As the brand marks its 150th birthday, it is pushing the envelope with creative collaborations that celebrate an unwavering commitment to craftsmanship.

In today’s boom-and-bust world of startups and Insta-stars, you’re lucky if your career lasts for 150 days, let alone 150 years. Which gives us all the more reason to be impressed by British shoemaker Grenson. Founded in 1866 by Mr William Green, in a rather humble workshop above the corn merchants in Rushden, Northamptonshire, the brand celebrates one-and-a-half centuries in business this year. And though it has, of course, come on a fair bit since the mid-19th century, both in terms of its proliferating, contemporary styles and its global reach, the core of what makes the brand so special has stayed remarkably consistent, according to its current creative director and owner, Mr Tim Little. “The way the shoes are made is pretty much identical to 100 years ago,” he says. “The Goodyear-welted method of shoemaking has been at the core of our story for 150 years.”

Mr Little came on board at Grenson a little more recently, in 2005. But he’s always felt it important, as creative director, to engage with the brand’s past. “Our history is something that we live by but are careful not to over-rely on,” he says. “The key is the balance between old and new, so we design many styles that are based on traditional shoes, but the way we play with soles and materials makes them modern.”

Testimony to these words is the range of products the brand is launching during the anniversary year. First off is a special archive collection, which reissues eight historic styles for the delectation of contemporary audiences. The designs in question range from Shoe No. 7, a delightfully kitsch basket-woven Derby style from the 1970s, to Shoe No. 3, a new edition of a truly heroic toe-cap Derby boot from 1944, when Grenson produced shoes for the British war effort under government contract. Next up is a more forward-looking collaboration with the biker-culture-obsessed brand Neighborhood, which launches on MR PORTER today. This partnership arose out of Neighborhood founder Mr Shinsuke Takizawa’s admiration for the triple-welt sole, a unique Grenson innovation, which adds a chunky, three-layered effect in between the sole and the upper – a design that came from the workers at Grenson’s Northampton workshops in 2014. For the collaborative collection, Mr Takizawa has created pairs of half-brogued boots and Derby shoes, offering a new, streamlined take on Mr Little’s classic triple-welt designs. It works, says Mr Little, because “we are both ‘form-follows-function’ guys. He loves things that work, things that do a job, and I do too.”

Alongside these new, limited lines, Grenson is taking the opportunity in its anniversary year to celebrate the brand’s continued focus on the craft of shoemaking. In 2013, for the first time ever in the brand’s history, Mr Little moved Grenson’s manufacturing to a new, modern factory in Northampton, leaving the premises originally built by Mr William Green in 1895. If it was a bold move for a heritage brand, it was also a step in the right direction, a clear indication of Mr Little’s intention to remain inspired, rather than weighed down, by Grenson’s history. And now, he wants to celebrate it. This summer saw the launch of a new “shoe school”, which allows visitors into the factory to learn about the expert work that goes into the making of Grenson’s shoes. And as something of a taster, Mr Little has commissioned renowed British photographer Mr Martin Parr to document the inner workings of the factory in his characteristically witty, but unflinching, style. The images, some of which you can see in this article, reveal what Mr Little has always said in interviews: that if craft is at the heart of a brand, it’s the hard work of expert individuals that make the continuation of craft possible. “I wanted someone who would show the true character of the people and the factory,” says Mr Little.

It’s such a narrative approach towards the past, present and future that separates the Grenson of today from that of 150 years ago, according to Mr Little. “I guess the biggest change in recent times is that we have told our story more than ever before,” he says. “When I look at the archive of ads, they were all aimed at trade – they never told their story to the public.” Where does he see the brand 150 years from now? “There are only two possibilities,” he says. “Forwards, or backwards. So I just hope that people keep pushing the brand on. I don’t mind if it’s big or small. It just needs to be good.”