Since 1873, the English shoemaker Church’s has managed all stages of production from their historic headquarters in Northampton. This original location used for design, construction, archiving and more was used for staging the brand’s latest campaign, Church’s Chapters.

The campaign is a photographic project that serves as a virtual archive tracing the history of the English shoemaker to its roots. Various men’s and women’s designs reflect shifting tastes and reveal the classic prototypes that would define particular decades.  Some of the originals lifted from the brand’s archives include a hand-embroidered women’s shoe dating to 1900, a men’s perforated derby from the 1920s and a suede and silk-lined women’s court shoe from the 1950s, among others. Images of preserved sketches accompany some of the prototypes.  

But photographs aren’t limited to footwear—the campaign also reveals more from the behind-the-scenes process and marketing paraphernalia. Historic catalogs with brand designs reveal advertising trends and date back to 1887. Multiple manuals are included in the campaign along with construction tools, like a foot measuring device from the 1960s along with foot forms, prototypes and stamps. According to the brand, “each photograph is conceived as an act of remembrance and appreciation,” allowing for this history to be accessible to multiple generations of footwear enthusiasts, fashion scholars and industry professionals.