Do you love the smell shoe polish in the morning? In this week's edition of our career-advice column, we learn how you can take leathery matters into your own hands and become a cobbler.
Name: Katie Reed
Age: 29
Job: Cobbler and owner of Sole Survivor (16 Kensington Ave., #KNM).
In 30 seconds or less, tell me what you do all day at work.
I’m a cobbler—that’s the name of my trade. I don’t make shoes here; I repair shoes, boots, leather jackets and bags.
How did you first become interested in cobbling?
I was getting my boots repaired, and I had never really looked at the stuff in this world before. I was at this other repair shop and I just thought, “This is actually really cool—these tools and all these archaic things.” So I started talking to the guy about it, and then I apprenticed. As a child, I was definitely into crafting and hands-on stuff, but it wasn’t a plan to go into this line of work. Thankfully, my family and friends are all amazing—they are super supportive.
How does the apprenticeship process work?
It was hard; I couldn’t find anyone to take me on in Toronto. I had asked tons of people if I could come in and learn from them, and most people were too busy or indifferent. Then I realized that it was going to be unpaid, and I wouldn’t be able to keep living in Toronto. My sister lives in Hamilton, where I’m from, so I talked to her about staying at her place, and then I found somewhere to apprentice there. I spent half the year in Hamilton, learning. At the beginning I was just watching [the cobbler], and he would talk me through stuff. I was just getting used to holding tools and figuring out their functions, and then he initially had me bring in my own shoes to work on, which was a good idea because I definitely ruined a lot of stuff! But that’s how you learn, especially in this kind of work.
What was the next step after your apprenticeship?
I kept working with my mentor and at another part-time job in Hamilton while looking for a space in Toronto where I could open a shop. I started thinking about neighborhoods where it would be a good idea to open a shop like this, and looking for spaces for rent. I was actually thinking of a space at Dundas and Brock, and it wasn’t available, so I was biking around Kensington Market one random day and I saw a For Rent sign on this building.
Once you had the space, where did you get all the necessary machinery?
That had to sort of perfectly align, because if I rented the space and didn’t have the machines, then I’d be spending money for nothing. But if I got the machinery and I didn’t have the space, then I’d have nowhere to put it. But, oddly, it actually worked at the exact same time. There was a guy who would come into the shop in Hamilton and take orders for supplies, so I asked him if he knew of any shops that were closing down and wanted to sell any machines. He told me about a guy who had two shops in Richmond Hill and was closing one, so I contacted him and got all the machines at the same spot. It’s really expensive to buy a new machine; for a finisher, it’s about $10,000, but I got the machines for way less than that because they were used. None of my machines are new; they don’t even make these kinds of stitchers any more. I don’t even know when these were made—the 1940s, maybe? But it works!
How did you go about launching the business?
Initially, I tried to take it pretty slowly, because I was still learning myself. I had never been alone in a workshop without someone to ask for help. So I got a stamp made and made business cards and flyers, and I went to all the shops in the neighborhood and introduced myself, because it’s a great neighborhood for vintage and repair. I also made a handbill and distributed it door-to-door in a couple of neighborhoods. You have to do all the regulation stuff, like registering your business and getting a business and GST number. We opened in August of 2009, so it’s been two and a half years.
What advice do you have for someone with no experience who wants to learn a trade?
Definitely do some shadowing. When I started here, a friend of mine asked to come in and watch me to learn, because she thought it was really cool. She came in for one or two times, and realized it wasn’t for her. That’s the only way you find out. So, for sure, try it before making any sort of commitments and give yourself time, because your body and muscles have to learn to do these things. Since the summer, I’ve had an apprentice/assistant working with me in the shop, and she’s great. I’m here six full days a week, and with owning a business it’s kind of a lot, so it’s great that she can learn the trade and help me out in the shop at the same time.
What are your favourite and least favourite parts of what you do?
I have common small business–owner complaints. There are parts of it that aren’t that fun, like doing taxes and stuff. But it’s part of it, and it’s sort of interesting to learn about it and see the grand scheme of what you’re doing in numbers. Even the stuff that’s not great is still informative.
What’s really important to me about this job is that it’s a form of recycling. I think it’s really rewarding for me to see something that’s in bad condition or not really usable and making it into something that’s great and functional again. That’s a huge part of it for me: the reuse and recycling aspect of it all. It’s really cool to see something that would have gone in the trash, and to make a finished product and know that you did that.
Think your job could be somebody’s life? Email Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy.
