Community Clothing launching trainers with Norman Walsh

Community Clothing, the apparel brand and social enterprise founded by Patrick Grant, is launching trainers made in the UK with cult British sports shoemaker Normal Walsh.

Grant has worked with the Walsh team to re-design a 1980s running shoe from their extensive archive to introduce a new unisex running shoe named ‘Beacon’ after Beacon Fell, a popular hill near Community Clothing’s HQ in Blackburn.

The trainers, for men and women, will launch on September 29, initially as a limited-edition drop in five colourways across a broad range of sizes, with Grant stating he hopes it becomes a “longstanding collaboration”.

Commenting on the launch, Grant said in a statement: “It’s hard to say exactly why I love Walsh so much. It might be their amazing colours, it might be that for years they were the only shoe worn by serious fell runners (and those folks are cool), or it might be that their factory, tucked away down a little back street on Bolton, is one of the most idiosyncratic still operating in Britain. I’m so happy that after years as a fan I’ve finally got to work with them.”

Each pair of trainers is made in Bolton at the Walsh factory, which has been operating since 1961.

The Community Clothing ‘Beacon’ trainers will be priced at 95 pounds and be available at communityclothing.co.uk.

Community Clothing, founded in 2016, is known for selling great quality clothes at prices people can afford and championing British manufacturing by supporting skilled jobs in regions of the UK that need them most. To date, Community Clothing has created 279,000 hours of work and supported 1,880 jobs through its network of 42 partner factories all over the UK, located predominantly in the Northwest, Yorkshire, the East Midlands and South Wales.

The trainer launch follows the brand’s expansion into underwear for men and women to bring underwear manufacturing back to Wales.