Walsh Trainers

WALSH TRAINERS

Walsh Trainers, hand made Athletic Shoes, Made In Bolton, England by Norman Walsh, since 1961. Norman Walsh started his career at JW Foster in 1945 at age 14, a firm that would pioneer the use of running spikes in athletics and whose footwear were made famous by 1924 100m Olympic Champion, Harold Abrahams, who himself was imortalised in the film "Chariots Of Fire". Joseph Foster's grandchildren Joe and Jeff Foster, would go on to found Reebok in 1958, with the firm taking over the JW Foster brand in 1976.

Norman Walsh's talent was quicky recognised, long before later changes at the top, and he became responsible for looking after professional atheletic customers. Indeed at just 16 years old, he was selected to make running shoes for the 1948 British Olympic team.

Then in 1961 he established Norman Walsh Footwear and went on to develop an incredibly diverse range of sports footwear for rugby, football, track and field, wrestling, boxing and fell-running.

Walsh Trainers today are still hand made in Bolton, England as Britain's only wholly owned, designed and manufactured sports footwear. Walsh uniquely specialise in off-road footwear, designing and constructing running-shoes adapted to the particularly demanding conditions experienced by fell runners in the North of England. The technology developed and tested in this harsh environment has resulted in the industry's highest production values with all manufacture still undertaken by a highly skilled staff in their Bolton production facility.