Crown Northampton Harlestone: Astonishing
Price: $461 (Most) / $842 (Shell Cordovan)
Why Buy?
The Crown Northampton Harlestone offers a no-compromise option for people who want their sneakers to rival the best British shoemakers.
Why Avoid?
The Crown Northampton has a price to match the comparison above.
Specs
| Model | Harlestone |
| Height | Low |
| Materials | Calf / Cordovan / Lactae Hevea / Cork |
| Size | UK 12 |
| Weight | Calf: 501 g; Cordovan: 599 g |
| Construction | Stitched Cupsole |
| Country of Origin | United Kingdom |
History
The story of Crown Northampton starts long before the name Crown Northampton. In fact, it doesn’t even start in Northampton. Back in 1098, the roots of the brand began in London, with a bespoke shoemaker. However, be it the access to supplies or skilled labor, it wasn’t long before the brand uprooted and moved to the capital of U.K. shoemaking, Northampton.
However, Chris Woodford, the great-great-grandson of the original founder, grew up watching the factories around the city shut down. He didn’t want that to happen to the family business. Chris knew that Northampton was known for high-end shoemaking, but in a world full of sneakers what is a guy to do?
Well, make a high-end sneaker.
In fact, he specifically wanted to know what would happen if you take the materials and build quality of a goodyear welted shoe and applied them to a more casual sneaker. After a few other models that took off in Japan, the brand released what we are looking at today – the Harlestone Derby.
Since that original launch, the Harleston has grown dramatically. At time of writing, there are 24 different leather upper options, 24 lengths – each with 3 widths, and three different outsole choices. Or, to put it another way, there are 5,184 different ways you can order this sneaker.
By the way, the namesake of that original store, E. Woodford, still exists today as a sister brand to Crown Northampton. Their shoes look amazing, though finish your coffee before you take a look at the price. They also have one of the best histories of shoemaking in Northampton.
Looks
Upper
Before I get into the upper of the specific sneakers I’m reviewing today, I need to underscore just how many choices there are. Of course, you have white, which we’ll get to, and black. You also have a few different shell cordovan options, which is crazy, but it doesn’t stop there.
Once you’re past the ones we’re looking at today, you also have kudu, buffalo, and deer. You can even get a coral pink or teal vegetable tan Badalassi.
OK, with that out of the way, let’s talk about what the uppers of the Harleston share. As a minimalistic sneaker, there isn’t a ton of ornamentation, but as part of their Hand Stitch Collection there is a lot of hand finishing and details to be aware of.
The first one you’ll notice is the hand stitching on the heel and up near the toe box. These six stitches are hand stitched using an awl, and are used in a way to reenforce areas that are prone to separation after long term wear.
Second, and less obvious at first, is the rolled edges along every portion of the sneaker. Most sneakers, heck – most shoes, offer a fairly simple stitch. Two pieces are held together, and a stitch is sewn along the edge. Maybe you’ll get a rolled top.
The Crown Northampton Harlestone offers rolled edges along the entirety of the upper, which again should increase durability. One thing you should be aware of, though. The thick leathers they use for the rest of the upper wouldn’t work here. These will patina in a slightly different way than the upper leather.
White Crown Northampton Harlestone
Speaking of patina, when you take the white veg tan calf sneaker, it comes with a little tag telling you to embrace patina.
While always a good reminder for high end footwear, it’s especially apt here. Veg tanned leather, particularly light colored veg tanned leather, will patina with wear. When others complained it looks like Crown Northampton went above and beyond to make people happy, you should expect lighter color veg tan to patina with time.
Besides, it’s basically impossible for veg tanned leather to be pure white. These come in a slightly off-white color.
The leather itself looks great visually. Despite lacking any sort of paint or poly coating like most light-colored leather, there are no visual issues anywhere on the upper of the shoe.
Dark Cognac Shell Cordovan Crown Northampton Harlestone
If you hate how shoes develop over time, you probably won’t want to pick a shell cordovan sneaker like this version of the Harleston. Crown Northampton uses a mostly uncoated shell, which is going to lighten with wear and develop specific to the shoe.
If you’re not aware, most shell cordovan comes with an acrylic coating. Alden is most famous for this. This coating does a good job of keeping the shell looking consistent with wear, but you’re not actually looking at shell. You’re looking at paint.
My preference (indeed, I won’t let Alden resole any of my shell cordovan because they will recoat it) is this. It will lighten with wear, both from the sun and from flexing.
Shell is really amazing stuff. We’ll get to why you don’t see it more often later if you don’t already know, but if you do manage to get your hands on it, you won’t regret it.
Outsole
Both of the Crown Northampton Harlestone shown in this review come with their white Lactae Hevea outsole. I should note, like the White leather, this is really more of an off-white color.
The outsole is a cup design, but is decidedly lower than most cup soles. It does a good job fitting the minimalistic look of the Harlestone. On the bottom of the outsole, you’ll find the Lactae Hevea branding, and some inset lines for grip.
Across the entire cup sole you’ll find a bumpy texture.
If you’re not a fan of white – and these will get dirty looking with wear in white – you can also opt for black or a translucent gum color.
Summary
Overall, the Crown Northampton Harlestone does a great job blending high end finishes with a minimalistic design. Making a sneaker out of shell cordovan could easily end up with something overly garish. However, these manage to thread that needle beautify. (Though, remember, if you feel these were a bit too subtle you can get them in pink.
As for how to style them, well – they are minimalist sneakers. They go with almost everything. Personally, I plan on wearing these mostly at work related events where dress shoes would be too formal. That means cotton chinos or wool trousers and a patterned sport coat.
If you opt for one of the more casual leathers – such as the buffalo – you may want to skew more casual in your outfit.
Fit & Comfort
Fit
Crown Northampton specially designed the Harlestone last (even down to having custom outsoles made just for this model). I find it to be a very accommodating fit, though you will want to make sure you get the right size. In both of these leathers the uppers are not going to be very forgiving if you mis-size.
The brand recommends going with your standard sneaker size, and for us Americans, converting to UK sizing. For me, I typically wear a size 13 sneaker, I ordered these in a 12 standard width, and they are the right fit for me.
If you’re often in-between sizes, I would suggest you go up.
On the off chance you happen to be in Northampton, you’re able to book a factory appointment to get properly fitted through their website.
The good news is that if you do missize you can exchange them for the right size. Though, they actually ask you to simply place a new order and return the old ones so they can start production right away.
Comfort
As with all Lactea Hevea outsoles, the comfort on these is going to be much better than you would expect based on their minimal style. Lactea Hevea is really great stuff from a comfort perspective, and gives great squish.
You should know that your upper leather will determine comfort out of the box. The two that I have here – the Veg Tanned and the Cordovan – will be pretty stiff. They’ll soften with wear, but these will take some break in.
While I have not seen them in person, I have no doubt the deer suede will be buttery smooth right out of the box.
Initially, you will likely want to wear these for just a few hours a day, but once they are broken in they will be more comfortable than other minimalist sneakers and I would have no concern wearing them all day.
Materials & Construction
Materials
OK, strap in. This material section for the Crown Northampton Harlestone is the longest material section of anything ever posted to 100wears.
Upper Leather
Let’s start with the upper leather choices. Crown Northampton offers 6 primary leathers to pick from. The Veg Tanned leather, shown here in white, is unbranded but feels extremely high quality. Cut thinner than you might find on dress shoes for flexibility, from a quality standpoint it’s as good as anything you’ll find out there. This leather is tanned using vegetable tannins instead of chrome. Expect a high level of patina.
Shell Cordovan, shown here in the Dark Cognac colorway, is often considered the best material to make footwear out of. Period. Not actually a leather, shell is actually a layer under the leather that comes from a horse’s rear end. Extremely tough and durable, shell doesn’t crease like leather but instead develops soft rolls.
Beyond these two, you can also get the upper in deer suede, buffalo, Badalassi Minerva (a type of veg tanned leather), or kudu. And that’s real kudu. Not the cow leather labeled “Kudu” some brands use.
Even better, if you go on the website, each of these materials is described in depth. Check out the “Clicker’s Notes” section.
Lining
Speaking of the veg tanned uppers, the interior of these feature lining that is also veg tanned. This lining covers the entire interior of the sneaker, with an additional flesh-out panel sewn into the heel.
Inside of the heel and the toe, Crown Northampton uses oak bark leather for stiffness. Is this almost certainly overkill for a sneaker. Yes, absolutely. This is the type of material you use on things like work boots made for felling trees. However, I certainly wouldn’t say no to it!
The insole of the Crown Northampton Harlestone is also made of the same veg tanned leather as the lining, and sits on top of a footbed filled with cork. The cork footbed, like with goodyear welted shoes, should improve comfort with time and allow the footbed to take the shape of your foot. Honestly, they were comfortable enough with out this, but again, I won’t complain about having more than needed.
Outsole
The outsole of the Crown Northampton Harlestone is made of Lactae Hevea. One of my favorite outsole materials. These outsoles are made in France using hevea milk harvested from the Cao Su.
They are incredibly soft and springy. Similar to crepe but softer. While there are more durable options out there for an outsole, most people will say the comfort on these outweigh the trade off in durability.
One absolutely crazy thing about these is that typically you can only find these in one size. If you want to use a cup sole, Lactae Hevea the brand actually tells you what lasts you are allowed use. Crown Northampton actually had Lactea Hevea develop a custom pattern, just for the Harleston. That would not have been cheap to do.
Construction
While there are a lot of handsewn construction touches on the Crown Northampton Harlestone (it’s the only shoe in the Handsewn line after all), the thing that is holding these together is the stitching along the cupsole and the upper. There is a little bit of glue, but only a little. More on that later.
The Harlestone is made in Crown Northampton’s factory in… Northampton. You probably should have guessed that one. There is a lot of hand-work done when making these shoes, though again, based on the name you probably should have guessed that.
Ease of Care
Typically, I don’t include an “ease of care” section in sneaker reviews. The outsole wears out before the upper anyway so it isn’t really worth the effort. You might also be screaming at your screen right now, asking why even have all the fancy materials if you can’t even get ¼ of their life.
Well, that’s one of the best parts of these sneakers. Unlike almost every other sneaker out there, these sneakers are entirely resoleable. And not just “oh, find a cobbler who’ll do it” – Crown Northampton offers a service! This is why they don’t use as much glue – they are going to have to take that outsole off at some point.
The service costs $113 if you’re using freedom dollars, and includes shipping both ways.
Beyond that, exactly how you care for your sneakers will depend on the upper that you select. There isn’t enough space here to cover all of the options, but Crown Northampton has an excellent guide for all the leathers they offer on their website.
For these two leathers, care will be fairly similar. First, you’ll want to make sure you use shoe trees. Crown Northampton offers very nice looking options for $180, but you’ll be able to get 99% of the benefit from a pair that costs less than $15 on Amazon.
Next, be sure to use a shoe horn. The heel caps on these are stiff so you’ll want to from a comfort perspective anyway, but it will help preserve the shape of the sneaker.
Finally, when they do need a condition, Crown Northampton suggests using Saphir. There is no doubt Saphir is amazing quality, and certainly what I would use for the Cordovan models, however I would be perfectly comfortable using Bick 4 on the veg tanned option.
Pricing & Value
The Crown Northampton Harlestone is not a cheap pair of shoes. Most options, including the white sneaker shown here, come in at a price of $461 dollars. The Shell Cordovan models are higher, of course, coming in at $842. These prices are based on GBP, so might change a bit depending on when you’re reading this.
At first blush, these prices seem unreasonable, but the more you think about it, the less crazy they seem.
Take, for comparison, the Common Projects Achilles, a sneaker I like quite a bit. Not only do they cost more than the non-Cordovan options from Crown Northampton, they are worse. Just a little bit, but in pretty much every way.
The upper leather isn’t as nice, the outsole isn’t as nice, there is no handwork, etc. And, maybe most importantly, these sneakers are resoleable.
I know it also may not matter to some, but the Crown Northamptons also come with some nice additions. Each pair has an additional set of very nice laces, a sturdy box, a key chain in matching leather and the best shoe bags I’ve ever seen.
Are the Crown Northampton Harlestone Worth It?
Let’s get it out of the way – the Crown Northampton Harlestone is expensive. If you’re just looking for a white sneaker to kick around it and you don’t really sweat the details, this probably isn’t going to be the sneaker for you.
However, if you do have the funds and interest in footwear, it’s hard to argue that the Crown Northampton Harlestone isn’t a good value proposition. Even at the $460+ price point.
While visually it is obviously a sneaker, looking at the manufacturing and long-term ownership, these sneakers are really more like a pair of high-end stitched shoes. It might be fairer to compare them to something like a pair of Crockett & Jones than a pair of other sneakers.
Materials? The same (or, in the case of Cordovan, better). The factory? Literally across a park from one another. The construction? Sure, the Crockett & Jones are welted but the cork filling, lining, etc are all similar. You can even resole them right in their factory.
For a sneaker that comes in that this price point I expected near perfection, and Crown Northampton met my expectations and then some. If you want a pair of sneakers where compromise was a dirty word in the design, this is the pair for you.