Hear Steve Pateman
tell the real-life story
behind ‘Kinky Boots’
at Isham Village Hall, Friday
18th March at 7.30pm.
Steve Pateman, a fifth
generation shoemaker from
Northamptonshire, found fame
after a Hollywood film was
made about how he saved his
business. WJ Brookes was
founded in 1898 in King Street, Earls Barton,
and Steve joined his father Richard there
in 1979. Late 1990s, a BBC documentary
‘Trouble at the Top’ featured the story of the
company moving away from traditional shoe
production to erotic footwear.

The owner of a store selling footwear
favoured by cross-dressers and drag queens
had rung to ask if Steve could make thighhigh
boots, in red or black leather or PVC,
in male sizes. Realising there could be a
lucrative new market he researched his
potential customer base and began creating
‘Divine Footwear’, reinforcing his boots with
metal struts specially designed to hold a
man’s weight. From then on, WJ Brookes
became known as the ‘Kinky Boot
Factory’.

The story was picked up by Tim
Firth and Geoff Deane who wrote
the 2005 film ‘Kinky Boots’, which
starred Joel Edgerton as
Charlie Price - the character
based on Steve. While the
niche market of producing
erotic footwear lasted, WJ
Brookes employed 80 in the
factory, but other competitors
started bringing in cheap
imports from China, and the
factory closed in 2006. After
closing WJ Brookes, Steve
became a firefighter and now
works at Mereway Fire Station in Northampton
and also covers his home town of Earls
Barton. However, boots made by Steve can
still be seen at Northampton Museum and Art
Gallery and the Kinky Boots effect has helped
highlight the long history of the shoemaking
industry in Northamptonshire.

The stage version of ‘Kinky Boots’ had
its debut in Chicago in 2012 and wowed
audiences in the US. The following year
it moved to Broadway and won six Tony
awards, including best musical
and best score for Cyndi Lauper.
The West End production opened
in 2015.

Please bring your own drinks
and glasses to Isham Village
Hall on the night. Nibbles will
be provided. Doors open at
7pm. Tickets £5 are available
from Margaret Priest on 01536
723392.

 
 The Story of ‘Kinky Boots’ - from Broadway to Isham…