For maker of Prince Charles’ luxury shoes, Brexit relief turns to dismay over extra costs

British shoemaker Tricker’s has been saddled with extra Brexit-related costs that could hit the equivalent to almost 10 per cent of online sales

The company has had to raise prices for EU customers and absorb the rest of the hit in its bottom line

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Martin Mason, managing director of British luxury shoemaker Tricker’s, says dealing with Brexit on top of what the company has been experiencing with the coronavirus has been a double whammy. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:15pm, 1 Feb 2021Updated: 3:15pm, 1 Feb 2021

At Tricker’s, a 192-year-old British maker of luxury shoes beloved by Prince Charles and Japanese fashionistas, relief at averting a no-deal Brexit quickly turned to dismay at the new price of doing business with the European Union.

Invoices are mounting from parcel firms that ship the company’s heavy brogue shoes and boots – which typically sell for £450 (US$620) a pair – to EU clients, saddling it with extra costs which could hit £100,000 a year.

A last-gasp trade deal between London and Brussels avoided the big barrier of border tariffs. But Tricker’s, like many firms on both sides of the new border, is finding that paying value-added tax (VAT) has become a lot more complicated for direct sales to consumers.

British exporters must now comply with different VAT rates across the bloc’s 27 member states. Tricker’s has handed the task to parcel firms which are charging additional handling fees for each package sent to the EU from the company’s factory in Northampton, a central English town famous for its boots and shoes since the 1400s.

Wooden shoe moulds for various customers at the Tricker’s factory in Northampton, England. Photo: Reuters

Shipments that used to take one day to arrive are now taking three or four. And when the couriers get things wrong, the strain of the paperwork only grows at a time when Covid-19 is already stretching many manufacturers to the limit.