SATRA bids farewell to footwear stalwart

Mark Southam ‘met himself’ on the day of his retirement.

After a remarkable 49-year career at SATRA, footwear expert Mark Southam has finally clocked out for the last time, bringing to a close a journey that began with an unlikely assignment involving shoes, socks and a washing machine.

Speaking at his retirement presentation and facing a life-sized cardboard cut-out of himself created by colleagues, Mark reflected on a career full of technical achievement, travel, friendship and opportunity.

Mark’s SATRA story began when his mother spotted an advertisement for vacancies in the Kettering Evening Telegraph. Interviewed at just 15 years of age, he was offered a job and joined SATRA on 1st September 1977 as a laboratory assistant. His first duties included weighing volunteers’ shoes and socks at the start and end of the day as part of footwear studies. Afterwards, he had to wash the socks. Naturally, he stayed for nearly 50 years.

Before he joined, Mark’s grandmother warned him that SATRA was such a good employer he might end up there for life. Looking back, he jokes: “Surely that wouldn’t be true...?”

A key moment came when he moved into SATRA’s Upper Materials Research department, where he gained valuable experience in footwear materials, construction and manufacture. Combining work with day-release study, he spent six years gaining qualifications before becoming a technical officer.

Mark’s work later ranged from factory consultancy and footwear testing to developing a chainsaw PPE test method, which led to his first overseas trip to Sweden. It was the first of many opportunities he could never have imagined as a teenager entering employment for the first time. Over the years, Mark worked across multiple SATRA departments, travelled extensively, delivered seminars around the world and helped to develop research and testing programmes.

One memorable highlight came in 2023 when he appeared on BBC Television’s Countryfile programme, later even finding himself being recognised in a local supermarket.

Asked what kept him at SATRA for so long, Mark’s answer was simple: “The variety of work. No two days are the same and there is always something new happening.”

From washing socks in 1977 to becoming a recognised footwear expert, Mark leaves a lasting legacy built on expertise, enthusiasm, humour and an unmistakable SATRA spirit.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 3 of the September 2026 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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