Vancouver father and son cobblers nail awards at shoe contest
Credit to Author: Denise Ryan| Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2019 22:17:51 +0000
The master craftsmen that judge North America’s top shoe-repair competition consider more than just the look of the sole, the heel and the finish. They will close their eyes and run their fingers across the edges of the shoe, feeling for the invisible.
“They look at stuff the customers would never look at,” said Vancouver’s Ronald Nijdam, who just captured the Silver Cup, the top prize at the Shoe Service Institute of America’s 2019 grand contest.
Nijdam, a third-generation cobbler, is the first Canadian to win the top prize. Making his win even sweeter, was the friendly — but real — competition with his son, Patrick Nijdam, who brought home silver in the graded bronze, silver and gold categories.
Father and son worked side-by-side in their West 2nd Avenue Vancouver shop, the Quick Cobbler, preparing the shoes, but didn’t help each other.
“We were sort of looking at each other’s shoes, but we made a point of not helping each other,” said Ronald, who learned the trade from his own father in the Netherlands. “When he wins, I want him to win fair-and-square and on his own merits.”
Ronald, who started helping his dad around his father’s shop in the Netherlands when he was 11, said he’s been chasing the coveted cup since he moved to Canada in 1984. The contest requires cobblers to submit two pairs of shoes, one with a full-sole repair, the other with a half-sole. Contestants repair just one of the shoes in each pair so judges can see a before and an after.
“The shoe has to look like it came out of the box new,” said Ronald.
The pair have entered the competition before, with Ronald winning gold three times, and Patrick previously bringing home bronze.
For this year’s competition the duo scoured eBay looking for beaten-up, but well-constructed shoes.
Ronald chose a pair of Alan Edmonds shoes for the full-sole repair: “The Alan Edmonds shoe nails them from the outside toward the inside so the nails have to be the exact length so they don’t poke through. That raises the difficulty.”
Patrick, 27, also set himself a high bar, selecting a pair of Fry men’s dress shoes with a unique design on the sole: a flower with fine lines that look like wood grain. For the contest, Patrick had to carve an exact copy of that design in a new sole, tooling the leather by hand. It’s the kind of craftsmanship and detail work that keeps their shop “crazy busy all year.”
Whether it’s a Louboutin that needs a sole that matches its signature red, a Valentino with its petal pink-hued leather or a Jimmy Choo with its expensive pale-skinned sole, or a less-expensive shoe loved for its sentimental value, father and son spend hours coming up with solutions, dyes, materials and processes.
“It’s a hands-on job,” said Patrick. “Even though I know every shoe problem and every repair inside out, there is something different about each one, and it’s always creative.”
Patrick is working toward buying the business from his father, and maybe, one day, bringing home the cup.
But, this time around, it’s dad who nailed the win.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Ronald. “It would be lousy if it was the other way around.”
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