- Some say, laughter is the best medicine, but we say it's new shoes.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is just stop, breathe, focus on the positive.

And if that doesn't work, try a new pair of shoes.

These quotes are popular, but I'm going to take it one step further.

As I believe what's even more valuable than new shoes is the cobbler who maintains them.

So cleaning, dying, shining, repairing.

Today on Fit to Stitch, we learn about shoes.

(upbeat music) (classical piano music) - Fit to stich is made possible by Kai Scissors.

Bennos Buttons OC Sewing, Orange County Vogue Fabrics Pendleton Imitation of life And Clutch Nails - Today is just gonna be a play day with shoes And why shoes?

Because they go with our outfits.

There's so much we can do with shoes, and Junior's really gonna be the expert who teaches us.

There's so many times I sit there with shoes and I think, "can I do this, can I do that, or not?"

and you're gonna help us.

- Yes.

- You're going to tell us what we can and what we can't.

- Absolutely, that's why I'm here, yes.

- How did you even get into shoes?

- So, um, this was kind of the trade that I grew up in.

This was the trade that my pops fell into when he was younger, and, um I was fortunate enough to kind of get taught by him growing up on weekends, um.

- But you were doing really well in school, - Yeah.

- You're in college, business degree.

- Yeah, I was definitely on my way to pursue a business degree, but kind of came at a little crossroads and it was, um, it was great to kind of fall back on my trade.

Uh, so I decided to kind of put that uh, business degree on hold for a little bit - Okay - And just fall back on this, put my hands to work, get my hands dirty.

- And you bought a shop.

- And I did.

I took over an existing Tailor and shoe repair shop.

- And your customers love you.

- Yes.

I have lots of customers.

- I just, I mean I was there so many times, and every time I was there, I'd hang out for like an hour or so, and everyone came in and swore by you.

- Oh, yeah.

Again, I just, again, I have, I'm very, I'm very fortunate.

I have great customers.

- So you're the one to teach us how to do all this.

- Yes.

Absolutely.

(sounds of shoe machine clicking) So this is everyday stuff for me.

This is kind my, my world.

And I'm, I'm happy to show you.

- So now we're at J.R.'s shoe shop and this is gonna be so exciting.

There are so many great little secrets here, We hope to share many of them with you.

This is a fun job.

- I think so, I do have fun here.

I - - What would you say you do the most?

If I said what's the one single thing you do.

- So everybody walks in here to get their stuff repaired.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Get their items fixed up.

Um, they'll come in, I'll get bags, shoes, heels.

I don't get the same item twice in a row.

- That's fair.

- I get all sorts of goodies.

- Talk to me about these.

These are kind of fun.

- These guys are the, these are the fancy heels here.

So um, here we uh, put a protective sole on them.

- So it had a red bottom.

- Yes - But it was slippery.

- So these are, yes.

So these are red bottoms.

They have um, they're made out of all leather.

So the bottoms are leather, the insides are leather.

And this one in particular it's pink patent leather, which is real fun.

The bad thing about leather on the bottoms though, is it can be real slick on certain floors.

- Sure.

- Um, especially if they're like real, like - Concrete floors especially.

- Yeah, like even concrete like wet concrete is very slippery with leathers bottoms, um, some polished floors, like the polished marble floors.

Those can get real slick too.

So that's why this is really nice.

- Very nice.

- And it's a cool product because it kind of matches really well.

So these we're kind of working on right now, as we can tell how, I kinda - Left a little bit to show to us.

- Yes, exactly.

- Very cool.

Okay.

That's a high skill level.

- Yeah.

We can't nudge this.

We can't bump it.

We can't.

- It's a sharp tool.

Wow.

- (laughter) We're going to get really creative with these guys.

We're gonna to tear 'em apart, put 'em back together.

As you can tell, they're really, they're really rough.

They've got a hole on the side.

- They're really rough.

Like, I wouldn't even think that could be repaired.

- Like I can put my.

Put my finger through that, you know, so we need to, we should fix that up and we're gonna to walk through how we do that.

- All right.

Well, let's get started.

- I got my little tools down here.

- That's your special tool drawer.

- Yes.

My little tool cubby.

Oh yeah.

Yay.

- So you assume that that is just glued in and you can just pry it apart.

- Oh it is.

There's yeah, there's no stitches on here.

It's all rubber.

Man, these are worse than I thought.

Check it out.

- Jeeze - So that's kind of what goes on on the inside of a shoe.

On a modern day shoe.

This is a pretty, I don't think it's that, that old, but he does do a lot of walking in it, Which is good, right?

We should walk a lot.

- So every time you tear a shoe apart, you're gonna see different things to some extent.

- Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

Some are stitched, some do have nails.

some are bonded, uh, like heat bonded.

So here it's, it's actually really bad because this whole thing tore off - It did.

I saw that.

- Yeah, So.

- So you're actually going to have to go back in and stitch something to it.

- Yes.

We're going to come up with like a new section for the bottom of these.

We have to, but.

There we go.

So here, we're going to take this in sections.

- Oh my gosh.

- I think first we're gonna fix this, this jazz with the tears.

So I found this back there with my supplies and I think this is gonna be the material that we're gonna use.

Let me just do that and then that'll help reinforce it.

- Yeah.

So that must be a super-duper powerful glue.

- Um, not terribly powerful.

It's, it's, it's like a contact cement, um, it's It just works really well with these materials because it's, it's flexible and it's a thin, very, very thin layer, which is good for shoes because our shoes need to be able to do this.

- Yeah.

- When we walk.

And another good thing, leather bonds really well on leather.

- And so that glue, you glue both sides and then it has to dry for a while before you put it together?

- Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

Because If we put it all together at once, it will not dry evenly.

- Yeah.

This is awesome.

- Yeah.

So here, that's the section that actually the sole is going to cover all of this.

So this is just, this is just like the structural stuff on the shoe that we have to secure first.

- And like you said, because the leather bonds, well to leather, it's gonna hold really well.

- Oh yeah.

We could be, we could go an extra step and stitch it, but, um, there's more of a chance of having some seams or stitches that you might feel around the toes around or the, around his foot.

And so I don't wanna, I don't, I wanna avoid that.

- You're thinking about the end wearer as well as well as when you're repairing.

- Yeah.

So I'm thinking of how, what is, what is he actually gonna feel once he sticks his foot in there.

- Sure.

- And um, you'd be surprised how sensitive our feet are.

Especially like this, like the skin, like our, our, our on our feet is actually like the upper parts and the skin around our toes is actually very sensitive.

We can feel a lot of things.

And that's why, I guess some of us are a little bit more picky with shoes than others, - Sure - Or have a harder time finding something that works.

- Sure.

So see that hole's gone.

- It's a little more together.

- It's a lot more together.

It's amazing.

How much structure that gives it.

- It's a project and you got to come up with a good plan to tackle it I think.

Everything needs to be just right in there.

- I mean, this is just so interesting to watch you, you're such a craftsman, how do you teach this?

- You just, you have to see this a lot of times - And you've been doing this... - You've gotta see it a lot, and, and you kind of have an idea of what, what you want to do and think about the materials that you're working with, the materials that you have available to you - Yeah - And how we can just make everything - A lot of variables.

- fit together.

So this, this, this isn't even the sole yet.

We're just, now this guy originally came to get just the bottoms done, but we have to do all of this just so the bottoms that we put on there, so they turn out solid.

- So did he want the hole fixed?

- Yeah.

For sure.

No, that's, that's definitely part of it.

- In all your years of doing this, have you had people come back and say, Hey, the glue wore off.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Have you?

- Yeah, it happens.

It definitely happens.

Um, especially here in Texas.

We get those real hot, hot summers.

Oh yeah.

Some folks will forget and leave their shoes in their car.

And heat is heat is glue's number one enemy.

- Interesting.

- Because what the heat does is it activates the glue again.

- Uh huh - So it makes it kind of fragile and whenever they're manipulated or worn or they simply go back to room temp.

- Sure.

- They will, they will come undone.

So the sanding helps to get rid of the sharp edges on the bottom side.

- Sure, sure.

- And then it also helps, so we can kind of get whatever is loose off.

So.

- And that's in preparation of putting the Welt on.

So you've got both shoes are done.

They're repaired.

Now we're putting the sole back on.

- Yes, alright.

Now we can cut this guy and get the soles out.

Thank you.

There we go.

Cool.

All right.

Now we can put this welt on there.

- Okay.

So this welt, this has a tendency to hold all those layers around and hold it tight.

- Yes.

- And yet you don't even see it.

- No, we're only going to see the little edge on it.

- You see it.

But you don't know what you're looking at - Exactly.

Because it's just going to look like to the, to the common eye is just going to look like a part of the sole.

Part of the sole.

Ah.

- So this welt part it's not even really visible either.

- So on different shoes.

Is it fair to say there's different welts - Mhm, Oh yeah.

- Because some are really thick, like some stick out.

- Oh yeah.

Oh Yeah.

- Don't you love this?

So cool.

And what would you say is a a glue time that you have to let that sit for?

- Um, I'd say about about 30 minutes.

- So what you do is you work on several things at one time.

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah.

- I'm always like running around.

- Keep going.

(shoe machine clicking) - So something, I, I always find very interesting about these, all these different stitching machines, um, all of them, in practice, have a different rhythm.

They all have a different pace.

It's almost like that's their personality.

So that's, what's kinda cool about them.

You have to sit down and, and get to know them.

And it's something very unique about each and every one of them.

And it just, it's another variable that just keeps me on my feet.

A little bit of dye can make a big difference.

For, for example, this customer, um, most of her wardrobe is a little bit more darker clothes on these espadrilles the light areas were kind of stood out a little too much.

So we were able to change that this item dying, just that decorative part.

And another thing we do is shoe stretching.

So these guys, this customer found them kind of snug right here at the calf, a little bit, the ankle for sure.

And the end step, this tool is gonna go in the boot and where we can crank it up and it's going to expand once it's inside.

And we wrap up most of our work with cleaning and polishing, and now we can get back to those boots.

- All right.

We're almost there.

- Yes, a little bit.

- I can feel it.

I'm excited.

- So now we can actually put the bottoms on these.

- Okay.

Given them enough drying time.

- Yes.

Everything that this gentleman is going to step on is secured.

It's tight.

There's no holes.

- Yeah.

- And we just.

- And part of that was when you sanded that bottom down to just kind of even things out - Yes, absolutely.

- And, and flake off the loose parts.

So you could really hear those.

- Yes, everything.

- That was a cool trick.

- Yeah.

Everything, all those little steps that we kind of went through, they all serve a purpose.

And even though they're little steps, um, we have to have those all checked off, just so it comes out nice and solid at the end.

So now we can start cutting this.

Yeah.

So with this cutter, we gotta kinda go at a steady rate just because if we go slow, since it's such a thick material, sometimes it'll get a little stall.

Yeah.

- So faster's easier to control.

- Yeah.

It's a little smoother.

Alright.

Now we're just kind of pressing everything together, making sure that that welt is bonding with the new bottom.

A lot of people take weeks for this.

Like if you go to like an old school, if you find like an old school cobbler, they're going to take a long time.

Or like, if you do like a mail it in service, they're going to take like weeks.

So this, this is kinda, it's kind of cool - It's really cool!

- because we're getting this done in like a little bit.

There we go.

- It's amazing.

The hole has gone.

That's what I just can't believe.

- Yeah, there's no more hole.

- The hole is gone.

- We secured everything on the edge.

Everything on the leather upper, we secured it to the foot bed, put the, the new sections on the side where it tore here and where it was worn out.

We had a hole there.

And then we did, we did the welts, which is the trim of the sole.

That's essentially what we see on this little edge.

And then, put the bottom on there.

Next, we're gonna bring this guy over here and start giving it that nice shape that it kind of had.

- Okay - Get rid of the rough edges and the excess and make it look a lot more sharp overall.

(sound of sanding) - So now do you put heels on?

- Yes.

- You put the heels on, and then you shine it up.

- The, the goal is definitely, always making sure that what I hand back looks somewhat original to what it used to look like.

- Yeah.

- And definitely keep the feel as original as possible.

I can't put like a more stiff material or a way softer material than what they had, because they will notice.

The feet will notice notice and the way that the, a person walks you'll will notice.

So these guys, while we wait for the heels to dry, I think we can jump up a couple of steps and start - Shining them?

- cleaning them up.

Yes.

- Yay, show us how.

- Actually getting to the treating of the, of the uppers on these guys.

- Okay.

Let's do it.

- Alrighty.

So that we've got what we need here.

The horse hair brush helps out a lot.

Cause it kind of gets into the little creases and crevices.

So the step is, we get the brush, brush damp with the water and then go with the saddle soap, get it nice and soapy and we give 'em a good, a good scrub a dub dub.

- It's like a little kid in the bathtub.

- Yeah.

And a lot of, a lot of people think that like leathers bad for, or uh, water's bad for - Bad.

I've heard that a lot, yeah.

- The water is bad for leather, but, the key thing here is that we're using saddle soap.

Saddle soap is great because it has like a conditioner aspect to it.

So it, the leather is going to get dry with the water.

But the saddle soap kind of counter.

- Stays behind.

- Yeah.

- Uh huh.

- Now we're going to adhere to these, the actual heel caps that he's going to see.

We'll put those, we'll start applying this on there.

Just so they dry while we put the stacked heel onto the boot.

- Are there such things as red ones of those?

- Yes.

So these actually do come in a few different colors, the black ones.

- Are the red ones the expensive ones.

Are they designer?

- Yeah.

I've got some, some, some blue ones I think, and red so that we can kind of get creative with those.

So now we can put this, the heel onto the, onto the boot.

- The heels a little bit wider.

- Yes.

All of this is going to get trimmed up.

(sound of shoe machines) - Now these nails kind of help hold everything together.

Cool.

- Well, my goodness, this is like a new shoe.

It's not even the same shoe anymore.

- Mhm.

Yes well.

- It feels so secure.

- Yeah.

Everything's sturdy here.

And that's always going to be our main objective when it comes to the bottom.

I mean, they're only going to get stepped on danced on run in.

So we, we did end up giving them a little more room right here on the sides, um, see how much wider that is.

- Oh, Yeah.

And it's not a lot but it's - It's enough to for to, for his foot, the toe box for him to kind of feel a little bit more room in there, more comfort.

The guide there was kind of his wear pattern, and where the materials originally were.

- And you paid attention to that.

- Yes - Boy.

That's lovely.

- So now, now that these are dry, we can put the heel caps on there.

- Okay.

- That's kind of finishing off sealing, sealing the deal on the heel.

- You glue and you nail.

- Yes.

(nails hammering) - Now it feels nice.

- Now you're ready to do cream.

- Yeah.

- Those are beautiful.

I mean, that's like a wk of art.

- Not yet, not yet.

Almost.

- We're ready.

- All right.

So for these guys, we're going to use a little cream, a little wax.

Oh yeah.

There's tons and tons of products out there for, for shoes, for cleaning and for conditioning.

- Uh huh.

We just need to use them - A lot of it.

Yeah.

A lot of, a lot of it is just elbow grease and yeah, I'm getting down to it.

- So you're actually putting more than one layer, your layering the.

- Yeah, yeah, We're going to put a couple a coat of each of these products and that's all we need.

- Do you ever get shoes where you just say no, no.

- Unfortunately I do.

I hate doing that.

- Do you?

- I do.

- Cause you enjoy the process.

- I just um, I love, I love thinking, thinking that there is a solution for everything.

And, and the reason why, things sometimes aren't is sometimes, the materials are just way too far gone.

- Well, this one was, almost, it had holes in it.

It was stretched out.

- A lot of what helped is that it's real leather.

So we, we do have the option of going in here and buffing 'em and putting cream, and they're going to absorb it and, - And you could adhere.

- Yeah.

We can glue stuff to them.

We can stitch them.

We can nail it uh, versus sometimes the cheaper products, They just they'll unravel.

They'll disintegrate as we work on them.

- Sure.

Sure, well, I often wanted to know the secrets behind the scenes of how to get really beautiful shoes.

Is that like a polish that you're doing?

- This right here we call, it's a type of stain.

- Okay.

- Some folks call this stuff edge dressing, but that's going to look a little neater than the bare.

(sanding sounds) - Those are not the same shoes.

I cannot believe these are the same shoes.

- Yeah, yeah, they're the same ones.

- If I didn't see the process.

If you just showed me just these and these, I would have never believed this.

The holes are gone.

- Yeah, No more holes on the sides.

- This is beautiful.

You just had a vision of the whole process didn't you?

- Yeah those are sturdy you know, that's not going anywhere.

What's nice.

Is that it's, it's all, it's all fixable.

- Well, my moral of the story is as long as it's good product, it's fixable.

- Yes.

- Because, I, when I, when you started, I would've never have fixed those.

- I would've thrown them away.

- Yes.

I think that the average person probably would throw them away.

I probably would've thrown them away as well.

- But even if you go to a second hand shop and find a pair of shoes that you like, you could have by the time you pay the low, low price and have them fixed, you could come out with a beautiful pair of shoes.

- Oh yeah.

And same goes with bags, purses, belts.

- I mean.

It's just been really fun.

- Yeah, absolutely.

This is just a little bit of my every day.

One of the things I catch myself saying all the time, whether it's a bag, a purse, a belt, a leather jacket or a vest.

It's, it's the great thing about these, these, these items, the materials, it's all fixable.

- I can fix that.

- We can tear them apart.

Yeah.

We can fix it.

- Is that your slogan?

- I think, I think it's going to be, yes.

It's fixable.

It's fixable.

(upbeat flute playing) - What are the differences between a $8,000 rug, an $800 rug?

Well there are several, and we should know them.

Join us next time, as we learn about rugs right here, on Fit to Stitch.

(Dramatic outro music) - Fit to Stich is made possible by Kai Scissors Bennos Buttons OC Sewing Orange County Vogue Fabrics Pendleton Imitation of Life and Clutch Nails.

To order a four DVD set of Fit to Stitch series 10, please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.

(upbeat music)