Padmore & Barnes have been manufacturing shoes since 1934. It was decided then, and is carried out today, to make shoes of quality and distinction. The company manufactured 25,000 pairs of shoes per week, exported all over the globe and over 500 people were employed in their Kilkenny based plant. In addition, hundreds of people in the surrounding areas were employed part time, hand stitching the shoes in their own homes, which continued an aged old tradition of hand crafts in Ireland.