to production delays, Hand Stitch shoe trees are currently out of stock. We are waiting on a bulk order from our local Northampton suppliers that will clear down our backlog of outstanding orders and also give us some stock on hand for future orders. When received, old outstanding orders will be prioritised first then we will open up the remaining stock for new orders. Until then, if you would like shoe trees for your Crown Northampton Sneakers, we suggest purchasing generic shoe trees from another brand. Unfortunately we are unable to offer a date as to when we will be back in stock. Posted 14/09/22

• MADE TO ORDER DELIVERY - Due to increased demand and growth within Crown Northampton, along with ongoing staffing and supply chain issues due to the rolling pandemic, our Made To Order making and delivery time has now increased to 'Up To 45 Working Days' (For all footwear orders including Shell Cordovan which remains at 45 working days) - This covers Monday to Friday but does not include weekends or UK bank holidays and communicated factory holiday closure days. We will of course always endeavour to get your orders shipped out well ahead of 45 working days, but we want to be realistic and transparent with the current growth we're encountering and the unpredictability of the world right now in general! *We will aim to ship all orders received before this announcement in line with the previous '20-30 Working Days' delivery times. Posted 25/02/22

• EMAILS - With the increased growth that we are experiencing, we are also receiving in a far higher volume of email queries. Efficient customer service is very important to us and is one of our core brand messages. The emails received are extremely varied and range from size queries to order delivery enquiries. As we try to answer each question in as much detail as possible, clearing through the backlog has been quite challenging and in many cases, we are not responding as fast as we would like due to the sheer volume of emails so we apologise if we have left some of you 'hanging' so to speak. To improve this process we are currently taking on and training new Crown Customer Service operatives. In the coming months, we will also be updating our customer communications so that general sizing and style information can be found easier on the website, and importantly, customers receive more information on what stage their order is currently at and when delivery can be expected. We will aim to reply to all email queries within 48-72 hours (not including weekends). We appreciate that Made To Order processes differ from most online purchases and many of you are excited to receive your orders so you're just looking for updates and in some cases chasing overdue delivery. However, we kindly request that you only email us regarding your order status if delivery is overdue or you need to make amendments to your address of need delivery for a specific date. This will help us greatly to manage the flow of incoming emails and we are currently in the process of improving our customer order communications in general, so bear with us we're doing our very best! Posted 25/02/22

Thank you for all your support

Crown Northampton