Welcome to Quick Cobbler, where Patrick Nijdam, a fourth-generation cobbler, and his team repair and rebuild shoes and boots for Vancouver and the rest of the world. His family has had their shop on East 2nd Ave for twenty years, but a shop in Vancouver for 40. They are the only SSIA Grand Silver Cup Award winner in Western Canada, and gravitypope has been using them for years as our only trusted cobbler for shoe repairs and alterations.
We were lucky to spend the day in the shop with Patrick, where he showed us how to resole a Birkenstock, repair a leather insole, and stitch a sole onto a welted shoe. We also got to ask him how to properly take care of your shoes and more.
Read the full interview below.
What's the most important part about shoe repair and making sure people look after their shoes?
I'd say it's about regular maintenance, what we see at the shop is a lot of heavily worn stuff, stuff that's "failed" to a certain degree, but for a lot of people, they can keep their shoes going at home just by regularly wiping their shoes off, cleaning dirt and dust off, and things like shoe trees to prevent those serious creases from happening. To each their own, some people want the character to grow with their shoes, and some people prefer to have them pristine all the time, so there are different routines they can do, but 90% of this is all on their own at home. It's really on them and then we facilitate the wear and tear on soles and that kinda stuff.
Is there anything specific from your father that you've learned?
My dad still works here 3-4 days a week, and I don't think he'll ever retire. He's one of those guys who will work forever, eventually one day a week or a half day a week but he will never want to leave. He's taught me a lot, obviously, everything I know about shoe repair, but also how to run a business. I've worked with him almost every day of my life, so it's obviously been fantastic and a learning experience, but he's quite Dutch and I think that's translated to how I operate a business. We're very focused on making sure everything is efficient and running smoothly but I also feel like I'm trying to bring a new spin and a new generational look towards it, making sure my employees are happy and they're taken care of, everything my dad has taught me.
How does it feel to keep holding this family legacy?
I love it, I think it's valuable to me, valuable to the community, and a valuable trade that the world needs right now. I find it very interesting and very valuable to keep an old-world trade going right now.
What's your favourite aspect of shoe repair?
I like tearing down and rebuilding heavily worn shoes and boots, and then rebuilding them back to original or better. We really like turning, say like a pair of Birkenstocks into something even better. Can we do something cooler on the sole? A different type of footbed? Maybe different soles on work boots to turn them into a more stylish dress boot? That's what I really love doing.
What's your favourite machine in the shop?
My favourite machine would be the Landis sole stitchers that we have in our front window, and as old and finicky as they are, once you get the hang of it, it's smooth sailing, and they are a pleasure to use if they work well.
What's your favourite thing about living in Vancouver?
I grew up in north Vancouver, so I've been in and out of Vancouver constantly and it's almost hard to compare it to anything cause I've never really lived anywhere else. I love having access to anything and everything in this city, from high-end restaurants, which really isn't my speed, to cool breweries and bars, bike shops, and at the same time thrift stores and high-end retail stores like gravitypope. I like biking and hiking, so it's easy to access all that stuff, for me it's a perfect city. My parents have constantly said that they feel bad having me grow up in Vancouver because then I don't get to move somewhere better. Vancouver is kinda the endpoint for me.
If you weren't a cobbler what would you be doing?
I've always sort of seen myself as someone who does this kinda work, I've always loved working with my hands. I grew up playing guitar and I've been in a few bands. That was one of those young teenage dreams of mine to be in a band, but the Dutch in me quickly was like, "No that's not very practical, find yourself a good career." I've always seen myself as a cobbler, or someone that identified as a tradesperson. If I wasn't a cobbler it could be another trade where I get to work with my hands every day.
Do you have a favourite project you've worked on?
We do a lot of cool stuff for shows and movies, and they always have a very specific vision of what they want. We've done things like making leather shin guards for the Assassin's Creed movies as it's all custom-made leather goods. We also did The Last of Us tv show that came through, we did the Converse shoes that they were all wearing. We put new soles on them with specialized rubber so it's sticky in the snow. Those are really cool projects because we do a lot of them and the public gets to see them.
If you could give one tip for caring for a high-end pair of shoes, what would you say?
At-home care, shoes trees, conditioner, just check them out once in a while. You don't need to baby them, shoes are meant to be worn, but keep an eye on them and if something small needs a touch-up, bring them.
What's the story on these fancy Birkenstock London's?
These ones are funky! So what we did here was deconstruct it and try to rebuild it with a stitched construction. One of the aspects of rebuilding them into a stitched construction, is you have to somehow attach a welt to it. The welt is what you will attach your sole to, so for these Birkenstocks, I had to build a liner on the inside that I could hand-stitch the welt to because it's not pre-built into place. It's all internal, you can't really see it. Then I can put my footbed onto that, and then we could create a welt and a sole that I could stitch directly through. It was a bit of an ordeal and a bit of an experiment, but it turned out pretty cool. It is something that customers have asked about before, and we've done one other pair which they've loved, but it does add a bit of weight, and stiffness. Either way, if you get past that, they're a fun pair to have.
This is the stuff I really like, I like rebuilding shoes with glued construction and turning them into a higher-end version of themselves. Now, if you wear down your soles, they're easily resoleable again and again.
Where do you see the business in the next five years?
In five years, looking down the line, I envision the business absolutely growing and turning into a one-stop shop for shoe repair and shoe customization. We're looking to push the mail order aspect of our business. People can mail in their footwear from across Canada for anything from simple heel replacement to full-on customization of their shoes. Blundstones and Birkenstocks are a huge part of what we do and a huge part of our mail order as well.
