Sanders & Sanders Ltd. 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 work in London as a 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.