Shoe design: Taurus

Object

Shoe design

Production date

1980 = 1987

Object number

1987.262

Physical Description

Design drawing of shoe titled 'Taurus' with a photograph of the final product in stores in three different colours - red, black and blue. The shoe is heeled with a curved and spiked feature going up one side.

The inside label of the shoe shoes the logo for Russell & Bromley.

Object history

London Lane Shoes Ltd. was a footwear manufacturer which operated in Hackney between the 1960s and 1980s. They were first based in Haggerston and later moved to Dalston.

Associated Organisation

London Lane Shoes Ltd (Created by)

Material

Paper

Photo

Dimension

Height: 210mm
Width: 295mm

Exhibition Label

From the exhibition 'Faces Behind the Fashions: Hackney and the Garment Trade' [15 September 2022-20 February 2023]

Sole traders

During the 19th and 20th Centuries, London’s shoemaking industry was concentrated in Hackney.

Workshops and factories made a range of footwear from boots to ballet shoes. Whilst most workers in the garment trade were women, the majority of shoemakers were men.

London Lane Shoes was one of Hackney’s big shoemakers. The company first opened in Haggerston in the 1960s and then moved to Dalston. London Lane Shoes made stylish footwear for women. They would make and deliver hundreds of pairs of shoes to shops around London each week.

The owners had a long family history of shoemaking; one ancestor moved from Lithuania to London in the late 1800s and opened a shoemakers in Whitechapel.

After many years of trading, London Lane Shoes eventually closed down in 1986.

On display here are several documents from London Lane Shoes related to footwear design and production.