Kinky Boots

Price and Sons, located in Northampton, is a fourth-generation owned-and-operated family business specializing in quality shoes for men. The heir apparent to the company, Charlie Price, doesn't plan to take over the company; he wants to move to London with his fiancee, Nicola Marsden. Both want to flee as far away from the company and Northampton's close-mindedness as possible. But Charlie's plan changes when his father Harold, the company's current president, suddenly dies. Dealing with immediate company issues, Charlie learns that the primary contract on which the company had been working has long expired--something that Harold hid from everyone--meaning that there is no work and little prospect for work with their current line of shoes. Under the circumstances, Charlie thinks his only option is to lay off several employees. Instead, Nicola wants him to sell the business; she even finds a buyer: a property developer who wants to convert the factory into upscale condos. But one of Charlie's about-to-be-laid-off employees, a young woman named Lauren, believes that either option would be Charlie taking the easy way out and not looking out for the interests of the company's loyal, hardworking employees. She suggests that he change the business model and create another line of shoes in a niche market. Upon a chance meeting with a huge drag queen named Lola, Charlie comes up with the idea of specializing in fashionable women's boots made for the general heft of drag queens. There are many obstacles to converting the business to this new model, including meshing fashionable design with the required functionality of the boots, and having a relatively conservative town, business, and employees into supporting this change, especially with their target market being "unfamiliar" people like Lola. With Lola's assistance, these changes are both advanced and hindered. Charlie believes that to make the company truly successful in this new model, he must show the boots during the Milan fashion season using the target market, drag queens, as the models. Showing in Milan takes money, which Charlie lacks. But more importantly, Charlie must overcome some internal issues to be successful in this venture.