Crown Northampton Shoes Reviews 31

I own a pair of Overstone Derby white sneakers. Quality of leather and built is par none. That tough part was the break in. It took quite a while, almost 4 mths before I felt comfortable. I toggle my white sneakers between this pair and my Goral Mellor II. The latter broke in in no time, being nappa calfskin, in comparison. But I enjoy both of them for their own respective difference.

It took a few days to break in my Crown Harelstones (cordovan) but now they are wonderful. The most comfortable shoes I own (own two dozen cordovan from Alden, CJ and AE - all excellent, but dress sneakers are so much more wearable for long days on the road and travel (I'm a diplomat)).
Exceptional and attentive customer relations and fantastic company ethos. Owner Chris ticks all the boxes with sustainable thinking, taking care of employees and using only the best materials. It does show in the shoes.
Just ordered one more pair and will probably order another two more shortly. Yes, it takes some time to have them made, but that is the price of more or less bespoke.
I'm genuinely impressed by the company.

I bought two pairs of CNS one pair of sneakers and one par of desert shoes. The desert shoes weren't wearable; the heal had no cup and so my heal lifted slightly every time I took a step. The sneakers were very small, even though I followed their instructions to size. I returned them for a bigger size... but it all took a long time. After a long break in period, the sneakers have been great. after a couple of years, I sent them back to be resoled (part of the attraction of this brand) but unfortunately both new soles have split after very little wear. I have written to CNS several times but have been ignored so far. Nice shoes, but at the end of the day, not really worth the price, the wait and hassle.

Nobody answer on e-mail in 10 days now. I want to cancel order and get refund but it’s impossible to get in touch with them.

In love with my new sneakers, worth every second of the wait time, you can’t rush perfection!
All queries were answered quickly and nothing was too much trouble for this lovely company.
Already planning my next pair!

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE
Crown Northampton will cheat you. I have waited 14 weeks, and Crown cannot tell me when I will get my shoes. I found out the truth today. My shoes were promised to be shipped duty paid. “Orders within Europe and US Prices shown are inclusive of taxes, duties and tariffs. All final purchase prices include delivery duty paid (DDP).”
Today I received this notice:
IMPORT DUTY PAYMENT IS REQUIRED


Hello KERWIN GRAY,

DHL Express has paid the duty for your parcel with waybill number 5578192896 from CROWN NORTHAMPTON LTD.

The amount you need to pay is USD 256.14 and you can easily pay online here.

If the duty is not paid within 5 days from the arrival date, the parcel will be returned to the shipper.

I am beyond thrilled with the customer experience provided by Justine and the customer support team. They were responsive and helpful to my various queries on shoe sizes, measuring my feet etc. and went above and beyond to make the experience feel like I was getting a bespoke shoe. Of course, now having received my shoe, I am delighted with its quality of materials and workmanshi.

Excellent customer service - guiding me through the range and patiently helping me make the right choice. Buying a pair of Crown Northampton shoes isn't done on a whim. But the investment - in my opinion - is well worth it. Buy right, buy once and all that. Couldn't be happier with my Everdon Ramblers.

Awesome footwear, they’re so beautiful and the quality is as good if not better than my shoes. Only yesterday I received some no show socks in readiness, can’t wait show them off.
Delivered in time frame given and beautifully packed,

Lovely leather on the shoes, but these are the least functional shoe I have ever worn. I've had a range of shoes from cheap plimpsols at budget shops to expensive trainers. I've hiked up mountains in skate shoes - my feet are pretty hardy. But when I walk in these, it's like I'm learning how to walk again. My feet can't move correctly. And every time I wear them, I get blisters on my heel after about 30 minutes from a rough pad attached to the bottom of the heel section (I assume it's there to try to stop my heel slipping up? doesn't work though) that feels like sandpaper (it might as well have been). These, sadly, are the worst shoe I've ever had, but are by far the most £££ i've ever paid. ...nice leather, though. (note: I bought the overstone hi derby)

I have four pairs of Crown Northampton sneakers - these are simply the most comfortable shoes I have ever had. The pair I am wearing as I write were purchased in 2021 and have rarely been off my feet except for resoling. The leather does take a short time to soften but once its has done so these are like walking on air. They unfortunately have reached the end of their life as the uppers are wearing so I have just received an identical pair to replace them.
I have also just received another couple of pairs from resoling which look like new. The service is excellent though, as these are all hand made , these are not ever going to be by return of post - expect several months. One reason to have a few pairs!
Contact with the company is also friendly and informative - during the manufacture of my latest pair I was kept informed of the stage they were at. I confess to being tempted by the new Oxford style offered - I always wore Oxfords to work as a GP .
Highly recommended - I never feel like taking them off unlike most shoes where one would kick them off at the end of a day. These are more like slippers which cosset one's feet. It is important to make sure you get the correct size - I always get a G fitting as I have broad feet. The soles being a natural gum do wear more quickly than say, a leather sole, but the comfort makes this a price worth paying.

The two pairs fit very differently and yet they both serve the function they were purchased for well heading into 3rd week of ownership.

One huge suggestion: understand that these shoes break in like dress shoes, not Nikes.
The wait time is real. Ordered my first pair 12/21/24 and received that pair w/ belt and another pair at the end of May 2025

I ordered a pair of Overstone Hi Derby - All White Calf (order #18089) valued at almost £300 and had to wait 9 weeks which is perfectly fine as this is the stated wait time. The shoes arrived with noticeable defects. I contacted customer services who responded 4 working days later to basically say "send us the shoes back and we'll make you another pair". So Crown will have had £300 of my hard earned money for nearly 5 months with no pair of shoes in my possession? The customer service operation is atrocious and don't even expect to get anyone on the other end of a phone......this was my first order (placed 21st December 2024) and I was so excited about receiving these shoes....very very disappointing.

Who is the heck is going to pay these prices for shoes and then wait FOUR MONTHS to receive them? Furniture doesn’t take this long to make. Ridiculous.

I bought a pair of Woodford Desert Boots. At the time of purchasing I did not mind waiting two and a half months for delivery and the price of £300 because I thought would receive a high quality, comfortable product that would last.
Having now had the shoes for 4 months I no longer consider the price or the wait to have been worth it. In fact, I now regard the shoes as a waste of money.
They are made of a stiff, hard, unforgiving leather that I have been unable satisfactorily 'break in' making them very uncomfortable for anything other than short periods of wear. The quality is not as expected - glued joints are already separating; brown paint on the white soles is coming off and, a minor point, but the laces supplied were too long and thin and after I tripped over them several times had to be replaced.
I would not buy from Crown again. I will go back to high street shops where I think I can get a better shoe for less than half the price.

I have recently purchased 3 pairs of “made to order” Crown Northampton Overstone Derby trainers at a total cost of circa £900. The top inner soles in the most recent pair (which arrived in July 24) have started to wrinkle up and separate from the underlying layer despite fairly minimal wear. I’ve never experienced this problem with much cheaper “off the peg” trainers eg Nike, Addidas, Puma, Camper etc, nor have Crown responded to my concerns when I emailed them a couple of days ago

I ordered the wrong size of the cordovan shoe. It was a hassle free exchange. I love the shoes and I think they look great …although they may take a while to break in.

In addition to my earlier review...unfortunately the promising 'early signs' were not accurate...still waiting for an update on my order from 6 July!!!!
Emails have stopped. Contact with the company non existent. Will give a few more days then cancel my order and shop elsewhere. White trainers in Winter?

Ordered £290 pair of leather trainers from Crown. They quote 9 weeks for delivery of these shoes. After 9 weeks had passed, they sent me an email stating that there would be an additional 2 to 3 weeks delay due to various reasons, including their factory being closed for summer holidays. Waited 12 weeks, still had not received shoes or any further communication from Crown. Had to send multiple emails following up. Eventually got a reply stating that the shoes would not be shipped for another 2 weeks, bringing the delivery time for 1 pair of shoes to nearly 15 weeks.

Asked for the order to be cancelled and refunded. Have had no reply from Crown. Have had to initiate a charge dispute with credit card company. Hoping this does not become an expensive first time failed experience with this company.

Communication, terrible. Customer service, terrible. Adhering to promised delivery time, terrible.

Overall experience, TERRIBLE!

Don’t buy!

I was really hoping to leave a 5 star review when I placed my order, but after spending £290 and waiting for 3 months, I would not recommend buying from Crown Northampton if you have never purchased from this brand before.

I moved to London for an international assignment with only 2 suitcases, I wanted to get a pair of leather sneakers that could supplement my limited wardrobe. Instead of going for Italian leather which I should have done, I thought since I am now in England, might as well support the local shops and buy something made in England that would be a souvenir as well as serves functional purposes.

Through a Youtube video I came across Crown Northampton. I did my research and reviewed its website carefully, everything looks legitimate so I ordered my usual size after reading “All of our collections are made to an F fitting as standard. This is an industry average fit that will suit most feet”.

I waited 9 weeks, and the shoes came. They are the widest, heftiest and chunkies looking shoes, yet somehow feel incredibly narrow. I thought this must be the leather, after all the leather is quite sturdy and thick, thicker than all other leather shoes I have. Fast forward to a month later, after several coffee runs and short outdoor walks, I was still not able to break in. Then I compared the insole to my other shoes, turns out, it’s significantly, and I meant SIGNIFICANTLY, narrower than all my other shoes.

I reached out to customer service looking for solutions, and this is their response on the width of the shoes “When customers ask for the widths of our Lasts we prefer not to send them out as it can be misleading” and “Now that you own and have tried on a pair of the Wholecuts - you should able to gauge if a G fitting will wide enough if you wanted to re-order.” In other words, there is nothing we can do and you just have to buy a new pair. Yea no, no way in hell I am gonna spend another £290 and 9 weeks of my life just to have a chance of getting something that actually fits.

Crown Northampton, can you really claim that your shoes are made to an industry average fit when it’s narrower all other brands? I never had to go for a wider fit in my entire life and I have a lot of shoes from a number of brands (Nike, Adidas, Nobull, Allbirds, Ecco, Gucci, Bottega, Prada, Ferragamo, Maison Margiela to name a few). I’ve uploaded a few pics comparing Crown Northampton and Maison Margiela to demonstrate the differences in width, I am always happy to share more.

I would have given 1 star based on my shopping experience, the fit of the shoes, the time spent on waiting, and the price I paid, but 2 stars because the leather and stitching do appear solid.

TLDR: if you have never tried shoes from this brand before (and it’s impossible try them in store because no retailers carry this brand), be EXTREMELY cautions before you pay for £290 and invest 9 weeks of your life waiting for the shoes. Chances are it’s not worth the money and time, you might be just as disappointed like me.