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I came across a copy of a 200-year-old newspaper for my town (not a big city) and the little thing that jumped out at me as I flipped through was that there wer

I came across a copy of a 200-year-old newspaper for my town (not a big city) and the little thing that jumped out at me as I flipped through was that there were multiple advertisements for local shoemakers. Of course now there are no shoemakers around here, because who goes to a shoemaker right? You just buy the same Nikes or Dr Martens that are available everywhere. But before Zappos and before Payless and before the Sears Roebuck catalog, people still needed shoes, so we needed folks in each town to make them. It's one of those things that is completely obvious in retrospect but must have been a huge change to both shoemakers and shoe buyers as the transition happened.

SoftTalker 3y ago
As there are still high-end custom tailors, are there still high-end custom shoemakers?
- diablerouge 3y ago
  Definitely - searching for bespoke shoes yields quite a fair number. Before the reddit blackout, /r/goodyearwelt was the place to discuss fine men's footwear across the price spectrum. They tend to be dress shoes or workboots nearly exclusively, and as styles have changed, there's little growth in the industry.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  Once in a great while, I find myself in the market for a cobbler, aka shoe repair shop. They do exist in my metro area, but they are indeed few and far between. The extant ones are very old businesses and they're usually run by some old codger who won't be selling or handing on the business to a successor. The last shoe repair shop I used was very nice, had merchandise for me to purchase; I picked up a few aromatic cedar shoe trees, some polish and brushes, and had a couple pairs of shoes repaired very nicely. The owner was the only worker there and utterly overwhelmed; he gestured at his backlog which was immense. He cranked the 80s hair metal while he worked. There was supposed to be a shoe shine service, but no shoe shine boy to do it. He was kind to the homeless and passers-by, and people could sit and hang out in his store if they wanted. He was murdered by a homeless fellow while trying to be kind to him. The homeless guy had gone to use the bathroom, and found the owner's gun lying on the counter, and for some reason used it against the owner himself. I will really miss that owner and his store.
  - Ancapistani 3y ago
    I've noticed that rural areas tend to have more of these kinds of businesses. I live in a town of <15k people, and there are three cobblers. All three are marketed a bit differently: one is "<Name> Shoe Repair", on is "<Town> Saddlery and Footwear", and one is "<Name> Leathergoods". The saddlery has found a niche in working with the owners of working horses, but all three offer the same services at the end of the day. When I lived in a medium-sized city in Virginia, there were none that I could find online - or even in the phone book, which I tried considering the clientele that they seem to serve. I was finally able to find a competent leatherworker by asking around in the local Hispanic community that was largely made up of Salvadorians who worked in the trades. They didn't have a storefront or really even a business name; you just had to know who they were, drop by their home, and pay cash.
- Teever 3y ago
  Oh yes, very much so. Here is a video that I stumbled across recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEw4cSUalZY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEw4cSUalZY

SoftTalker 3y ago

As there are still high-end custom tailors, are there still high-end custom shoemakers?

diablerouge 3y ago
Definitely - searching for bespoke shoes yields quite a fair number. Before the reddit blackout, /r/goodyearwelt was the place to discuss fine men's footwear across the price spectrum. They tend to be dress shoes or workboots nearly exclusively, and as styles have changed, there's little growth in the industry.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
Once in a great while, I find myself in the market for a cobbler, aka shoe repair shop. They do exist in my metro area, but they are indeed few and far between. The extant ones are very old businesses and they're usually run by some old codger who won't be selling or handing on the business to a successor. The last shoe repair shop I used was very nice, had merchandise for me to purchase; I picked up a few aromatic cedar shoe trees, some polish and brushes, and had a couple pairs of shoes repaired very nicely. The owner was the only worker there and utterly overwhelmed; he gestured at his backlog which was immense. He cranked the 80s hair metal while he worked. There was supposed to be a shoe shine service, but no shoe shine boy to do it. He was kind to the homeless and passers-by, and people could sit and hang out in his store if they wanted. He was murdered by a homeless fellow while trying to be kind to him. The homeless guy had gone to use the bathroom, and found the owner's gun lying on the counter, and for some reason used it against the owner himself. I will really miss that owner and his store.
- Ancapistani 3y ago
  I've noticed that rural areas tend to have more of these kinds of businesses. I live in a town of <15k people, and there are three cobblers. All three are marketed a bit differently: one is "<Name> Shoe Repair", on is "<Town> Saddlery and Footwear", and one is "<Name> Leathergoods". The saddlery has found a niche in working with the owners of working horses, but all three offer the same services at the end of the day. When I lived in a medium-sized city in Virginia, there were none that I could find online - or even in the phone book, which I tried considering the clientele that they seem to serve. I was finally able to find a competent leatherworker by asking around in the local Hispanic community that was largely made up of Salvadorians who worked in the trades. They didn't have a storefront or really even a business name; you just had to know who they were, drop by their home, and pay cash.
Teever 3y ago
Oh yes, very much so. Here is a video that I stumbled across recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEw4cSUalZY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEw4cSUalZY