Kelly Williamson is the fourth generation in shoemaking from a family based in Leicestershire.

 

Dating back to 1850 Kelly's great grandfather, Henry Gent, worked as a bootmaker in Tottenham, London. 

 

He was succeeded by her Grandpa Bob who left London during WW2 and set up a repair company in Leicester.

 

Then in 1956 Kelly's uncle Lesley Gent founded  L.GENT&SONS, an industrial sewing machine company providing footwear machinery to the shoe trade. At that time mainly supplying Clarks in Somerset, but also as far afield as Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) where her uncle was setting up footwear factories.

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A Cordwainers college graduate Kelly spent 10 years working in London employed by influential global brands before relocating to Dorset and starting her own footwear design consultancy. 

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