Sanders & Sanders Ltd. (or Sander Bros. as it was first named) was established in 1873 by Brothers William and Thomas Sanders of Rushden, Northamptonshire. William Benjamin Sanders was apprenticed to the shoe and boot trade as a lad, and then went on to working in London as clicker before returning to Rushden in 1871 at the end of the Franco Prussian War, with the vision of setting up his own shoemaking business with his brother.

By 1873, they and their five craftsmen had a workshop in the centre of Rushden town. The labour was hard; the hours were long and with only five men to accompany them they were faced with an on-going endeavour. However it wasn’t long before they moved premises further up the street into a larger building. Despite this the struggle still continued.

The factory began to expand; orders were increasing so William and Thomas began to employ more craftsmen and out workers, in 1912 Sanders & Sanders moved to Spencer road, located on the outskirts of Rushden, taking around 70 workers with them