THUNDER BAY - The shoes we wear carry us through our daily lives, so sometimes they can be hard to let go of, but luckily one local cobbler has made a career of bringing new life to footwear to make customers smile, and lately he has a lot to smile about himself.
“We grow very attached to our footwear,” said cobbler Martin Sugg. “We think it’s two steps away from the trash bin and it’s a good feeling to bring those back to like new condition and put a smile on someone’s face.”
Sugg, who is the owner and operator of Timeless Shoe Repair, has added another international award to his shelf, which he says not only reminds him how much he loves the work, but also gives confidence to his customers walking through the door.
This year, Sugg won two North American awards from the Shoe Service Institute of American, including the Robert D. Ronaldo Grand Silver Cup competition that is held every two years.
“It’s a very prestigious honour in our industry, as it’s an award competition that has been held since 1938,” Sugg said. “They hold it every two years and this year I got a gold award, so just shy of the top prize.”
Sugg also won silver in the World Cup, which brings his total number of awards won to seven since he opened his shop six years ago.
Cobblers from across North American were required to bring two pairs of shoes back to like new condition.
“The goal is to bring them back as close to original condition as possible,” Sugg said. “They want to see what it looked like when it came out of the box.”
“It feels pretty darn good. I have surpassed all expectations of what I thought his could be when I opened up six years ago.”
Sugg opened his shop because he loves working with his hands and his has built his reputation around being honest with all his customers.
“If the shoes not worth it, I will let them know and they will bring something more repair worthy,” he said.
Cobbler is not a recognized trade in Canada, but with the awards displayed proudly in his shop for his work judged by master craftsmen, Sugg said his customers can feel confident that their shoes will be brought back to life to walk another day.
“If I get a good result and they say it’s good, for me, that’s in lieu of hanging a diploma on the wall,” he said. “So when the customer comes in, it helps to ease their mind that they are leaving their expensive shoes with someone who won’t ruin them.”
Sugg is currently working on an entry for a competition in the Netherlands, which he said allows for a little more creativity than just repair.
