Nicholas and Miranda Alderton, who both went straight from art degrees into apprenticeships in gentlemen's outfitting, bought an existing family-run mail-order shoe company and relaunched it as Peter Christian in 2003. The move consciously revived a family legacy. Their ancestor Samuel Alderton had founded Aldertons the Tailors in London back in 1860. The brand, now based in Worthing, West Sussex, still trades on that same mix of traditional British menswear and a lighter, less self-serious take on heritage style.