shoreman1782
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Editor's note: Jesse Thorn is the founder and host of the long-running, recently retired pop culture interview series The Sound of Young America and cohost of comedy podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go!, and he recently launched a new show, Bullseye. He also produces Put This On, a video series and blog about dressing like a grownup that will soon begin its second season. Jesse has been a Styleforum member for a few years, and together with Put This On cowriter Derek Guy, he'll be contributing to Styleforum on an occasional basis, i.e., in the exceedingly rare moments when he's not in front of a mic or camera.
http://www.styleforum.net/image/id/1088541/[/URL]
[I]Jesse Thorn (left) and Raul Ojeda (right). Photo by Gordon De Los Santos.[/I]
[SIZE=4][B]Raul Ojeda is the founder of Don Ville Shoes in Los Angeles, the country’s only storefront offering custom and bespoke shoes made on-premises. He started his journey more than ten years ago as a shoe shiner ([URL=http://www.styleforum.net/t/281403/jesse-thorn-interviews-raul-ojeda-of-don-ville-custom-shoemaker-in-los-angeles/0_50]part I of this interview[/URL]). Today, he leads a team of master craftsmen ([URL=http://www.styleforum.net/t/283836/part-ii-jesse-thorn-interviews-raul-ojeda-of-don-ville-custom-shoemaker-in-los-angeles/0_50]part II of this interview[/URL]). In part III of our conversation with Raul, I talked not just about the “how” of making shoes, but about the “why.”
[/B]
JT: It seems to me from talking to you off microphone about what you’re trying to do, that with Don Ville specifically, you’re trying to, not just to replicate the service Willie offered in his heyday, a “basic custom shoe operation,” you’re really aspiring to create something in Los Angeles, in the United States, that incorporates not just that history, but also a huge amount of the sort of classic European and international tradition as well.
RO: I think that there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have that here. The selection that we offer today is greater than that that a lot of other shoe makers offer, and the plans that we have to grow our business, and to grow our collection of things that we offer is just unheard of.
Just going away from men’s dress shoes right now, we’ve been trying to get into women’s shoes. One of the things first things we’re doing is recreating vintage stuff from the 40s and 50s, and we have the hardest time finding the proper heels. Of course those heels aren't anywhere to be found. Whoever was manufacturing those heels are no longer in business so now we’re told we have to go to Europe or China to get those heels made and bring them back here.
Instead of following that advice, we partnered up with an engineer to design our heels on a digital program, like an architectural program, in a three dimensional form, that will be able to tailor each one of the heels to each individual last with which a client will end up choosing to have their shoes made. I think that being a little more proactive will allow us to become better known and more recognizable; trying not to go outside of the country to get our products made. And I think that’s good for the shoes, the goal that we have is to offer something that so many people would like to have.
How many people do you know, Jesse, that would like to go to Europe, take a trip down King’s Road in London, order three or four pair of shoes, get some shirts made, some suits--but unfortunately we don’t have that kind of capital in our bank accounts to do it. Even just traveling outside of the city so many times; how many people would get on a plane to go to San Francisco because there is a better steakhouse or clam chowder restaurant. Not many people. So we just want to offer all those beautiful things here in Los Angeles.
[URL=http://www.styleforum.net/image/id/1192482/width/350/height/350][IMG]http://www.styleforum.net/image/id/1192482/
Photo by Gordon De Los Santos.
JT: You told me the history of Willie’s. You know, in the 1950s, there was still an expectation that if you wanted good clothes, you would have them made for you. The whole idea of off the rack clothing was still not that old in the 50s. I think that especially in the late 1960s and the 1970s, that expectation disappeared.
What I wonder is, if you think that in 2011 as we have this conversation, we’re in a different time. A new time where there is some expectation that that is something that might be available to you. Where you can start a custom business and have the expectation that your customers might include not just people who are so rich they are looking for ways to spend their money but also people who want something that is special and made for them?
RO: Absolutely--special and made for them, and I think that one other asset to the process would be to know that you know the guy who made this for you. To walk into the place, order the thing you want, and have a relationship with that person. You might run into him or her at the movie theater. It’s made by your neighbors. I think that’s one of the greater things we have going on here.
And it’s not necessarily just a problem with clothes. Our cellphones, the cellphones that a lot us use, especially with these new iPhones and Androids, there's new things coming up if not every 6 months then every year. In the last 10 years we’ve decided that the cellphone expense is a necessity. We need to have it. So if you really think about how much money we spend on cellphones, it’s a lot of money. Money that we don’t consider spending on our clothes or our shoes.
Going to eat at a really nice restaurant, a nice dinner on a date, probably $100? Maybe a fancier dinner would be like $300? But we don’t do that all the time; if we were to add that kind of money to what we spend on other little things. If I were to spend this kind of money on my clothes or my shoes, then I’m actually being smart about the money that I’m spending because this shoe is better made, it’s well crafted, and if I care for my shoe properly then I will have it for a long time. And I think that’s the biggest challenge for most.
Working at the shoe repair shop for so many years, so often I would give someone a quote to repair their shoes and the instant reaction I got was “Oh my god, that’s more than what I paid for my shoes. I better just go buy another one.” By spending more money on higher quality footwear, you’re almost forcing yourself to continue to shop for shoes. You probably only buy a pair every 6 months or every year. You’re not going to the mall to see what the newest coolest sneaker you can get, what everyone else is wearing. That’s the thing we have to overcome.
JT: I think we all have these houses that are full of crap. In the United States, even if you’re lower-middle income, you probably still have too much stuff, and it’s a matter of turning “too much stuff” into “the right stuff.”
RO: Right. Then again, it’s like in high school that poor kid--all his friends are wearing the cool sneakers and the guy only wears his old chucks. Everybody has their Air Jordans. I think that applies to all of us in general. Yes we have too much. I counted my tshirts today, and I have about 45 tshirts. I only wear 5, the same cool tshirts all the time. And I’m just going to get rid of all those shirts. We have so much that we don’t really wear.
JT: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. You’re a class act, Raul.
RO: Thank you, Jesse.[/SIZE]
Photo by Gordon De Los Santos.
Editor's note: here's Putthison's ep 2, featuring Raul.
[VIDEO][/VIDEO]
http://www.styleforum.net/image/id/1088541/[/URL]
[I]Jesse Thorn (left) and Raul Ojeda (right). Photo by Gordon De Los Santos.[/I]
[SIZE=4][B]Raul Ojeda is the founder of Don Ville Shoes in Los Angeles, the country’s only storefront offering custom and bespoke shoes made on-premises. He started his journey more than ten years ago as a shoe shiner ([URL=http://www.styleforum.net/t/281403/jesse-thorn-interviews-raul-ojeda-of-don-ville-custom-shoemaker-in-los-angeles/0_50]part I of this interview[/URL]). Today, he leads a team of master craftsmen ([URL=http://www.styleforum.net/t/283836/part-ii-jesse-thorn-interviews-raul-ojeda-of-don-ville-custom-shoemaker-in-los-angeles/0_50]part II of this interview[/URL]). In part III of our conversation with Raul, I talked not just about the “how” of making shoes, but about the “why.”
[/B]
JT: It seems to me from talking to you off microphone about what you’re trying to do, that with Don Ville specifically, you’re trying to, not just to replicate the service Willie offered in his heyday, a “basic custom shoe operation,” you’re really aspiring to create something in Los Angeles, in the United States, that incorporates not just that history, but also a huge amount of the sort of classic European and international tradition as well.
RO: I think that there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have that here. The selection that we offer today is greater than that that a lot of other shoe makers offer, and the plans that we have to grow our business, and to grow our collection of things that we offer is just unheard of.
Just going away from men’s dress shoes right now, we’ve been trying to get into women’s shoes. One of the things first things we’re doing is recreating vintage stuff from the 40s and 50s, and we have the hardest time finding the proper heels. Of course those heels aren't anywhere to be found. Whoever was manufacturing those heels are no longer in business so now we’re told we have to go to Europe or China to get those heels made and bring them back here.
Instead of following that advice, we partnered up with an engineer to design our heels on a digital program, like an architectural program, in a three dimensional form, that will be able to tailor each one of the heels to each individual last with which a client will end up choosing to have their shoes made. I think that being a little more proactive will allow us to become better known and more recognizable; trying not to go outside of the country to get our products made. And I think that’s good for the shoes, the goal that we have is to offer something that so many people would like to have.
How many people do you know, Jesse, that would like to go to Europe, take a trip down King’s Road in London, order three or four pair of shoes, get some shirts made, some suits--but unfortunately we don’t have that kind of capital in our bank accounts to do it. Even just traveling outside of the city so many times; how many people would get on a plane to go to San Francisco because there is a better steakhouse or clam chowder restaurant. Not many people. So we just want to offer all those beautiful things here in Los Angeles.
[URL=http://www.styleforum.net/image/id/1192482/width/350/height/350][IMG]http://www.styleforum.net/image/id/1192482/
Photo by Gordon De Los Santos.
JT: You told me the history of Willie’s. You know, in the 1950s, there was still an expectation that if you wanted good clothes, you would have them made for you. The whole idea of off the rack clothing was still not that old in the 50s. I think that especially in the late 1960s and the 1970s, that expectation disappeared.
What I wonder is, if you think that in 2011 as we have this conversation, we’re in a different time. A new time where there is some expectation that that is something that might be available to you. Where you can start a custom business and have the expectation that your customers might include not just people who are so rich they are looking for ways to spend their money but also people who want something that is special and made for them?
RO: Absolutely--special and made for them, and I think that one other asset to the process would be to know that you know the guy who made this for you. To walk into the place, order the thing you want, and have a relationship with that person. You might run into him or her at the movie theater. It’s made by your neighbors. I think that’s one of the greater things we have going on here.
And it’s not necessarily just a problem with clothes. Our cellphones, the cellphones that a lot us use, especially with these new iPhones and Androids, there's new things coming up if not every 6 months then every year. In the last 10 years we’ve decided that the cellphone expense is a necessity. We need to have it. So if you really think about how much money we spend on cellphones, it’s a lot of money. Money that we don’t consider spending on our clothes or our shoes.
Going to eat at a really nice restaurant, a nice dinner on a date, probably $100? Maybe a fancier dinner would be like $300? But we don’t do that all the time; if we were to add that kind of money to what we spend on other little things. If I were to spend this kind of money on my clothes or my shoes, then I’m actually being smart about the money that I’m spending because this shoe is better made, it’s well crafted, and if I care for my shoe properly then I will have it for a long time. And I think that’s the biggest challenge for most.
Working at the shoe repair shop for so many years, so often I would give someone a quote to repair their shoes and the instant reaction I got was “Oh my god, that’s more than what I paid for my shoes. I better just go buy another one.” By spending more money on higher quality footwear, you’re almost forcing yourself to continue to shop for shoes. You probably only buy a pair every 6 months or every year. You’re not going to the mall to see what the newest coolest sneaker you can get, what everyone else is wearing. That’s the thing we have to overcome.
JT: I think we all have these houses that are full of crap. In the United States, even if you’re lower-middle income, you probably still have too much stuff, and it’s a matter of turning “too much stuff” into “the right stuff.”
RO: Right. Then again, it’s like in high school that poor kid--all his friends are wearing the cool sneakers and the guy only wears his old chucks. Everybody has their Air Jordans. I think that applies to all of us in general. Yes we have too much. I counted my tshirts today, and I have about 45 tshirts. I only wear 5, the same cool tshirts all the time. And I’m just going to get rid of all those shirts. We have so much that we don’t really wear.
JT: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. You’re a class act, Raul.
RO: Thank you, Jesse.[/SIZE]
Photo by Gordon De Los Santos.
Editor's note: here's Putthison's ep 2, featuring Raul.
[VIDEO][/VIDEO]