It's all about the shoes
By Aine Moorad
qmoorad@uwo.ca
Cobbler Anthony Serratore, 41, meticulously replaces the heel of a strappy pink stiletto amid the scattered shoes at Serratore’s Shoe Repair in London. He then runs it through a finishing machine and squints to ensure that the finished product meets his expectations. Once satisfied, he places the refurbished shoe on the rack above him and picks up another from a blue plastic box lying on the floor beneath him.
Eyes fixed on the shoe and hands busy at his craft, he says, “It’s getting busier and busier all the time. Our sales have increased by about 40 per cent compared to six to eight months ago.”
The majority of good shoes can cost anywhere from $80 to $90 in shops, he says. “People just can’t afford them anymore,” Serratore says, adding that customers see value in repairing. Reheeling and replacing the sole on a pair of women’s shoes, for example, costs about $30 at Serratore’s.
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| Photo by Aine Moorad |
| Anthony Serratore, 41, fixes all types of footwear from baby booties to sexy stilettos. |
And females are his prime customers. “I get a lot of women and a lot of high heels.”
Started in London in 1920 by his father’s uncle, who immigrated from Italy, Serratore Shoe Repair is the oldest shoe repair shop in London and one of the few left in the city. “There were about 60 repair shops in the 70s; now there are only about seven left,” says Serratore.
But Serratore is not alone in reaping the benefits of this economic downturn. Other shoe repairers have also noticed sales increasing since the economy has weakened. Ealing Shoe Repair in London reported a 10 to 20 per cent increase in sales compared to a few months ago.
“People are getting their shoes repaired rather than buying new ones,” says Kathie Bielak, who manages Ealing’s occasionally.
Bielak says the cobbling trade has decreased markedly compared to a few decades ago, but the recession has helped revive it a little.
She says the reason their company hasn’t seen a really dramatic increase in sales could be that they cater mostly to men and are situated in a part of London where people don’t have as much disposable income. “Others maybe noticed a greater increase because they do a lot of women’s high heels,” she says.
Joe Cannata, a cobbler at Westown Shoe Clinic in Cherryhill Mall, says, “Before people throw something out, they actually think about it now (during the recession). The cobbler or other repair shop might come to mind.”
Cannata says sales have increased by about 10 per cent compared to early last year, when the economy was in better shape.
Though he hasn’t seen a major increase in sales, he’s hoping the full effects of the recession are still to come. “We are waiting to see what will come out of it,” he says. More cobblers have reported an increase in sales in the United States, where the economy has been hit harder, says Cannata.
But he’s anxious about the future of the cobbling trade. “I have doubts whether it will survive long term. I think eventually it will disappear. Most young people are just not interested in the trade anymore,” he says.
Though the trade seems to be a dying art in the eyes of a few cobblers, Sonja Bata, director of Bata Shoe Inc. and owner of the Bata Shoe Museum, believes every society needs a cobbler, regardless of economic highs and lows. “The cobbling trade is as old as mankind…it will continue to exist,” she says.
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| Photo by Aine Moorad |
| High heels generate more in repair sales than any other shoes. |
She says the number of cobblers today have declined because it’s not a financially rewarding profession.
“Very many of the modern shoes, they don’t have leather soles, they have injected soles…these soles cannot be repaired. When a shoe was hand-sewn, with a leather sole … it was relatively easy to repair the sole or to repair the heel,” Bata says.
But she says some demand for cobblers will always be there. “If you have a hole in your shirt, you need to get it repaired.” It’s the same with shoes, she says. “I have visited a cobbler many times. I have high-heel shoes that I put new top lifts on.”
John McLoughlin, president of the Shoe Service Institute of America, the only association for cobblers in North America, agrees with Bata. He believes many people still value the craftsmanship of a cobbler.
Though he agrees the recession can be a good time to make money, McLoughlin says cobblers need to make an effort to attract different markets and diversify the type of clients they offer their services to in order to maintain long-term financial growth.
For starters, he says, a lot of baby boomers will soon retire, and because of the increased health care facilities, many will live longer. McLoughlin says arthritis is the leading cause of disability in older people, damaging joints and causing feet to swell. Many of these people can benefit from having comfortable shoes, and that’s where cobblers can come in handy.
Obesity is also rising in North America, providing more opportunity for cobblers to repair the shoes of people whose weight is likely to destroy shoes faster than that of an average person.
“Then there are diabetics; they need to maintain a constant flow of circulation in their feet,” he says. They need cobblers to ensure a shoe fits well and remains comfortable.
Even though the number of cobblers in Canada is down to about 1,200, McLoughlin says, he believes smart thinking can keep the cobbling trade alive for years to come. McLoughlin hopes cobblers will develop niche markets to help this trade thrive well after the recession is over.
He also says that the current economic downturn is a great opportunity for established cobblers to hire young people and train them so they can take the cobbling trade into these new markets.
In the United States, cobblers are just as busy. Jim McFarland, a spokesperson for the Shoe Service Institute of America and a third-generation cobbler, says many shoe repairers there have reported a sales hike.
At his repair business, McFarland’s Shoe Repair, in Lakeland, Florida, he’s one of a few cobblers who has expanded operations by repairing shoes for people suffering from foot problems caused by overuse of their shoes, disease or injury.
In November 2008, he saw a 40 per cent sales increase in repairs, compared to a few months before. “We’re bouncing between 20 and 30 per cent right now,” he says, adding that there’s more business than in past recessions because there are fewer shoe repair shops today than in the past.
In tough economic times, more people want to get their shoes repaired, and demand exceeds supply, McFarland explains. So the cobblers that do exist suddenly get an influx of people coming to them.
He believes the recession is a good learning experience for the public, teaching them the value of visiting a cobbler. “It opens their eyes to other ways to save money,” he says. “Hopefully they will read enough about the shoe repair industry that they know the uses, so when the recession ends they’ll continue to use a cobbler.”
Customers agree. Anna Maria Castillo, 47, of London, who gets her shoes and bags repaired at Serratore’s, says the recession has made her more conscious about buying new shoes.
“You can save a little more (by going to a cobbler) because you won’t get a good quality pair that is $20 in the shops,” she says.
Ahmed Fahmi, 45, a London resident who works in the financial industry, agrees with Castillo. He visits Serratore’s occasionally and says the current economic climate has made him more mindful about saving.
The recession is encouraging people to save on the “little expenses in life,” he says. “Rather than buying a new pair they’d rather get it repaired.”
Though many cobblers have reported an increase in sales, a few remain ambivalent about whether the industry will maintain its current strength and survive.
But Serratore is optimistic that the cobbling trade will live on for a few more years despite the challenges it may face along the way. “I don’t think anybody ever wants to let go of their good shoes,” he says.
For now, Serratore intends to reap the benefits of the recession, taking each day as it comes.
But he’s hoping for more. “I really want this recession to last a lot longer.”
