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Thread: Walsh resurrection!

  1. #1
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    Walsh resurrection!

    Back in the mists of time there was a key rite of passage to becoming a true fell runner. Drawing around your foot and sending the print off to P. Bland esq along with a cheque for £38.99. In return you would receive you first pair of Walshes, PB trainer or racer. Now, you could safely show your face at races, confident you would fit in as a committed contender.
    Over the decades, brash new upstarts turned the heads of wannabe racers to the point that I would often be the sole runner sporting a pair of Walshes.
    I worried that the company would not survive.
    But recently, a renaissance seems to be happening. My personal choice of soshull meedja started bombarding me with ads for Walsh leisureware shoes, so much so that I caved in and bought a pair. And then, as I was walking past a swanky high end shoe shop in central London, I noticed that the window display was exclusively Walshes, produced in collaboration with the shop chain.
    So hats off to the Walsh management for putting up a fight over their apparent demise as the number one choice of fell runners. Good luck to this new initiative.
    Simon Blease
    Monmouth

  2. #2
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Good luck to them indeed.
    My reasonably hip daughter had a pair of their leisurewear shoes which she bought a few years ago on the basis that one of her favourite boy bands (the Vamps) were wearing them...
    https://www.businessinsider.com/ms-i...t-sales-2015-5
    Pete Shakespeare - U/A

    Going downhill fast

  3. #3
    Master molehill's Avatar
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    Quite a few years ago I was talking to a young lad and noticed the Walsh logo on his shoes, I asked him if he was a fell runner and he looked at me a little strangely . They were apparently the bees knees in cool trainers for trendy young dudes (and possibly ladies?).

    I went home and looked them up on the 'net and most cool they were too, but I didn't purchase any as I still considered myself a fell runner and wearing Walsh leisure trainers would have been most UNcool in my opinion!

    Being in my 70th year and no longer a proper runner I may look again, as anything to help me look cool now has to be worth considering .
    Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.

  4. #4
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    Do it! You know you want too!🤣

  5. #5
    Master molehill's Avatar
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    I do actually (been browsing &#128521, so many colours, so many patterns 🤔.
    Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by molehill View Post
    I do actually (been browsing ��), so many colours, so many patterns ��.
    The Fellrunner referred to Walsh moving into this market many years ago and around that time I saw some in a shop window in Milan (where else?).

    Being on holiday, in the sunshine, naturally I was tempted - but then thought, who comes to Italy to buy shoes made in...Bolton?
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  7. #7
    Master Witton Park's Avatar
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    I bought a pair of Walsh leisure shoes in Selfridges London around 2006. They were made in Italy and about £100.
    I think the Italian factory paid to use the Walsh name - I don't think Walsh did anything other than collect the royalties, but at the time the owner said it was the biggest part of their business.
    Richard Taylor
    "William Tell could take an apple off your head. Taylor could take out a processed pea."
    Sid Waddell

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Witton Park View Post
    I bought a pair of Walsh leisure shoes in Selfridges London around 2006. They were made in Italy and about £100.
    I think the Italian factory paid to use the Walsh name - I don't think Walsh did anything other than collect the royalties, but at the time the owner said it was the biggest part of their business.
    Thanks.

    £100? I presume you only paid trade price though with a smile?
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  9. #9
    Master Witton Park's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post
    Thanks.

    £100? I presume you only paid trade price though with a smile?
    I actually bought them as a reference sample for a collection meeting with the company's design team.

    In my size, so a few months later when the process was finished and our range signed off, I could collect them and wear them myself. They were pretty good shoes.
    Richard Taylor
    "William Tell could take an apple off your head. Taylor could take out a processed pea."
    Sid Waddell

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Witton Park View Post
    I bought a pair of Walsh leisure shoes in Selfridges London around 2006. They were made in Italy and about £100.
    I think the Italian factory paid to use the Walsh name - I don't think Walsh did anything other than collect the royalties, but at the time the owner said it was the biggest part of their business.

    I found an old advert for Walsh and the wording was something like "all the products we make are made in Bolton" which would not conflict with selling a design to an Italian company to be made elsewhere.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

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