Sports giant JJB has bought Original Shoe Company from Sports Direct for £5 million.

Original Shoe Company sells branded clothing and footwear, including Ben Sherman, Henri Lloyd, Adidas Originals and Timberland, Lacoste, K-Swiss, Caterpillar and Converse.

There are 60 Original Shoe Company stores, predominantly on high streets in the north of England and Scotland. JJB plans to convert some of its smaller high street stores into Original Shoe Company shops. The business will be run as a separate division of JJB, although it will share buying, financing and marketing functions.

JJB chief executive Chris Ronnie said: “The aspirational and lifestyle end of the market, within which the Original Shoe Company operates, offers us opportunities and will allow us to access new customers and compete more effectively with other players in this area, such as JD, without diluting JJB’s strategy of being ‘Serious about sport’.”