Cobblers in Canada (Toronto or major Canadian cities) - goodyear welt and JR Rendenbach

[suitforcourt]

On the off chance anyone could recommend a quality cobbler in Calgary, I’d be grateful.

Would love to know if there are any good ones in Calgary!

Check out the SSIA member directory:

http://www.ssiamembers.com/cgi/scripts/locator.cgi

 

[Timeless-guy]

On the off chance anyone could recommend a quality cobbler in Calgary, I’d be grateful.

I’ve asked around and can’t seem to find a Calgary cobbler who uses JR. They seem to have a cowboy boot mentality, and the opinion that no one would pay for JR, so they don’t use it. IMO it’s one thing to stock the leather, and another thing to deliver it in a fashion worthy of the product itself. I would suggest sending your shoes to Ronald at Quick Cobbler in Vancouver, or myself at Timeless Shoe Repair in Thunder Bay. There is actually a great cobbler in Saskatoon also. Andrew at Ambro’s shoe repair

 

[suitforcourt]

I’ve asked around and can’t seem to find a Calgary cobbler who uses JR. They seem to have a cowboy boot mentality, and the opinion that no one would pay for JR, so they don’t use it. IMO it’s one thing to stock the leather, and another thing to deliver it in a fashion worthy of the product itself. I would suggest sending your shoes to Ronald at Quick Cobbler in Vancouver, or myself at Timeless Shoe Repair in Thunder Bay. There is actually a great cobbler in Saskatoon also. Andrew at Ambro’s shoe repair

Martin - in my research, only a handful of cobblers in Canada carry, or have even heard of JR soles. It's really sad.

 

[Timeless-guy]

Martin - in my research, only a handful of cobblers in Canada carry, or have even heard of JR soles. It's really sad.

Well it’s actually a good indicator of the level of work the shop does.
For southern Ontario people, there is a great shop in Barrie. Corey does great work and indeed uses JR

 

[suitforcourt]

Well it’s actually a good indicator of the level of work the shop does.
For southern Ontario people, there is a great shop in Barrie. Corey does great work and indeed uses JR

Yes Corey Hiltz. He is also on my list of cobblers to try!

 

[Timeless-guy]

Yes Corey Hiltz. He is also on my list of cobblers to try!

I think you’d better get buying more shoes......lol

 

[suitforcourt]

I’ve asked around and can’t seem to find a Calgary cobbler who uses JR. They seem to have a cowboy boot mentality, and the opinion that no one would pay for JR, so they don’t use it. IMO it’s one thing to stock the leather, and another thing to deliver it in a fashion worthy of the product itself. I would suggest sending your shoes to Ronald at Quick Cobbler in Vancouver, or myself at Timeless Shoe Repair in Thunder Bay. There is actually a great cobbler in Saskatoon also. Andrew at Ambro’s shoe repair

Not that you should be surprised, but most places are simply shoe repairs, and not cobblers. A lot of them can't, or don't know how to replace cork, midsole, or the welt.

One even adamantly insisted only original factory can replace those parts. Suffice to say I found Ron in Vancouver and Dan in Sudbury.

I wish more people understood the difference between a real cobbler and the people who can only replace a heel.

 

[suitforcourt]

I think you’d better get buying more shoes......lol

I have 35 pairs of dress shoes, and another 10 pair of boots, casual, or sandals.

Most of my dress shoes are vintage so sooner or later, recrafting will be necessary.

 

[gj555]

Not that you should be surprised, but most places are simply shoe repairs, and not cobblers. A lot of them can't, or don't know how to replace cork, midsole, or the welt.

One even adamantly insisted only original factory can replace those parts. Suffice to say I found Ron in Vancouver and Dan in Sudbury.

I wish more people understood the difference between a real cobbler and the people who can only replace a heel.

I thought cobbler meant shoe repairer with no distinction between the two. I think some cobblers are more skilled than others simply because they were trained as shoemakers first or by shoemakers. When you bring in a pair of goodyear welted shoes, a good cobbler should be able to replace the welt if its needed. Some may have a welting machine (such as QC that you have used), and others will replace the welt by hand. The typical shoe repair place in the Toronto area probably can’t do either. With the vast majority of repairs being done to women’s shoes and purses, and with the traditional cobblers retiring, its no surprise to see the number of shoe repair places dwindling. It’s nice to see the success you have had trying various cobblers in Canada.

 

[djdanniedee]

Was wondering if you could provide examples of how you recraft shoes? For example, i'm curious on how you recraft handwelted shoes and norvegese shoes?
Thanks. I haven't needed any recrafting yet but would love to have aplace i would feel confident going to

Hey everyone. I should let you all know about a shoe repair shop in Thunder Bay that uses a high quality house leather, and JR leather, for those who want only the best. It’s called Timeless Shoe Repair, and you can find it on Facebook.
I’m telling you for two reasons....first, it would seem that none of you have ever heard of it, since no one has mentioned it.
Second, it’s my shop lol

I’m an award winning cobbler who has passion for my craft and takes great pride in my work. Please check out my Facebook page and feel free to contact me!

 

[Timeless-guy]

Was wondering if you could provide examples of how you recraft shoes? For example, i'm curious on how you recraft handwelted shoes and norvegese shoes?
Thanks. I haven't needed any recrafting yet but would love to have aplace i would feel confident going to

Well to begin with, I don’t see many Norwegian welted shoes in my shop, so I’ve actually never rewelted a pair. However, most shoes don’t require new welts, and resoling a pair of Norwegian welted shoes would be the same as any other good year welted shoe.
Now most shoes are not ‘hand welted’. There is a specialized welting machine that applies the gyw to the upper. You would only find this machine in factories, so if the welt needs replacing, then it would be done by hand in a shoe repair shop. I believe that this is the main reason that AE claims to replace the welt when they recraft their shoes. They have the machine to do it, but I’m confident that most times they do not, since it’s not necessary. However, for a cobbler to offer the same service, he would have to either have to charge for the labour of hand sewing new welts(no quick task), or offer his labour for free, just to be competitive. As a side note, “recraft” is a term used by Allen Edmonds, to describe THEIR procedure to THEIR shoes. Personally, I prefer to call it ‘rebuild’, ‘renew’, ‘resole’, or ‘refurbish’. In fact, AE will send me a letter threatening legal action if I promote the term ‘recraft’ when referring to their shoes.....
I digress.
Back to the original question.....when I work on a pair of shoes, my goal is always to restore to original. Regardless of what the repair is, or what the item is, I try to put it back exactly how it was originally made.
Now there are times when it is appropriate to improve the design, but this is almost always done with the customer’s knowledge and approval.
So a gyw shoe would have the heel blocks removed, soles removed, old cork removed, old stitching removed, before glueing and stitching the new soles on, reinstalling the original heels blocks, and replacing the lifts with new rubber.
Although I do offer a half sole replacement, it is my personal preference to always full sole a good quality shoe. I think it’s just a much nicer finish and more worthy of the shoe itself. Some people are I a budget, and after all, that what a cobbler is for, so if it’s a half sole you want, so be it.
I hope I’ve answered you question, but I can elaborate more specifically if you like.

 

[suitforcourt]

I am not related to Martin Sugg, or associated with his cobbler shop. In fact I have never used his services, but definitely will in the future.

Martin now has 3 awards internationally:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/thunder-bay-timeless-shoe-comp-awards-1.4638836

I thought cobbler meant shoe repairer with no distinction between the two. I think some cobblers are more skilled than others simply because they were trained as shoemakers first or by shoemakers. When you bring in a pair of goodyear welted shoes, a good cobbler should be able to replace the welt if its needed. Some may have a welting machine (such as QC that you have used), and others will replace the welt by hand. The typical shoe repair place in the Toronto area probably can’t do either. With the vast majority of repairs being done to women’s shoes and purses, and with the traditional cobblers retiring, its no surprise to see the number of shoe repair places dwindling. It’s nice to see the success you have had trying various cobblers in Canada.

 

[suitforcourt]

I thought cobbler meant shoe repairer with no distinction between the two. I think some cobblers are more skilled than others simply because they were trained as shoemakers first or by shoemakers. When you bring in a pair of goodyear welted shoes, a good cobbler should be able to replace the welt if its needed. Some may have a welting machine (such as QC that you have used), and others will replace the welt by hand. The typical shoe repair place in the Toronto area probably can’t do either. With the vast majority of repairs being done to women’s shoes and purses, and with the traditional cobblers retiring, its no surprise to see the number of shoe repair places dwindling. It’s nice to see the success you have had trying various cobblers in Canada.

Yes, I agree that some cobblers are more skilled than others. It's obvious based on my inquiries.

I disagree that a cobbler's skill is based on education or training by another skilled experienced cobbler. I think it depends on an individual's capacity to learn, absorb, and constantly improve his/her own skills.

No different than other fields.

I base my assessment on actual work results, and not where a person went to school, grades achieved, or who was their mentor.

Other than Boris in Aurora, any other cobbler reviews for the group?

 

[djdanniedee]

Thanks for the reply. So in cases where the welt needs to be replaced, do you replace them by hand stitching the welt to the canvas (GYW)/ upper (handwelt)? In cases where you are just replacing the sole, i'm assuming you have a machine to stitch the welt to the sole?

I'm asking specifically about handwelted shoes b/c they're the ones that i'm most concerned about and am afraid to send to just any cobbler. Most of the local ones at malls i've inquired about don't go into detail or simply don't know the difference between handwelt / GYW and also explain "i can make it look new again" -_-".

 

[Timeless-guy]

I am not related to Martin Sugg, or associated with his cobbler shop. In fact I have never used his services, but definitely will in the future.

Martin now has 3 awards internationally:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/thunder-bay-timeless-shoe-comp-awards-1.4638836

Thanks brother! Er, I mean, Kenneth.....lol

I thought cobbler meant shoe repairer with no distinction between the two. I think some cobblers are more skilled than others simply because they were trained as shoemakers first or by shoemakers. When you bring in a pair of goodyear welted shoes, a good cobbler should be able to replace the welt if its needed. Some may have a welting machine (such as QC that you have used), and others will replace the welt by hand. The typical shoe repair place in the Toronto area probably can’t do either. With the vast majority of repairs being done to women’s shoes and purses, and with the traditional cobblers retiring, its no surprise to see the number of shoe repair places dwindling. It’s nice to see the success you have had trying various cobblers in Canada.

just to clarify, the machine that QC has does NOT stitch the welt to the shoe. It stitched the sole to the welt. EVERy shoe repair shop should have one of those machines if they are to be able to do the job properly. I consider the machine to be on of five machines that I call the ‘nucleus’ of any repair shop...
I have two Landis K curved needle outsole stitchers in my shop